0/0/1925 - 10/12/2005
Record updated 10-Jun-06
Dizzy was christened Desmond Addicott. When at school it was noted that he wasn't a happy soul and he was nick-named him Dismal Desmond. This was subsequently refined to Dizzy when he joined the Airforce in 1941.
He became a senior test pilot at Luton, one of the projects he worked on was the Jet Provost. Subsequently he became a BOAC test pilot, then air-show pilot. Back sometime in the '60's he was sent over to the US to fly one back that had some problem. He bought the flight crew back with him & the wagon dragons were in the 'self loading cargo' compartment. At some point over the Atlantic he decided to do a barrel roll.... no problems with the crew in the office, but they didn't mention the plan to the girls in the back.... they were a bit freaked out by the move & the subsequent drop of several thousand feet.
He flew a B25 and B17 in the film Memphis Belle, the Junkers JU52 in The Dirty Dozen and a biplane in Biggles, Adventures in Time. Other pilot film credits include Mosquito Squadron (1969) and a Biggles film. Dizzy also cites some involvement with Gary Newman's flying escapades.
On starting racing in the mid 50's he proved himself to be very quick in a Lotus 15 with Buick V8 power and an Alfa engined Elva Mk6 sport-racer. This was the first rear engined Elva sports racer and the only factory built Alfa powered Elva. He also competed on the Internatinal scene with an Elva 100 Formula Junior and a DKW 800S in the ETCC.
In the 60's he had announced plans for a stab at Breedloves 407mph LSR but this didn't materialise. Dizzy was always fond of Minis, particularly the Mini Cooper. He found the idea of streamlining the Mini attractive and decided to develop this idea into a racing/sports car using his knowledge of aerodynamics. Dizzy applied Kamm's theory that a truncated teardrop shape was more efficient than a tapered point. Hence the rear of the car is blunt. Dizzy's project car was named the DART (or Mini DART), the letters standing for Dizzy Addicott Racing Team.
He died of an aneurism while driving his car on the M11 on the evening of Saturday 10th December, he was 83.