Cliff Allison
The son of a garage owner from Brough, Westmoreland, Allison entered racing in 1952 with the little F3 Cooper-JAP and progressed steadily in the formula, finishing fourth in the 1955 championship. That year he also began racing the works Lotus Eleven sports cars for Colin Chapman, culminating in an Index of Performance win with the little 750 cc Lotus at Le Mans in 1957 - a season which also saw the Hornsey team move into single-seaters with their Lotus 12.
Ambitious plans were made for 1958 and Cliff led the team in their World Championship assault. He scored a fine fourth at Spa, finishing behind three cars which it transpired would not have survived a further lap, and put up a tremendous performance in the German Grand Prix when a burst radiator cost him a possible sensational win in the Lotus 16. His efforts did not go unnoticed, though, and on the recommendation of Mike Hawthorn Cliff was invited by Ferrari for tests at Modena and offered a works drive for 1959.
After a solid first season at Maranello his fortunes were to be mixed; 1960 began with success in Argentina, Cliff winning the 1000 Km for sports cars with Phil Hill and taking second place in the Grand Prix, but a practice crash at Monaco in which he was flung from the car and badly broke his arm curtailed his season. When fully recovered, he signed for the UDT Laystall team to race their Lotus 18 in 1961 and played himself back to form in the many non-championship races held that year, his results including a second place in the International Trophy, run to the 2.5 litre Inter-Continental Formula. For the Belgian Grand Prix, Cliff had to set a quicker practice time than team-mate Henry Taylor in order to claim the car for the race. Disaster struck when he crashed heavily and was thrown from the Lotus, sustaining serious leg injuries which prompted his retirement from racing.
Cliff, a quiet and gentle figure, was an extremely popular member of the BRDC and was often to be seen at historic and revival meetings before his death in 2005 at the age of 73.
