mike hawthorn jaguar

June 6th, 1958. Mike Hawthorn being interviewed near the Vanwall van at Reims. Photo by Robert Pauley

Story by Denise McCluggage
Photos and captions by Graham Gauld and Robert Pauley

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On top of the Le Mans crash of 1955 that killed four score or more and for which many Germans, mostly in the press, blamed Mike Hawthorn as a key instrument, he was having his darkest season in Grand Prix racing. He collected not a point toward the championship. Nothing. He was driving for Tony Vandervell and the Vanwalls were still suffering from birth pangs. Vanwall, like Mike, still had three full years to go to its world championship.

The first Ferrari Mike Hawthorn raced was this modified 375 4.5 litre car, the Thinwall Special entered by Tony Vandervell seen standing beside the car. The meeting was at the Turnberry circuit in 1953.

Story by Denise McCluggage
Photos and captions by Graham Gauld

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There have been many “firsts” in the life of John Michael Hawthorn starting that tenth day in April, 1929, when he first saw light of day. His father, Leslie, was a garage owner and a man active in motorcycling and motor-racing circles, putting Mike close to this world from the time he was a tyke.

Mike Hawthorn, Concentrating hard on the exit from the hairpin with the Jaguar D-Type in the 1955 Tourist Trophy race at Dundrod.

From the Archives, September, 2013

Story by Denise McCLuggage
Photos and captions by Graham Gauld

The late Marquis de Portago was once passing judgment on various Grand Prix drivers and marking the ones he thought most likely to succeed to Fangio’s throne. One famous name he dismissed with a shrug: “He’s too hard to classify. He’s erratic. He seldom finishes. He never takes care of himself.”

If Portago had lived until 1959, he would have seen the driver he named least-likely-to-succeed become the 1958 driving champion of the world. But he would be no more surprised than the tall, tow-headed wearer of the crown — Mike Hawthorn — himself.