ALAN STACEY

'Alan Stacey' (August 29 1933 in Broomfield - June 19 1960 Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium), was a British racing driver from England. He participated in 7 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on July 19, 1958. He scored no championship points. He also participated in several non-Championship Formula One races.

Contents

Sports car driver

Belgian Grand Prix tragedy

Personality

Complete World Championship Formula One results

References

Sports car driver

Stacey teamed with P.H. Ashdown in a Lotus 1.098 c.c. in the
1957 24 hours of Le Mans. They finished 9th with an average speed of 159.458 kilometers per hour. The top four places were taken by British Jaguar Racing teams.^[1] Stacey
drove a Lotus-Climax to victory in Aintree, in a July 1959 race for sports cars of 1,400 cubic centimeters to two liters. His time was 37 minutes 39.4 seconds.^[2]

Belgian Grand Prix tragedy

He was killed during the 1960 Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps when — lying in sixth place''2 Rookie Drivers Die In Grand Prix'', New York Times, June 20, 1960, Page 40. with his Lotus — he crashed at 120 m.p.h., after being hit in the face by a bird, on lap 25.. Stacey was driving one of the
new monocoque Lotuses, the same type as Stirling Moss was nearly killed in.^[3]
He went off the road on the inside of a 120 mile-per-hour curve, what might have been called the ''safest'' single spot on the circuit. The inside of a turn is where great forces push a car out. Stacey's Lotus climbed an embankment that was waist-high. It penetrated ten feet of thick hedges and fell into a field.^[4] He died within a few minutes of Chris Bristow who was driving a Cooper entry which belonged to the Yeoman Credit team. The two Englishmen were killed only several hundred
feet apart, on the same right hand bend where Moss crashed the previous day. Moss came away with broken legs, three broken ribs, and a broken nose.

Personality

Stacey was described as quiet and gregarious. His driving was ''conservative'' according to one observer.
He had an artificial leg and conspired with his team mates to fool medical examinations for Le Mans. He would cross his legs with the real leg on top as the doctor checked his reflexes. His teammates would then cough violently. Stacey would uncross his legs and then recross them when the doctor turned back to him with the good leg still on top. He used a motorcycle twistgrip on the gear lever to adjust the engine speed during downshifts, because he could not "heel and toe".

Complete World Championship Formula One results

()

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	WDC	Points
1958	Team Lotus	Lotus 16	Climax Straight-4	ARG	MON	NED	500	BEL	FRA	GBR Ret	GER	POR	ITA	MOR	-	0
1959	Team Lotus	Lotus 16	Climax Straight-4	MON	500	NED	FRA	GBR 8	GER	POR	ITA	USA Ret			-	0
1960	Team Lotus	Lotus 16	Climax Straight-4	ARG Ret											-	0
		Lotus 18			MON Ret	500	NED Ret	BEL Ret	FRA	GBR	POR	ITA	USA

References

1. ''Jaguars Sweep Top Four Places'', New York Times, June 24, 1957, Page 40.
2. ''Jack Brabham First In Auto Grand Prix'', New York Times, July 19, 1959, Page S1.
3. ''Man and Machine'', New York Times, April 8,
1968, Page 66.
4. ''Why Men Race With Death'', New York Times, October 1, 1961, Page SM37.