Paul Hawkins

Hawkins in 1966
Born	(1937-10-12)12 October 1937 Richmond,Melbourne,Victoria, Australia
Died	26 May 1969(1969-05-26) (aged 31) Oulton Park,Cheshire, England, UK
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	Australian
Active years	1965
Teams	non-worksBrabham andLotus
Entries	3
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	0
Careerpoints	0
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First entry	1965 South African Grand Prix
Last entry	1965 German Grand Prix

Robert Paul Hawkins (12 October 1937 – 26 May 1969) was an Australian motor racing driver. The son of a racing motorcyclist-turned-church minister, Hawkins was a capable single-seater driver but really made his mark as an outstandingsports carcompetitor drivingFord GT40s andLola T70s. In 1969 Hawkins was included in theFIA list of graded drivers, an elite group of 27 drivers who by their achievements were rated the best in the world.^[1]

Hawkins was hugely popular and known asHawkeye; the son of a gentleman of the cloth, he was a colourful character with a wide colourful vocabulary.^[2] He was also famous for being one of two racers to crash into the harbour at theMonaco Grand Prix.

Hawkins began racing in Australia with anAustin-Healey in 1958. He left Australia and arrived in England in 1960.^[3] He found employment with theDonald Healey Motor Company Ltd.,^[4] underJohn Sprinzel:

"I put an ad in theEvening Standard newspaper looking for a mechanic and employed a really good guy to be our works foreman; his name was Paul Hawkins. Paul literally came in straight off the boat from Australia. He’d done a little bit of racing and was a very good mechanic, very good as he knew his stuff, and certainly knew the best parts of the English language, too."^[5]

Hawkins was soon behind the wheel of anAustin-Healey Sprite, racing at theAintree 200 meeting on 30 April 1960, and winning his class in the GT race.^[6] He then finished 38th at the 1960Nürburgring 1000 km race, with co-driver Cyril Simson, known as Team 221, on a "miserable foggy day in May".^[7] In 1961 at Le Mans Hawkins teamed with John Colgate in an Austin-Healey Sprite, but they retired in the eighth hour with engine problems.^[8] OnWhit Monday, 1962, atCrystal Palace Hawkins drove Ian Walker'sLotus-Ford to victory in the up to 1,150 c.c. sports car race, setting lap and race records.^[9] AtLe Mans in 1965 Hawkins, withJohn Rhodes, finished twelfth overall, and first in class, in a 1.3-litreAustin-HealeySebring Sprite entered by the Donald Healey Motor Company, completing 278 laps.^[10]

Hawkins also drove single-seaters, participating in the first race run to the newFormula Two regulations atPau on 5 April 1964, finishing seventh in a pushrodAlexis.^[11] He was entered in aTeam Alexis Alexis-Cosworth at Silverstone on 20 March 1965 but the race was abandoned due to heavy rain.^[12] He went on to win the Formula TwoEifelrennen race on theNürburgring south circuit, in bad weather, in anAlexis-Cosworth Mk. 7 on 25 April 1965.^[13]

Hawkins participated in threeFormula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 1 January 1965 at theSouth African Grand Prix in apushrod Ford 1500cc-enginedBrabhamFormula Two car. Like fellow-AustralianFrank Gardner he started with the John Willment Automobiles team. He scored no championship points, as his best finish was ninth on his debut. He did have two podium finishes in the non-championshipRand Grand Prix, held in South Africa. He finished second in1964 and third in1965. In 1964 he won theRhodesian Grand Prix in the Brabham^[14] and in 1965 he also won the Cape South Easter Formula One Trophy. He was a non-starter in the 1965 British Grand Prix^[15] and retired from the German Grand Prix that year with an oil leak.^[16]

He is one of only two Formula One drivers, along with ItalianAlberto Ascari, to have crashed into the harbour inMonaco during a Grand Prix. He did so during the1965 race, when he spun at the chicane after 79 of the 100 laps. He escaped from the crash unhurt:

"At this point there was a bit of a furore at the chicane for Hawkins struck the wooden barrier at the entry and spun through the straw bales and over the edge of the quay and into the harbour. The Lotus sank to the bottom and the rugged Australian bobbed to the surface and struck out for shore, while boats went to his rescue."^[17]

Hawkins had some considerable success in the World Sports Car Championship. On 14 May 1967, he won theTarga Florio, in Sicily, teamed withRolf Stommelen, in the factory-entered 8-cylinderPorsche 910.^[18] On 23 May 1967, he finished second in theNürburgring 1000 km in a Porsche 910.^[19] He also won theZeltweg 500 km race on 20 August 1967, in aFord GT40.^[20] On 15 October 1967, at the end of the season Hawkins, paired withJacky Ickx, won the Paris 1000 km race atMontlhéry in aJ.W. AutomotiveMirage.^[21]

Then on 25 April 1968, he won the Monza 1000 km race withDavid Hobbs in a Ford GT40, finished second in theWatkins Glen 6-hour, again with Hobbs,^[22] and scored thirds at the Nürburgring 1000 km withJacky Ickx^[23] and Zeltweg 500 km races. On 23 November 1968, he won the Cape Town Three Hours solo in aFerrari P4.^[24]

Hawkins was building a business as an owner/operator of racing cars, and in the spring of 1969 he moved his racing shop from North London toSlough.^[25] He was killed when hisLola T70 MkIIIB GT crashed and burned at Island Bend during the 1969RAC Tourist Trophy atOulton Park.^[26]

ContemporaryMike Hailwood gave the following quote in theDaily Mirror article concerning Hawkins' death: "The news of his death horrified me. I can hardly believe that a man as skilful and as experienced as he was should be killed in this way."^[27]

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(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.)

† Events with 2 races staged for the different classes.

Year	Team	Co-drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class pos.
1961	Donald Healey Motor Company	John K. Colgate Jr.	Austin-Healey Sebring Sprite	S 1.0	64	DNF	DNF
1965	Donald Healey Motor Company	John Rhodes	Austin-Healey Sebring Sprite	P 1.3	278	12th	1st
1966	Ford Motor Company Holman & Moody	Mark Donohue	Ford GT40 Mk.II	P +5.0	12	DNF	DNF
1967	Ford Motor Company Shelby-American Inc.	Ronnie Bucknum	Ford GT40 Mk.IIB	P +5.0	271	DNF	DNF
1968	JW Automotive Engineering	David Hobbs	Ford GT40	S 5.0	107	DNF	DNF

Year	Team	Co-drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class pos.
1967	M.W. Motors Pty. Ltd.	Syd Fisher	Alfa Romeo 1600 GTV	E	117	25th	5th
1968	Holden Dealer Racing Team	Bill Brown	Holden HK Monaro GTS327	D	N/A	DSQ	DSQ

• Austin-HealeySebring Sprite

• Picture of Paul Hawkins at Aintree in 1960, with Austin-Healey Sprite, X221:

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• 1969 deaths
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