Louis Douglas “Doug” Serrurier (9 December 1920 in Germiston – 4 June 2006) was a racing driver and racing car constructor from South Africa.
He participated in 3 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix in the 1960s, only racing in the South African Grand Prix event, debuting on 29 December 1962. He scored no championship points. Info from Wiki
Bio by Stephen Latham
Born on the 9th December 1920, in Germiston in the Transvaal, Louis Douglas Serrurier started competing on two wheels and went on to become a mainstay of South African motor racing as a driver and constructor. He contested 3 Formula One World Championship races in the 1960s, each in his home South African GP at East London in 1962, 1963 and 1965 with his own LDS (Louis Douglas Serrurier) specials.
After the war, Doug imported two speedway JAP motorcycles along with spares, and was instrumental in establishing speedway racing on quarter-mile dirt ovals in South Africa.
He went on to forge a distinguished International grass track and speedway career and was one of five speedway racing brothers, Allen, Jack, Harry and Bob, who were leading riders in South Africa during the late 1940s and 1950s. He also raced in England for two seasons in 1949 and 1950 where his spectacular style made him a favourite with Liverpool’s Stanley Stadium fans. Racing alongside fellow South African Fred Wills, they formed a swashbuckling duo and during this period also raced regularly in France and Belgium. On one occasion in October 1949, during a challenge match between the Legtrailers (Doug’s team) and the Footforwards team, the floodlights failed as riders powered flat out round Liverpool’s Stanley Stadium track. Doug was on the track along with Pete Lansdale, Tommy Allott and Alex Gray and as they were on the back straight a power failure plunged the stadium into darkness. The horrified spectators felt sure there would be a nasty accident but fortunately Doug managed to turn round his bike, while Lansdale found the white line and managed to throw his bike down on the grass centre. Allott caught a glimpse of cigarettes being smoked by spectators and was able to ride up against the safety fence while Gray shut down his engine. After a break, the electricity was restored and the meeting finished, though Doug’s team were beaten.
While in England, he did a short course at the Cooper racing drivers school, being instructed bt Ian Burgess. He switched from two wheels to start racing cars in 1956, driving a Triumph TR2 and took second with it at a Production Handicap race in Johannesburg. He would later become involved with single seaters but continued racing saloons over the following years, sharing a Fiat 600 with C.Reeves in 1958’s Johannesburg 9 Hours and contested the event the following year in an Italian Car Sales entered Alfa Romeo Giulietta with Henri du Toit. 1960 saw races with Continental Car’s Alfa Giuiletta TI and Sprint Speciale, taking third with Syd van der Vyver in a 6 Hour South Africa event at Roy Hesketh Circuit and fifth with Fanie Viljoen at the Johannesburg 9 Hours. In 1961 he teamed with Ernie Pieterse to race the Giuiletta in a Kyalami 9 Hours.
During this period, he had travelled to Europe and bought a Cooper T51, which would be followed by more Coopers and become the basis for the first LDS cars. He later switched to modifying Brabhams in the late sixties and during the early sixties he established a good business selling his cars to various locals competing in the Gold Star series. He also built about 20 LDS Cobras during his race car building history and all were one offs, with different engine, chassis, suspension and brakes depending on the year they were built.
In 1960 the first Rhodesian GP took place, a non-championship race at Salisbury, and Doug finished second in his Cooper. He returned to contest the following year’s event and was again second, though this time with his Alfa Romeo powered LDS Mk1. In December that year he competed in a number of races with Scuderia Lupini, the first being the Rand Grand Prix on the 9th December at Kyalami. He finished tenth with their Cooper T51 Climax though an LDS Climax car driven by Fanie Viljoen was eighth. Eight days later saw the Natal GP, at Westmead, with Doug finishing sixth in the Cooper T51 Climax and LDS machines were raced in it by F.Viljoen, S.Tingle and John Love (a Porsche powered LDS). Finally, on the 26th December, the non championship South African GP (formally titled the 8th International RAC South African GP) took place at Prince George Circuit in East London and Doug was seventh with his Alfa powered LDS 1, while Sam Tingle was eighth with his similar LDS.
Doug entered the following year’s Rand and Natal races and finished sixth with an Otelle Nucci entered LDS 1 Alfa, while LDS cars were also entered by S.Tingle, F.Viljoen, Gene Bosman and Errol Hammon. He was eleventh in the Natal race, finishing between the tenth and twelfth placed LDS cars of G.Bosman and George Mennie, though S.Tingle had come home ahead in eighth place. He also raced Otelle Nucci’s Lotus 23 with Peter de Klerk in the Kyalami 9 Hours and the year saw his World Championship debut with an Alfa powered LDS Mk2 in the South African GP. He qualified thirteenth though retired from the race with a holed radiator but returned for 1963’s GP with the Alfa powered car and finished eleventh. He entered the race for a third and final time in 1965 but unfortunately failed to qualify with his Climax powered Mk2. The later Mk3 to Mk5 LDS cars were those which would be based on Brabhams.
In 1963, December’s Rand GP took place at Kyalami and he was fifth in the first heat with the LDS Alfa and eleventh in the second. He finished eighth in the Aggregate results while the race saw LDS cars entered by G.Bowman, G.van Straaten, S.Tingle and Dave Clapham. At the start of 1965, the Cape South Easter Trophy was held at Killarney in January but there was a retirement for Doug in the LDS Alfa 2 though Sam Tingle was fifth with an LDS Alfa 1.
Doug contested 1966’s South African F1 Championship with his LDS Climax though the week before it commenced he was tenth in the non-championship South African GP at East London on the 1st January. The following week’s opening round of the championship came with the Cape South Easter GP at Killarney, where he was fourth and he finished in the same position in the second race, the Rand Trophy in March. He retired from the Easter GP at Roy Hesketh and was not classified in May’s Bulawayo 100 at Kumalo, but was then sixth at Kyalami’s Republic Day Trophy, fifth at the Natal Winter GP at Roy Hesketh and third at East London’s Border 100. He was fourth in the Governor General Cup at Lourenco Marques but retired after 23 laps with engine problems in August’s Rand Winter Trophy at Kyalami. The Pat Fairfield Trophy at Roy Hesketh saw a third place finish, followed by sixth in the Van Roebuck Trophy at Killarney and then fourth in October’s Rand Spring Trophy. The thirteenth and final round came in December at the Rhodesian GP and he finished fifth. Doug would find himself racing against LDS cars entered by a number of drivers (including Chris Ward, Peter de Klerk and Joe Domingo) during the races and there were varying results, though Sam Tingle had several podium place finishes with his LDS Climax 3 and won at East London and Killarney.
He was also a stalwart of the sports car racing scene and co-drove Roy Pierpoint’s Lola T70 in 1965’s Kyalami 9 Hours though they retired due to a broken valve and pushrod. They teamed again to contest four races with the T70 the following year but despite leading for 88 laps of the Kyalami 9 Hours they retired due to a broken pushrod again. At December’s Dickie Dale 3 Hours race at Roy Hesketh, Doug took pole position and led at the start though they did not finish due to rear suspension breakage after 65 laps.
Soon afterwards, Doug bought the Lola T70 and 1967 saw a full schedule of races with it, starting with a win in a Kyalami sports car race on the second of January. Unfortunately he crashed in the second race at Killarney in February when his front suspension failed as he was leading the race though he achieved a new sportscar lap record, which was 3 seconds faster than previous. There was a retirement due to engine problems at Roy Hesketh while at the Rhodesian GP he had been leading until his rear suspension broke and then Killarney saw second in both heats. Returning to Roy Hesketh he was second in both heats and finished second overall while returning to Kyalami in October he led until until oil pressure problems ended his race. At one Kyalami 9 Hours, the Lola burst into flames as he was coming through a corner and he had to jump from the blazing car. Luckily the marshals extinguished the flames quickly and, with the car seemingly undamaged, Doug got back in the car and finished the race. Kyalami in November saw the first of four races with Jackie Pretorius, though they retired from it with piston failure, but they took third place at the Cape International 3 Hours at Killarney. There was a retirement at Lourenco Marques due to overheating but they went on to win their final race, the Roy Hesketh 3 Hours on Boxing Day.
He and Jackie teamed again to compete in the following November’s Kyalami 9 Hours but did not finish due to a fractured oil pipe. Racing on his own over the following month, although Doug crashed at Killarney when a brake pipe blew off he followed this with third place at Lourenco Marques. There were 3 more races with the Lola towards the end of 1969 and at the Kyalami 9 Hours he and Jackie led from the start but did not finish due to a pit fire during refuelling. The car was back in action for the Roy Hesketh 3 Hours some weeks later but they did not start due to suffering front suspension damage during practice but Doug took victory later at a race at Piermaritzburg. Following this, it was said the Lola was eventually cut up by Doug and the components transferred to a Lola T140 F5000 single seater for Jackie Pretorius to race in 1969.
After more or less retiring from racing at the end of 1969, Doug became an entrant and provided the Surtees which Jackie raced in the South African F1 Championship. However, he still made appearances in races and rallies, driving Fred Cowell’s Mustang at a 3 Hour Natal Mercury International at Roy Hesketh, plus even competed in powerboat racing. Doug continued working on cars until in his seventies in his workshop near Johannesburg, rebuilding and preparing cars to his exacting standards and often incorporating his own modified suspension designs.
Doug passed away on June 4th, 2006, in Alberton, Gauteng, aged 85.
‘THE JAPANESE’
Doug Serrurier’s uncanny ability to ‘size up9 top overseas racing cats and come up with his own interpretations on the same theme infuriated at least one Formula One constructor…
REPORT BY JOHN BENTLEY
