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Mike Hawthorn: The “Farnham Flyer”

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Mike Hawthorn: The “Farnham Flyer”

Had John Michael Hawthorn opened his eyes to the world a decade prior, he could possibly have been decorated as a valorous Spitfire pilot who shattered the defences at the Battle of Britain. Instead, the circumstances of his upbringing lured him into motorsport and he rose through the ranks to become his country’s first Formula One World Champion. Born on April 10th, 1929, in Yorkshire, England, to a motorsport-fanatic father, Mike Hawthorn was just nine when he resolved to embark on a career in race driving. Young Mike’s interest in the vocation was courtesy of a garage ownership his father had assumed in close proximity to the Brooklands track in Farnham, Surrey when his son was still an infant.

Mike Hawthorn was sent off to a public school before being instructed at a mechanical college in Chelsea. While his father, Leslie, hoped to polish his son for a post at the family garage, he simultaneously sought to spur Mike’s fascination in motor racing by arming him with motorcycles and cars for regional contests. In 1950, the lad from Yorkshire became a regular race winner in a tiny Riley sports vehicle provided by his father and in three years time the “Farnham Flyer” had secured a Formula One race drive with Enzo Ferrari.

Hawthorn’s spectacular transition from a club competitor to a Grand Prix driver was witnessed on one consequential 1952 race day at the Goodwood track - an event that marked Mike’s debut into single-seater competition. Equipped with a Formula Two Cooper-Bristol, he went on to humble an opposition consisting of the renowned Argentine catalysts, Juan Manuel Fangio and Frolian Gonzalez. Taking flight from pole, the Englishman stormed to victory over his well established competitors and subsequently booked another win at the Formula Libre contest.

Heartened by Mike’s dazzling run at Goodwood, the motorsport crazy father and son decided that a foray into Formula One would certainly be worth a gamble. Putting the lucky Cooper-Bristol up for the remainder of the 1952 Formula One battle, Mike Hawthorn found himself running with the likes of Italy’s Alberto Ascari in his race-winning Ferrari. The Englishman immediately made his presence felt with a string of highly convincing performances for a beginner at the year’s Belgian, British and Dutch events. Convinced of Hawthorn’s towering promise, Enzo Ferrari immediately added him on to the payroll for his side’s 1953 ambitions.

Hawthorn’s lone championship win in his 1953 rookie run came at the French event held in Reims where the Englishman beat the legendary Juan Manuel Fangio’s Maserati by the narrowest of margins. It was here in France that Mike Hawthorn earned the nickname of “Le Papillon” (The Butterfly).

1954 began unhappily for Mike. He burnt himself severely following a mishap at a non-championship contest in Italy and soon after lost the mentoring hand of father after Leslie lost his life in a car accident. The bereaved Englishman concluded the unfortunate season after having sealed a win at the Spanish Grand Prix. Then came two undistinguished Formula One seasons, when Hawthorn abandoned Ferrari and competed for the less than competitive Vanwell and BRM (British Racing Motors) squads. During this time, Hawthorn’s only notable triumph came at the calamitous 1955 24 hour race at Le Mans where a Mercedes crashed into the spectator stands, occasioning the sport’s most horrifying tragedy ever.

Hawthorn’s Formula One fortunes brightened following a switch back to Ferrari in 1957 when he found himself paired with fellow countryman Peter Collins. Together the two men struck up a thriving camaraderie both on and off the track, which was however, soon brought to a tragic conclusion when Collins was killed at the desperately treacherous Nurburgring circuit in 1958. The loss of Collins was a heartbreaking blow for Hawthorn who only hesitating finished the seasons run. Yet the Englishman had ended up with a one point advantage over Vanwall’s Stirling Moss to be heralded Britain’s first Formula One world champion. However, Hawthorn’s racing spirit had all but abandoned him, and he bid farewell to the sport at the end of the 1958 campaign. Soon after, on January 22nd, 1959, the “Farnham Flyer” lost his life in a road accident near his home in Surrey at the age of just 29.   

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