Ivor Bueb

6/6/1923 - 1/8/1959

Record updated 05-Jun-06

Ivor Bueb was a British racing driver who won Le Mans in 1955 and 1957. He died in a crash at Clermont Ferrand in 1959.

Ivor Bueb was born in June 1923 in Dulwich, South London. Know as Ivor the Driver he was a garage owner from Cheltenham. Bueb began his racing career in 1953 in 500 cc racing, though he did not taste success until he got his hands on a Cooper for the 1954 season. He also achieved some success with an Arnott.

Ivor weighed in at 15 stone, not ideal for the 500cc F3 cars of the day. His car therefor was lightened to under 500lbs to compensate. Ivor did so well that he was invited to join the works team the following year, racing the 1100 cc sports car in addition to his F3 commitments.

In 1956 he won the Reims 12 Hours for Jaguar with Hamilton. But he is best known for sharing the winning Jaguar D-type with Mike Hawthorn in the 1955 24 Hours of Le Mans, a success he repeated with Ron Flockhart in the Ecurie Ecosse car in 1957. In 1957 he also made his Formula 1 debut for Connaught, then managed by Bernie Ecclestone, Bueb claiming fifth at Syracuse and third at Pau in the ageing car. He also raced a private Maserati.

In 1958 he raced his own Lotus 12 in F2 and drove for Ecurie Ecosse and Lister in sports car races. Teaming up with the ambitious British Racing Partnership stable for 1959, Ivor was as competitive as ever with the team's Formula 2 Cooper-Borgward. However disaster struck when he crashed heavily during the Auvergne Trophy race at Clermont Ferrand. He died from the injuries sustained. Bueb loved brandy and some say his sad death in F2 at Charade was due to his abuse of it.