David Hobbs

With only the occasional foray into Grand Prix racing, Hobbs forged a very satisfying career for himself over three decades, starting in the early 1960s with Lotus and Jaguar sports cars before graduating to Formula Junior, Formula 2 and then ‘big-banger’ sports cars with the Lola T70 in 1965.

His first Formula 1 break came with Bernard White’s BRM, in which he finished third in the 1966 Syracuse GP, and this led to a season of F2 with Team Surtees in 1967, before he fully established himself in the top league of sports car racing with the John Wyer team in 1968 by winning the Monza 1000 Km in a Ford GT40.

The advent of F5000/Formula A in 1969 was to provide a profitable furrow for David to plough over the next few seasons, particularly with Carl Hogan’s Lola in the States, where he was to base himself more and more. In 1974 he finished fifth in the Indianapolis 500 with a McLaren, and later in the season he deputised for the injured Mike Hailwood in a couple of Grands Prix. The sheer variety of cars that Hobbs drove throughout a career that encompassed F1, F2, endurance, Can-Am, F5000, touring cars, IMSA and much more is simply bewildering. Into the nineties David still raced occasionally, before concentrating on his role as a TV commentator for Speedvision in America, which he performed with all the characteristic professionalism one would expect from this seasoned racer.