Brian Henton

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Brian Henton
Nationality British

Formula One World Championship career
Active years	1975, 1977, 1981 - 1982
Teams	Lotus, March, British F1 Racing, Boro, Toleman, Arrows, Tyrrell
Races	37 (19 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podium finishes	0
Career points	0
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	1
First race	1975 British Grand Prix
Last race	1982 Las Vegas Grand Prix

Brian Henton (born September 19, 1946) is a former racing driver from England. He won both 1974 British Formula Three Championships, and the Formula Two championship in 1980. He participated in 38 Formula One grands prix, debuting on July 19, 1975, but never scored any championship points.

Born in Castle Donington, Leicestershire, Henton (nicknamed Superhen in the British racing press) came from a modest council house background and did not start racing until he was 23. On winning the minor British Formula Vee championship in 1971, ever-conscious of the value of public relations, he announced that he was going to be World Champion. This aim eluded him, but he enjoyed a successful career in Formula 3 and Formula 2.

Henton's F1 debut came in 1975 for Lotus, theoretically a good drive but the team was in turmoil with the 72 finally uncompetitive and its replacement the 76 a failure, so nothing concrete was achieved. Between 1975 and 1978 he mixed Formula 1 and Formula 2 drives (including a spell in a private March for his own British F1 Racing team), never quite establishing himself in either category, but clinched the 1980 F2 championship for Toleman, who took him into F1 for 1981. The first Toleman-Hart was something of a disaster, overweight and underdeveloped, and Henton only managed to qualify once. Unfruitful outings for Arrows and Tyrrell in 1982 led to no more success.

Perhaps fittingly, his last Formula One outing was at the Race of Champions at Brands Hatch in April of 1983, which also turned out to be the last non-championship F1 race in the modern era.^[1]

Following his retirement from the sport, he returned to running a car dealership and later moved into property development and in recent years has diversified into other areas, notably engineering. His most recent involvement with motorsport was in 2001, when he opened a successful large indoor track in Loughborough and has recently opened another in Gateshead.^[2] He has occasionally driven at historic events and holds equestrian events at his home in Ingarsby Hall, Leicestershire.^[3]

[edit] Complete Formula One World Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Team	WDC
1975	Lotus	ARG	BRA	RSA	ESP	MON	BEL	SWE	NED	FRA	GBR 16	GER	AUT DNS	ITA	USA NC				Lotus	-
1977	March	ARG	BRA	RSA	USW 10	ESP DNQ	MON	BEL	SWE	FRA	GBR DNQ	GER	AUT DNQ	NED DSQ	ITA DNQ	USA	CAN	JPN	Boro	-
1981	Toleman	USW	BRA	ARG	SMR DNQ	BEL DNQ	MON DNPQ	ESP DNQ	FRA DNQ	GBR DNQ	GER DNQ	AUT DNQ	NED DNQ	ITA 10	CAN DNQ	LVS DNQ			Toleman	-
1982	Arrows	RSA DNQ	BRA DNQ	USW Ret	SMR Ret	BEL Ret	MON 8	USE 9	CAN NC	NED Ret	GBR 8	FRA 10	GER 7	AUT Ret	SUI 11	ITA Ret	LVS 8		Tyrrell	-

Henton drove Rupert Keegan's #18 Surtees during practice for the 1978 Austrian Grand Prix but was not officially entered for the race.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Formula One World

Sporting positions
Preceded by Ian Taylor	British Formula Three Championship BARC Series Champion 1974	Succeeded by Gunnar Nilsson
Preceded by Tony Brise 1973 BRSCC North Central Lombard Series Champion	British Formula Three Champion BRSCC Series Champion 1974	Succeeded by None
Preceded by Tony Brise 1973 BRSCC JPS Series Champion	British Formula Three Champion BRSCC Series Champion 1974	Succeeded by None
Preceded by Marc Surer	European Formula Two Champion 1980	Succeeded by Geoff Lees