Kenneth Henry Acheson (born 27 November 1957 in Cookstown, Northern Ireland) is a British former racing driver who participated during the 1983 and 1985 Formula One seasons for the RAM team.
He completed only one of his three race starts, finishing in 12th position in the 1983 South African Grand Prix. In 1985, he was a substitute for Manfred Winkelhock, who was killed in a sportscar race during the season. Info from Wiki
Bio by Stephen Latham
Kenny Acheson’s father raced in the 1970s on motorcycles and in Formula Ford and Kenny followed him into the sport and showed prodigious talent In 1976 he had a test in his father’s Crosslé FF1600 at Kirkistown Circuit and was soon lapping within three seconds of the lap record. He entered his first race later in the year, at Kirkistown, and performed well and went on to win the Irish title the following year. He dominated the 1978 British FF1600 Championships with a works Royale RP24, taking twenty-nine victories on his way to winning all three titles (RAC, Townsend Thoresen and Philips Car Radio Championship), despite three test accidents and a broken wrist. He was awarded the Grovewood Award for the most promising young Commonwealth talent.
Moving up to Formula 3 in 1979, he began with a used Ralt but progressed to a March 793 and set the fastest lap at 1979’s British GP F3 support race plus won non-championship races at Donington Park, including the Radio Trent Trophy and at Thruxton.
1980 saw him with Murray Taylor Racing in the the Vandervell British F3 Championship. He finished fourth at the Austrian GP support race, took victory in the Hewitt Trophy at Donington Park and fourth at Monaco, despite wrecking his original car in qualifying. He had been leading by mid-season but at the season’s final race he made a small mistake which saw him finish second in the Championship to Stefan Johansson.
Moving up to Formula 2, he drove a Toleman TG280 for Docking Spitzley Racing but missed four races after a big accident at Pau in which he crashed into a wall and shattered his right leg. Although not fully recovered, he drove at the final race at Mantorp Park and finished third.
He then drove a number of races in Japan, driving for Yokohama with Kunimitsu Takahashi and in 1982 raced in F2, with Ralt-Honda, taking a couple of second-place finishes.
He had a works F2 drive with Maurer Motorsport in 1983 plus also made his F1 debut with the RAM March team though it was a disappointing time and of the seven races his best result was twelfth at the South African GP.
1984 was a lean year for him but he made his IndyCar debut at Meadowlands in a March 83C, though retired after an accident. There was also an entry for the Indy 500 in a four-year old Eagle and at Laguna Seca in a Forsythe Lola, though he did not qualify.
1985 saw a return to the RAM team to replace Manfred Winkelhock (who had tragically been killed racing a Kremer Porsche 962C at Mosport) starting in Austria, though he retired at half distance with an engine failure. He failed to qualify at Zandvoort and at Monza due to mechanical problems.
For the next few years he made his living in Japan though driving a Toyota sports car at Fuji in 1986, a rear tyre exploded and the car became airborne. Kenny himself said that “when the car stopped, upside down, I looked at my hands, they were alright, so I undid my seat belt and fell on my head!”
He spent a full season in F3000 in 1987 with Advan Alpha and in the Japanese sports car championship with the Nova Advan Alpha Porsche 962, which he shared with Kunimitsu Takahashi. Kenny described him as “a fantastic person, someone I was privileged to know, and a wonderful driver” and together they won the series with two wins at Fuji and second and third places at Suzuka.
Following this he moved to Vern Schuppan’s Omron Porsche team in 1988, sharing with Price Cobb and, for one race with Emanuele Pirro (who he rated as “a top person, a top driver, and a really good friend.”)
He then moved back to Europe with Sauber-Mercedes and was due to drive at Le Mans, but the team pulled out in practice though he was offered a drive with them at the Fuji 1,000 Kms. Racing for Sauber in 1989’s World Sportscar Championship (with Mauro Baldi) he won at Brands Hatch and Spa, finished second at Suzuka, Donington Park and the Nurburgring, third at Dijon plus took a second place finish at Le Mans, with Gianfranco Brancatelli joining the driver line-up.
For 1990 he moved to Nissan and his best results were third at Spa and fourth at Mexico and Donington Park, though retired at Le Mans (with M.Donnelly and O.Grouillard). Also that year he drove a Porsche 962C at an IMSA race at West Palm Beach.
He was part of the Silk Cut Jaguar team Le Mans in 1991 and finished third in the XJR12 with B.Wolleck and T.Fabi. He was ninth in an Intercontinental Jaguar race at Silverstone plus raced a Porsche 962C with J.Weaver to sixth place in a Japanese Championship round.
He returned to Le Mans the following year, this time with Toyota and he, M.Sekiya and P.Henri Raphanel finished second. He retired at Suzuka though at Daytona despite crashing and sustaining considerable damage, the car was able to get back to the garage and returned to the track three hours later, eventually finishing eleventh (co-driving with Wallace and Fangio 11)
Then came a move into GT racing in Japan with the SARD team and there was a final visit to Le Mans in 1995, when he drove the SARD MC8R, retiring after the car suffered brake failure.
In the following year, racing a Lister Storm (in the Newcastle United football team livery) at Daytona his car was destroyed in a violent crash when he was hit by another car. Luckily he walked away from the scene and he also decided to retire from racing.
During this period, he and his wife had formed a beauty care business in 1992 which became a very successful manufacturer and product developer and in 2018 they were bought by the Hut Group one of the world’s largest online beauty/wellbeing businesses.
