Peter Arundell (8 November 1933 – 16 June 2009) was a British racing driver from England, who raced in Formula One for the Lotus team.
He participated in 13 World Championship Grands Prix, scoring 12 championship points.
Born in Ilford, Essex, Arundell became a professional racing driver after finishing his time in the Royal Air Force, competing in Elva and Lotus cars. He won an early Formula Junior race held in England, the John Davy Trophy at the Boxing Day Brands Hatch meeting in an Elva-D.K.W. in 1959. In 1962 he won the British Formula Junior championship in a Lotus 22, and also in 1963 in a Lotus 27. He also won the Monaco Formula Junior race in 1961 and 1962. He won the last Formula Junior race held in England, the Anglo-European Formula Junior Trophy, also at Brands Hatch, in September 1963, in a Lotus 27-Ford.
He marked his arrival in the Formula One World Championship in 1964 with two podium finishes. He was regarded as a strong prospect for the future and a great supporting driver for World Champion Jim Clark.
In 1964, while racing in Formula Two at Reims-Gueux, he had a spin and was hit at high speed by Richie Ginther; Arundell was thrown from the car in the impact, which resulted in him missing most of the 1965 season. Lotus boss Colin Chapman saved his place in the team for 1966, with Arundell finishing third on his comeback in the non-championship South African Grand Prix at East London on 1 January 1966. He did not enjoy any great success and at the end of that year he retired from Formula One, having started only 11 races.
He retired from racing altogether in 1969, and later moved to Florida, where he set up the software company Mystique, responsible for amongst other games the notorious Custer’s Revenge. Info from Wiki
Bio bt Stephen Latham
Born in Ilford, Essex, on the 8th November 1933, Peter Arundell took up racing after finishing his time in the Royal Air Force and went on to compete in 13 World Championship Grands Prix, scoring 12 championship points.
He became interested in cars after his father started a garage business just after the war but, though he taught himself to strip down cars and to drive, at the time he had no interest in motor racing. While serving in the RAF he began building an Austin Seven Special for road use and his interest in racing was started after he read about another A7 builder (Colin Chapman) who was also competing with it. After completing his National Service he went to work for his father’s business and after purchasing an MGTC became active in the Rumford Enthusiasts’ Car Club (which he helped to found). He started racing in 1954 with the MG in a club rally and continued with it in hillclimbs and rallies over the following two years and was persuaded to enter circuit races in 1957. It proved a successful season and in the first race at Brands Hatch he finished eighth then followed this with fourth at Mallory Park and second at Goodwood. Then came podium finishes at Brands Hatch and Mallory Park plus victories at Silverstone and Mallory Park; the victory at a wet Mallory Park had seen a tight battle between him and Tim Parnell’s Cooper-Climax)], with the lead changing on every lap. Away from the circuits he had a class win and second place at Stapleford Hillclimb.
The MG was sold and a Lotus Eleven purchased but though lack of finance saw him having to prepare the car himself he started the season with two consecutive wins at a Mallory Park meeting in March. The rest of the season was not as successful, suffering a number of retirements, though he had podium finishes at Snetterton, plus two at Goodwood and finished fifteenth with Jack Wescott in the Tourist Trophy with an Innes Ireland entered car. Switching to a newer Lotus Eleven in 1959 he started with fifth at the Aintree 200, fourth at a Silverstone International then had a win at Snetterton plus victories and podiums at Goodwood and Mallory Park. At the end of the year he contested the John Davy Trophy Boxing Day meeting at Brands Hatch and won the the Formula Junior race with Frank Nicholl’s Elva-DKW. The win saw him feature on the cover of Motor Sport magazine plus his performances brought him to the attention of Colin Chapman, leading to him joining Team Lotus for 1960.
Racing as team-mate to Jim Clark and Trevor Taylor in FJunior, along with his victories at Brands Hatch, Snetterton and three at Mallory Park he took podiums at Silverstone, Aintree, Oulton Park and two at Brands Hatch. Added to this were fourth place finishes at Oulton Park, Solitude and in the prestigious Monaco race, while racing his Formula Junior Elva he won at Snetterton and was second with his Lotus in a Formula Libre race at Mallory Park. At one race at Mallory Park, he rescued another driver who had crashed and pulled him to safety from his burning car. Contesting sports car races he won the Archie Scott Memorial race at Snetterton plus was eighth at the British GP support race with a Gilby Climax. At Mallory Park in October, after seemingly feeling neglected by Colin Chapman and thinking he may have been out of a drive with the team for 1961, he told how “I decided to forget team orders and win, so I did. Trevor’s gearbox went on the line and I beat Jimmy fair and square. I then had to sell my car to pay back Colin and, advertised as the ‘Clark beater’, it made me a fair profit. Colin was not amused by that but he got his own back.”
In 1961, as Jim Clark was committed to F1 he found himself racing as number two to Trevor Taylor. He prepared the car himself, though Lotus supplied the spares, and he and Trevor would often race separately at events on the same day. Consequently he had wins at Monaco, Snetterton, Brands Hatch and twp at Silverstone plus shared Goodwood’s Chichester Cup with Tony Maggs. In the race he had caught up with Maggs in the Tyrrell entered Cooper T56 and they took a photo-finish, which the judges declared to be Goodwood’s first dead-heat, plus Peter had taken the race’s fastest lap. There were second place finishes at Goodwood and Solitude, plus fourth at Snetterton, while racing in sports cars with Team Elite his best result came with second at Snetterton. He was dominant in Formula Junior the following year and took eighteen wins from twenty six starts with the Lotus 22. Although he retired from a race at Goodwood in late March, soon after this he won the Spring Cup at Oulton Park and before mid-May he had also taken the Vanwall Trophy at Snetterton, the Chichester Cup at Goodwood, the BARC 200 at Aintree and the International Trophy support race at Silverstone. There were second place finishes at Brands Hatch and Mallory Park and on his way to the Championship title he took victories at circuits including Oulton Park, Albi, Snetterton, Goodwood, Aintree, Silverstone, Monaco, Monza, Rouen, Zandvoort and Monthlery. His dominance had been so powerful that he was accused of tampering with his engine but answered his critics by travelling to Monza for the Lotteria race and winning it. A journalist, Richard von Frankenberg, had made this accusation in some German papers and Peter said that “Colin was prepared to let the matter fade away but I told him to issue a £500 challenge, and I would put up half, Von Frankenberg would have to accept. Colin was still sceptical but I knew that since a lot of our races took place on street circuits, the only tracks available for the challenge were Zandvoort and Monza and, since I’d had problems at both, my winning speeds had not been as fast as I could go. Colin saw the logic, put up £1,000 himself and promised me half of the winnings if I pulled it off. Von Frankenberg nominated Monza, the bet being that I should go faster than in the race. I did so, the engine was stripped and proved legal and Colin paid me my £500.” Although there was a French GP that year at Rouen, a Reims GP also took place and he had his first taste of F1 power when called up to drive a BRM powered third car alongside the Team Lotus cars for Jim Clark and Trevor Taylor. During the race, T.Taylor had petrol pouring onto the pedals from a leak and while his feet slipped about in the cockpit the car slid and hit the retaining fence. With the nose of the car crumpled he limped back to the pits to retire but on lap five, problems also caused Jim Clark to retire in the pits. Soon after Peter came into the pits and as he would be racing later in the FJunior Final, J.Clark took over the car but he eventually retired the car after 37 laps when he ran out of fuel. Following the race, 30 Formula Junior cars competed in a 10-lap Final but though he was one of the favourites he retired from the race.
Into 1963, he would have to wait another year before joining J.Clark in the GP team and was paired with Mike Spence in FJunior. The factory Junior team was run by Ron Harris and he faced tough opposition from Denny Hulme, Frank Gardner, Richard Attwood and David Hobbs. Despite winning an early race at Oulton Park the team had a poor start in the new season and were beaten by the Brabhams of D.Hulme, F.Gardner and P.Hawkins at Goodwood, Aintree, Silverstone and Crystal Palace. The Lotus 27 had a fibreglass monocoque and Peter was unhappy with it, telling how “They’d done all the usual tests for torsional stiffness but, under braking, the front suspension would pinch in the monocoque-you could watch it happen. Colin wouldn’t believe me and refused to drive the car. Eventually they fitted a cross-member which was supposed to cure the problem, but didn’t. It was not until I persuaded Mike Costin to try it that Lotus built the tub from aluminium.” Denny Hulme was leading the British Express & Star Championship but once he got the aluminium car Peter began to mount a challenge for the title. Victories at Brands Hatch, Albi, Oulton Park, Mallory Park, Zolder, Silverstone, Goodwood and Solitude saw him take the Championship by a single point with 40 points to D.Hulme’s 39. He was given drives in two non-Championship F1 races during the Summer with a Lotus 25 and had a remarkable debut, finishing second in both, to Jack Brabham in the Solitude GP in July and then the following month behind John Surtees in the Mediterranean GP at Enna. It was thought he would compete in the French GP at Reims and Team Lotus arrived direct from Holland with three cars but after a brief try in the spare car, the organisers objected to him entering as he was also in the Junior event and FIA rules forbid a driver taking part in both races. Racing a Lotus 23 he had success in sports cars with class wins at Aintree and Oulton Park and was third in class in the Lavant Cup at Goodwood.
In 1964 after Trevor Taylor left to join BRP he finally found himself contesting the World Championship as team mate to Jim Clark. The early part of the year saw him take four podiums in five non-championship F1 races and in March, he was leading in the Daily Mirror Trophy at Snetterton before retiring with a broken gearbox then finished second to Clark at the end of the month in the News of the World Trophy at Goodwood. At Syracuse he suffered transmission problems so took over Mike Spence’s car and had worked his way from seventh to second though finally finished third behind the Ferraris of J.Surtees and L.Bandini. This was followed by two more third-place finishes, on each occasion to Jack Brabham and Graham Hill, in the Aintree 200 in April and then the BRDC International Trophy at Silverstone in the next month. He made an equally impressive arrival in the World Championship and on his debut at Monaco he qualified sixth in the Lotus 25-Climax and finished on the podium, behind BRM’s Graham Hill and Richie Ginther. His second race was the Dutch GP at Zandvoort in late May, which saw him again qualify sixth and he went on to take the flag behind Jim Clark and John Surtees. In the following month, Spa started promisingly with a fourth place qualifying position but he failed to score points when an overheating engine dropped him back to ninth at the finish. The next race was the French round at Rouen-les-Essarts in late June and at that point of the Championship he was in joint third place (with Richie Ginther) behind Jim Clark and Graham Hill. He qualified fourth and took the flag in the same position which meant he still held the joint third position with Ginther. He and J.Clark contested the British Saloon Car Championship in Lotus Cortinas and there were some entertaining battles but his team mate was dominant and took the title with eight victories. Peter finished fifth in the standings and results included third in the St.Mary’s Trophy at Goodwood, fourth at Aintree, fifth at Silverstone’s International’s Trophy and second (in Class B) at Crystal Palace. He travelled to America in late April for a United States Road Racing Championship GT round at Riverside, mixing with Cobras and Corvettes, and the race was won by Ken Miles in a Shelby Cobra with Peter thirteenth in the Alan Mann Cortina (ahead of John Whitmore in the sister team car). There were also a number of races in a Lotus Elan, finishing eighth (and taking a class win) in the Sussex Trophy at Goodwood, thirteenth at the Silverstone International Trophy and second at Mallory Park, behind Jackie Stewart’s Chequered Flag Elan. He and Mike Spence were teamed for the Nurburgring 1000km but they did not start due to an accident in practice. In the meantime, he and J.Clark had been running in Formula 2 (alongside Mike Spence, David Hobbs, Peter Procter and John Fenning) in the Ron Harris-run cars. He was third at Pau with a Lotus 27 though in later races with a 32 he was second in the Grovewood Trophy at Mallory Park and fourth in Crystal Palace’s London Trophy. He was fourth in the standings when they travelled to Reims in July but disaster struck during the event. In a collision with Richie Ginther, his car smashed into an earth bank and in the impact he was thrown from his car and was extremely fortunate to survive. His injuries included a broken arm, thigh and collarbone and severe concussion but his recovery would take the rest of 1964 and a good part of 1965. “I couldn’t remember anything about it for years, but now it’s mostly come back. I was in a tight slip-streaming bunch, you could be first one lap and seventh the next, when I kept my eye in the mirror for a fraction too long, got onto the rough at the kink on the straight, corrected, slowed slightly and was hit by poor Ritchie Ginther..Jochen Rindt later said I went fifty yards in the air, over the level of the trees. I parted company with the car at the top of its climb and landed on my head and shoulder, while the car landed on all four wheels, relatively undamaged. I might have been okay had I been wearing seat belts but, on the other hand, my weight might have caused the car to land the other way up.” He was in hospital in a coma for over a fortnight and his wife was by his side, along with Jabby Crombac to give her support and help with translation. An operation was required to repair his femur, and should have been straightforward, but the bone became infected (Osteomyelitis) and dashed all hope of a return to racing for 1965. For over a year back in England, he was in and out of hospital, in plaster and leg irons, and lost three stone in weight. Chapman had promised to keep a drive for him if he was fit enough and he was as good as his word. At Brands Hatch at the end of November 1965, though still in pain he climbed into a Lotus F2 car and finished the day within a second of the lap record. “I was pleased, knowing things would improve, but had I told them the truth about my fitness, they would not have let me near a car. I was not only worried about having lost my touch but, because I was a professional driver, about being out of a job.”
He was finally back with Lotus for 1966 with the team using various Coventry Climax and BRM engines and the 3 litre BRM H16. His come-back race came at the non-Championship South African GP in a Climax-powered 33 and with Jim Clark not attending the race Mike Spence was in the other Team Lotus car. Spence would go on to take the win ahead of Jo Siffert and in third came an aching but happy Peter. He missed Monaco because his car was not ready but after practising with the H16 BRM engined Lotus 43 at Spa the engine broke after three laps and he did not start. He was in the 43 for the French GP at Reims but the engine sheared its distributor drive before it left the paddock so he was unable to do any practice. After a problematic weekend with the car he made the grid though his race ended after four laps due to gearbox failure. By the time they arrived at Brands Hatch for the British race the team had cancelled their BRM H16 engined 43 and he was now in a BRM powered 33. Unfortunately his race would again be ended due to gearbox issues, this time after 32 laps. At the next race at Zandvoort, the engine failed out on the circuit and after checking every wire he could see he was unable to locate the fault and walked back to the pits. It turned out that oil had got on to the ignition pickups on the flywheel, underneath the car, and he was unaware of these. At the German GP, they were unchanged from Zandvoort, with J.Clark driving a Climax engine and him driving with a V8 BRM engine and he finally completed the race, though back in twelfth position. At Monza, he qualified thirteenth and in the race he and Bob Anderson had a strong battle, passing and re-passing and changing places continuously, with J.Siffert behind them. However he was having trouble with his gearchange, frequently missing gears which caused extremely high engine rpm and with only four laps to go the engine broke, though he was classified eighth. At the non-championship Gold Cup event at Oulton Park, after J.Clark had trouble in practice with his BRM engine, he took over Peter’s Climax powered car which meant he did not start the race. At Watkins Glen for the US GP, Team Lotus had three cars, with him using a Climax engine though Pedro Rodriguez and J.Clark had BRM power. He would start at the back of the field but came home in sixth place, despite a spin. There were three cars again in the following race at Mexico, with him now back with the BRM V8 though he was well down in qualifying. J.Clark and P.Rodriguez retired from the race and when he pitted on lap 55 in appeared as though his race was also ended but a water temperature gauge was giving inaccurate readings and he was able to rejoin and finish in seventh place. He resumed his Lotus Cortina drives in the BSCC and at the end of the season was third in the points, behind John Fitzpatrick and John Rhodes though two places ahead of Clark (although he had not competed in some events). In the first two races he was fifth in both the Archie Scott Brown Memorial Trophy at Snetterton and in the International Trophy meeting at Goodwood. He was teamed alongside Jacky Ickx (who stood in for a couple of races) at Silverstone and finished third, plus set a new lap record, with Ickx in fourth, though retired at Crystal Palace (head gasket). Brands Hatch’s Guards International race saw another third place result, behind team mate Clark and J.Oliver’s Mustang, then sixth in class in the International Gold Cup at Oulton Park. The season’s final race came at the BARC International Motor Show 200 at Brands Hatch, which featured two heats. He was third in the first (behind J.Clark and J.Oliver) then second in heat 2 (to J.Oliver) and the aggregate results placed him second to J.Oliver in the DR Racing Mustang. Racing with the Ron Harris run team in F2 the season saw retirements at Goodwood, Rouen, Monthlery, Bugatti circuit (Le Mans), Albi and Pau and he was not not classified at Crystal Palace. Despite still not being 100% fit he had taken his best result in early April when second to Jochen Rindt in a very wet race at the Nurburgring. In other finishes he was fifth at Keimola (Finland), sixth at Reims and Karlskoga and after taking seventh in both heats at Zolder he was classified sixth on aggregate then in the final race he was seventh at the Motor Show 200 event at Brands Hatch.
The 1967 F1 season would start in South Africa but Peter would not be with the team as he never drove a single-seater again after 1966’s Mexican GP. “That season was a disaster. I tried driving the H-16 engined car slowly, so it wouldn’t break. It still broke and I got a reputation for not trying, of not being as quick as I had been. Colin didn’t help, constantly needling me with small digs, but I never blew my top, for he was the boss. I got the reputation of having a chip on my shoulder and, at the end of the year, nobody offered me a drive in anything at all, and I would have considered anything. The other trouble was that I didn’t know how to make approaches for a drive. What really hurt was that, on the plane out to Watkins Glen, I discussed the following year with Colin and he told me he hadn’t made up his mind. Then I arrived home and read in the papers that Graham Hill was to have my drive. He didn’t have the guts to tell me. I had to read about it in the papers.”
He retired from racing but made a return to touring cars in 1968 with two appearances with Alan Mann Racing. Driving their Ford Escort TC he raced alongside Frank Gardner in a British Saloon Car Championship round at Silverstone plus with Brian Muir at the Nurburgring round of the European Touring Car Challenge.
For a period he managed the McNamara F3 team before moving to America, where he set up a software company, Mystique. He would eventually return to England, where he passed away on the 17th June 2009 after an extended period of ill-health, with his funeral taking place at St. Faith’s Crematorium, Horsham-St. Faith’s, Norwich.
