Richard Attwood

A trade apprentice at Jaguar, Attwood made his competition debut in the 1960 season with a Triumph TR3, before joining the Midland Racing Partnership to race in Formula Junior, spending most of 1961 and 1962 at club level. In 1963, driving a Mk 5A Lola-Ford, Dickie shot to international prominence by winning the Monaco Formula Junior race, and his performances won him the first Grovewood Award and the princely sum of £500.

In 1964 Attwood was given a couple of chances in the works BRM, taking fourth in the News of the World Trophy at Goodwood, but non-starting the 4WD P67 at the British GP. Racing in Formula 2 for MRP, he produced some excellent performances, most notably a win at Aspern in the Vienna GP, and second place – behind Clark – at Pau, plus further runner-up spots in the Eifelrennen and at Albi. His ability was being recognised more widely, and he became a founder member of the Ford sports-prototype team.

Joining Parnell Racing, Richard drove the team’s none-too-quick Lotus 25-BRM sensibly to two points-scoring finishes, while in F2 he was again second at Pau, and won the Rome GP at Vallelunga. His sports car career was now taking off, and he began what was to be a long and successful partnership with David Piper, ending the season with a fantastic drive to win the Rand 9 Hours in Piper’s Ferrari 365 P2.

Driving for BRM in the 1966 Tasman series, Attwood won the Gold Leaf Trophy race at Levin before another season of F2 and sports car events, which once again ended with a win at Kyalami in the Rand 9 Hours. Despite another successful Tasman interlude in New Zealand, where he took two second places and two thirds in four starts, Richard’s only other single-seater drive in 1967 was a works Cooper outing at Mosport.

When Mike Spence was so tragically killed at Indianapolis, early in 1968, Attwood was signed to replace him at BRM. His debut for the team at Monaco was stunning, Dickie taking second place and fastest lap. Unfortunately subsequent performances were not so impressive and after the German GP he was released from his contract, returning to sports car racing.

In 1969 he was called back to F1 to try and reprise his Monaco performance for Lotus when Rindt was recovering from injury, scoring a fine fourth place, while later in the season he took Frank Williams’ F2 Brabham to sixth (and second in class) at the Nürburgring. It was also the season in which he raced a factory Porsche for the first time, sharing a 908 Spyder with Elford to take second place in the BOAC 500. In 1970 he scored his greatest triumph, winning Le Mans in a Porsche 917 with Hans Herrmann, and took second place with the German at the Nürburgring 1000 Km. In 1971, Attwood’s final racing year, he drove the John Wyer/Gulf Porsche, winning the Österreichring 1000 Km with Rodriguez, and finishing second at Le Mans with Müller.

Retiring at the end of the season for business reasons, Attwood was occasionally tempted back to the circuits in the eighties, mainly in historic sports car events, but also at Le Mans in 1984 when he raced a Nimrod.