Desmond Titterington (1 May 1928 – 13 April 2002) was a British racing driver from Northern Ireland. He was born at Cultra, near Holywood, County Down.
He participated in one Formula One World Championship Grand Prix, on 14 July 1956. He scored no championship points. He also competed in several non-Championship Grand Prix. He died in Dundee, Scotland, aged 71. Info from Wiki
Bio by Stephen Latham
Greatly under-rated, Desmond Titterington was a talented all rounder who competed in most forms of the sport during the 1950s. In addition to driving tests, hill climbs and racing, he was a good rally driver and finished second twice on the Circuit of Ireland Rally (behind legendary Paddy Hopkirk in 1958’s event with a Triumph TR2). Although he only entered one Grand Prix he competed at the highest level in sportscar racing against legends such as Alberto Ascari, Stirling Moss and Juan Manuel Fangio.
The son of a successful flax and yarn merchant, he was born on the 1st May 1928 in the village of Cultra, near Holywood in County Down, Northern Ireland and was sent to school in Scotland during the War. in 1946 he went on to St Andrews University where he became good friends with Archie Scott-Brown, little knowing they would both go on to be racing drivers. Recalling his time with him he stated “Archie was only there for one year but we had great fun. He had a three-wheel Morgan and a petrol allowance of two gallons a month. Unfortunately for me Archie was a great ladies man and everybody adored Archie because he was such a delightful character so he always had his girlfriend Eileen with him and as it was only a two seater I had to sit on the narrow tail and hold on like grim death…We lost contact for a few years as I stayed on at St Andrews and Archie joined Dobbies the tobacco company.”
His racing started after he bought an MG on his return to Belfast in 1950 while his cousin Ian would also race during these times, with a Singer Roadster and a Dellow and contested 1954 and 1955’s RAC Tourist Trophy races with a Triumph TR2. After competing in trials and some minor club races the car was eventually sold and he purchased a Fiat Bailla. He contested Formula Libre with it in 1951 and had some good results, finishing second in a Heat and in the Final at Phoenix Park and sixth at Dundrod’s Ulster Trophy. There was also a shared drive in the Alpine Rally with Ernie McMillen and they were third in class with an MG. His uncle had noticed Desmond’s talent and agreed to help by buying him a suitable car and after the two visited the Motor Show he was soon in possession of an Allard J2 sports roadster. The car had a brief appearance on Allard’s stand in the transport pavilion at 1951’s Festival of Britain event. Various motor manufacturers were invited to exhibit there but with Allard’s order books full, providing a works car would have meant removing one from the production line, which would have interrupted their precious cash flow. The company asked Desmond, as the owner of a car that had yet to be delivered, and he agreed to lend his as there was plenty of time before his first race in mid-September. Once the red painted car was delivered to him in Belfast he also used the car on the road and after finishing thirteenth in his first outing in the Wakefield Trophy he began to build his reputation as a very capable driver the following year.
Contesting circuit racing and hillclimbs in 1952 he raced in the Ulster Trophy and Wakefield Trophy and though there was a retirement at Boreham he was fifth in a heat and third in the final at Phoenix Park while in hillclimbs he set fastest times and records at Bo’ness and Rest-and-be-Thankful. A highlight was victory in the Leinster Trophy at Wicklow in July, which was one of the biggest events in the Irish motor sport calendar and attracted international entries, with Mike Hawthorn being the previous year’s winner. However, Desmond almost didn’t start the race as the J2 developed a severe radiator leak shortly before the start and despite a frantic search for some sealing compound, none could be found. Someone suggested using egg whites so, in desperation, eggs were found and the whites duly put into the radiator and, amazingly, it worked!
1953 started with ninth in the Ulster Trophy at Dundrod then eighteenth in the British Empire Trophy at Douglas, Isle of Man, and though there was a retirement from the Leinster Trophy he was second at Kirkistown. September saw a fifth place result with Bob Dickson’s Aston Martin DB3 in the Tourist Trophy and in the following week he was back in the Allard and was sixth in the Wakefield Trophy. Later in the month he was at Charterhall with Jack Walton’s Frazer Nash, where he was second in a Scratch race and fourth in the Handicap Final and he went on to win his Heat and the Final at Phoenix Park with the Allard. Further drives with the Allard saw him win his class at the Craigantlet Hillclimb on two occasions plus set records again at Bo’ness and Rest-and-be-Thankful. After competing in the Knockagh Hill Climb in County Antrim, he eventually sold the car and it would then race in India after being bought by an ex-pat Scotsman, Jimmy Braid. He was running a jute mill in India plus was a keen amateur competitor in the Calcutta Motor Sports Club and had the car shipped to Calcutta to race in local events.
There were a variety of cars raced in 1954 and though mostly seen in a Triumph TR2 and Ecurie Ecosse’s Jaguar C-Type he started the year off with sixth place in a Jaguar saloon alongside Ronnie Adams in the Monte Carlo Rally. He did not qualify at Kirkistown and the British Empire Trophy with his TR2 then after David Murray gave him his first Ecurie Ecosse drive in June at Snetterton he finished fourth. He followed this soon afterwards with a win in his TR2 at the Goodwood Sports Whitsun Handicap then later in that month won with the C-Type at Oulton Park (ahead of Ninian Sanderson and Tony Crook). In early July he took third place with the TR2 in the Leinster Trophy then the following week had a creditable sixth place with the C-Type in a sports cars’ support race at the British GP. His next meeting was at Kirkistown with the TR2, where he had a win in both his Heat and the Final though at the end of August he retired the C-Type at the Wakefield Trophy. There was a fourth place in his final outing with the Ecosse car at the Goodwood International in late September but earlier that month he had driven a Ferrari 750 Monza alongside Joe Kelly in the Tourist Trophy. Although the car retired from the TT, after trading qualifying times with Fangio and Ascari his performance against the two world champions was partly responsible for earning an invitation to be part of the works Jaguar team for the following year.
Driving Ecurie Ecosse’s D-Type he started 1955 with sixth at the Silverstone International then won the Ulster Trophy at Dundrod but did not start at Nurburgring due to an accident in practice. After finishing ninth (and a class win) in the Leinster Trophy he went on to have an impressive run of results with victory and second place at the Charterhall International (ahead of Louis Rosier and Archie Scott-Brown) plus third place and victory at the Snetterton International. In a shared drive with Ninian Sanderson they were second at the 9 Hour Goodwood (between the winning Aston Martin BDB3S of Walker/Poore and third placed Collins/Brooks) and he followed this with second at the Aintree International.
After his successes with Ecosse had already brought him to the notice of Jaguar, he was given a drive in the works team to partner Mike Hawthorn in September at the Tourist Trophy. The Le Mans tragedy had led to the cancellation of races and rallies, including the Nurburgring 1000km and Carrera Panamericana, both of which were eligible for the World Sportscar Championship. The Tourist Trophy at Dundrod would still take place and as part of the Championship it assumed major importance, drawing entries from works Mercedes-Benz, Maserati, Ferrari, Jaguar and Aston Martin factory teams. The Dundrod Circuit consisted of public roads through the countryside, with numerous fast sweeping turns and blind brows over its 7.4 mile length and with almost 50 cars (and fifteen manufacturers) entered in the 84 lap race, the competition would be tight. Mercedes-Benz entered three cars, driven by Juan Manuel Fangio/Karl Kling, Stirling Moss/John Fitch plus Wolfgang von Trips/Andre Simon while Ferrari entered 857 Monzas for Eugenio Castellotti/Piero Taruffi and Umberto Maglioli/Maurice Trintignant, alongside a 750 Monza for Olivier Gendebien/Masten Gregory. Maserati sent two of their 300S and an A6GCS, with Jean Behra and Luigi Musso featuring in their line up though Jaguar entered just the single D-Type for Desmond and Mike Hawthorn. The Moss/Fitch Mercedes would start from pole though alongside was the Jaguar and the race featured a ‘Le Mans’ type start with the drivers running to their cars as the flag dropped. Moss stormed away into the lead and he and Hawthorn would push hard though the race would be marred by tragedy as three drivers lost their lives in the race. During the second lap, a Cooper-Climax T39 driven by Jim Mayers hit a concrete pillar and burst into flames, and he was killed almost instantly but a Connaught driven by William Smith then ploughed into the Cooper and he would pass away shortly after. Blinded by the smoke from the wreckage Ken Wharton crashed his Frazer Nash and had to be dragged from his burning car. Later in the race Richard Manwaring’s Elva Mk1-Climax hit a bank and overturned and caught fire, with him still trapped underneath, but though he was dragged clear and taken to a local hospital he sadly died. Despite this, the race continued, with Moss battling Hawthorn at the front until he suffered a tyre blow out on the Mercedes. Moss was able to get to the pits, even with the damaged bodywork and shredded tyre and after the mechanics changed the tyre and removed some of the damaged bodywork he rejoined, with the Jaguar now leading. Moss and Fitch would drive flat-out and despite the delay in the pits would eventually be running second though Desmond and Hawthorn would continue holding them off and putting in some truly fast laps. With victory now within sight and one lap remaining, they continued leading and the gap was too much for the Mercedes to close. But, with only a few miles remaining till the finish line, the Jaguar agonisingly came to a halt with its engine seized and Mercedes would take a 1-2-3 finish, with Moss/Fitch followed by Fangio/Kling and von Trips/Simon. It was a hollow victory though with the deaths of the three drivers overshadowing the race and the tragedy brought an end to car racing at Dundrod, which was later used only for motorcycle events. The week following the Tourist Trophy saw his single seater debut at Oulton Park’s Gold Cup meeting with Vandervell entering Vanwalls for him and Harry Schell. It would be a strong field, with Ferrari having two V8 Lancia/Ferrari cars for Mike Hawthorn and Eugenio Castellotti (plus a 625 entered by the Marquis de Portago) and Maserati had works cars for Stirling Moss and Luigi Musso. Desmond was sixth in qualifying, behind Schell, and ten laps into the race he was still in sixth (behind Moss, Musso, Hawthorn, Schell and Parnell). After 17 laps, Schell’s car was out which raised him to fifth and the positions held until he took fourth place from Parnell on lap 30. Eventually, Musso retired on lap 49 and Desmond kept the position until the flag, coming home third behind Moss and Hawthorn.
Mercedes-Benz had announced they would be withdrawing from racing at the end of the year and with only two races left in the championship their rivals had retaken the lead. After they took the first three places in the Tourist Trophy it put Mercedes back in the hunt for the championship and the final race, the Targa Florio, would be incredibly important to the team. However, Ferrari were still ahead and a second-place finish would be enough to give them the title, which meant Mercedes needed not only a victory but a one-two finish to be champions. Desmond received an offer from Mercedes to drive in the Targa Florio (and turned down one from Ferrari) and the team’s pairings would be Stirling Moss and Peter Collins, Juan Manuel Fangio and Karl Kling with Desmond alongside John Fitch. In preparation for the race they practiced for a total of 16,695 kilometres to ensure they were familiar with the 72 kilometre circuit and racing manager Alfred Neubauer told how “I hounded the lads over the course from dawn until dusk, until they were dizzy, until they knew every corner, every gradient in their sleep.” He even took responsibility for feeding the drivers, telling how “I personally go to the market at 7 every morning in order to buy groceries. I procure coffee by the kilo, entire crates of cheese, salami, sardines and baskets of eggs and tomatoes.” The cars were due to start from 9am (at one-minute intervals) but it was brought forward to 7am after the drivers protested against having to run the long final stage in darkness. The start numbers were drawn at random, with Moss the first of the 300SLs to start and he and Collins pushed hard in their stints (race rules dictated no driver could be at the wheel for more than five laps). Although their car sustained significant damage after Moss went off the road during his third circuit they would eventually come home nearly five minutes ahead of Fangio for a 1-2 finish. The result secured the World Sports Car Championship for the team, winning by just a single point ahead of Ferrari plus Desmond and John Fitch would finish fourth, less than twelve minutes behind the winners. In other events that year he was third in the saloon car race with a Jaguar MkV11 at the International Trophy plus became the Victor Ferguson memorial UAC Trials Champion.
In 1956 he once again drove D-Types for both the works Jaguar team and Ecurie Ecosse and his season started at the Sebring 12 Hours alongside Mike Hawthorn but ended when the brakes failed. The pair retired at the Nurburgring 1000km while in other shared drives that year he and Jack Fairman were third at the 12 Hour Reims (in a 1-2-3 finish for Jaguar). He retired at the GP Sverige with Jock Lawrence while his Le Mans outing ended after co-driver Paul Frere was involved in an accident on the second lap. Although he retired from the GP Spa and Silverstone’s Daily Express Trophy, he was seventh at the GP Rouen while his best results included third in the British GP support race, second in the Aintree 200 plus a victory and a third place at the Whitsun Goodwood meeting. In single seaters there were two non championship drives in a Connaught, though he retired with ignition problems at the Syracuse GP. At the Aintree 200, he qualified the Connaught in an amazing third place ahead of Moss in a Maserati (while his old friend Scott-Brown was on pole in another Connaught) though retired due to mechanical failure. July saw his only Grand Prix start at the British race at Silverstone and, in a field of 28 cars, he qualified the Connaught on the third row in eleventh, alongside Eugenio Castellotti’s Ferrari, Tony Brooks in the BRM and Archie Scott Brown’s Connaught. Despite a poor start he had made his way back up to eleventh until his race ended on lap 74 when a cam rod broke and destroyed his engine.
Desmond retired from racing at the end of the year to concentrate on family and business commitments but would still compete in trials and rallies. He was back behind the wheel in 1958 and was third in class on the Alpine Rally with a Triumph TR3 while at the Circuit of Ireland Rally he and Brian McCaldin came home second. There was then a break for several years before he had a number of outings with an Alexis and in 1963 won the Armagh Sporting Trials, then in the following year won the Irish Experts and Carlig Lead Mines Trials plus was second at Slieve Croob and his final event came in 1966 when he was fifth in the Armagh Christmas Trial.
In 1972 he sold his business and moved to Scotland though sadly, after a period of illness, Desmond passed away in Dundee, Scotland on the 13th April 2002.
