Alan Stacey

Alan Stacey
Born (1933-08-29)29 August 1933
Broomfield, England
Died 19 June 1960(1960-06-19) (aged 26)
Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Liège, Belgium
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality United Kingdom British
Active years 1958–1960
Teams Lotus
Entries 7
Championships 0
Wins 0
Podiums 0
Career points 0
Pole positions 0
Fastest laps 0
First entry 1958 British Grand Prix
Last entry 1960 Belgian Grand Prix

Alan Stacey (29 August 1933 – 19 June 1960) was a British racing driver. He began his association with Lotus when he built one of the MkVI kits then being offered by the company. Having raced this car he went on to build an Eleven, eventually campaigning it at Le Mans under the Team Lotus umbrella. During the following years he spent much time developing the Lotus Grand Prix cars, most notably the front engined 16 and then the 18. He participated in 7 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 19 July 1958. He scored no championship points. He also participated in several non-Championship Formula One races.

Sports car driver

Stacey teamed with P.H. Ashdown in a Lotus 1098cc in the 1957 24 hours of Le Mans. They finished 9th with an average speed of 159.458 km/h (99.083 mph). The top four places were taken by British Jaguar Racing teams.[1] Stacey drove a Lotus-Climax to victory at Aintree, in a July 1959 race for sports cars of 1400cc to two litres. His time was 37 minutes 39.4 seconds.[2]

Death

The remains of Alan Stacey's car after his fatal accident in the 1960 Belgian Grand Prix. In the inset, Stacey before the race.

Stacey was killed during the 1960 Belgian Grand Prix, at Spa-Francorchamps, when he crashed at 120 mph (190 km/h) after being hit in the face by a bird on lap 25, while lying sixth in his Lotus 18-Climax[3][4] (the same type Lotus as Stirling Moss, Jim Clark and Innes Ireland).[5]

Stacey went off the road on the inside of fast, sweeping right hand Burnenville curve (the same corner where Moss crashed the previous day),[3] climbed a waist-high embankment, penetrated ten feet of thick hedges, and fell into a field.[6] He died within a few minutes of Chris Bristow, and within a few hundred feet of that wreck. In a mid-1980s edition of Road and Track Magazine, Stacey's friend and teammate Innes Ireland wrote an article about Stacey's death, in which he stated some spectators claimed a bird had flown into Stacey's face while he was approaching the curve, possibly knocking him unconscious, or even possibly killing him by breaking his neck or inflicting a fatal head injury, before the car crashed.[7]

Personality

Stacey was described as quiet and gregarious. His driving was "conservative" according to one observer.[3]

More recently

Stacey's original Lotus VI was purchased from its owner by the Stacey Family and underwent complete, but sympathetic restoration in the hands of Stacey's schoolfriend, VSCC, Bentley Drivers Club and Historic Grand Prix Drivers Association racer, Ian Bentall who had originally helped construct the car. The Lotus is still in the hands of the Stacey Family where it makes occasional appearances on the track.

Complete Formula One World Championship results

(key)

Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 WDC Pts.
1958 Team Lotus Lotus 16 Climax L4 ARG MON NED 500 BEL FRA GBR
Ret		 GER POR ITA MOR NC 0
1959 Team Lotus Lotus 16 Climax L4 MON 500 NED FRA GBR
8		 GER POR ITA USA
Ret		 NC 0
1960 Team Lotus Lotus 16 Climax L4 ARG
Ret		 NC 0
Lotus 18 Climax L4 MON
Ret		 500 NED
Ret		 BEL
Ret		 FRA GBR POR ITA USA

Non-Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6
1959 Team Lotus Lotus 16 (F2) Climax L4 BUE GLV AIN
DNA		 INT OUL SIL
1960 ? Maserati 250F Maserati Straight-6 BUE
Ret
Team Lotus Lotus 16 Climax L4 GLV
Ret		 INT
4		 SIL LOM OUL

References

  1. ↑ Jaguars Sweep Top Four Places, The New York Times, 24 June 1957, Page 40.
  2. ↑ Jack Brabham First In Auto Grand Prix, The New York Times, 19 July 1959, Page S1.
  3. 1 2 3 2 Rookie Drivers Die In Grand Prix, The New York Times, 20 June 1960, p.40.
  4. ↑ Kettlewell, Mike. "Spa: A Course for Courage", in Northey, Tom, editor. World of Automobiles (London: Orbis, 1974), Volume 18, p.2105.
  5. ↑ Man and Machine, The New York Times, 8 April 1968, p.66.
  6. ↑ Why Men Race With Death, The New York Times, 1 October 1961, p.SM37.
  7. ↑ Thomas O'Keefe, Clark and Gurney, The Best of Both Worlds, Atlas F1, Volume 7, Issue 5.
Preceded by
Chris Bristow		 Formula One fatal accidents
19 June 1960		 Succeeded by
Giulio Cabianca
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