Former tin-top hero, Le Mans ace and later specialist car manufacturer Chris Craft passed away on 20 February following a lengthy illness.
Having started his career in the automotive industry with an apprenticeship at Ford, Craft soon found his way into the competition department and began racing in 1961 in John Young’s Superspeed Anglia.
His decision to quit Ford coincided with being spotted by the firm’s PR supremo Walter, who offered him Blue Oval support in a Willment-prepared Cortina.
Although perhaps best known for his exploits in touring cars – he narrowly missed out on the 1969 British Saloon Car Championship title – Craft drove some 44 different makes and models in a wide variety of formulae across his 20-plus years on track.
He achieved huge success in sports cars, with 14 appearances at Le Mans and victory in the 1973 European Sports Car Championship, but his Formula One record was rather shorter, with just a sole outing in 1971 aboard Alain de Cadenet’s Ecurie Evergreen Brabham BT33 at Watkins Glen.
“I never really liked single-seaters,” Craft told Richard Heseltine in an interview for C&SC in 2010, having watched too many of his friends perish in open-wheelers. “I did Formula Three and F5000, but I preferred saloons and sports cars.”
The LCC Rocket was a joint venture between Chris Craft and Gordon Murray
