Bob Anderson

Born: 19th May 1931, London, England.

Died: 14th August 1967, Northampton, England.

Bob Anderson began his career on motorcycles in the late 1950s before switching to cars in a Formula Junior Lotus in 1961. Having honed his skills he bought a Lola F1 car from the Bowmaker team and raced in several non-championship races, winning the Rome Grand Prix in 1963.

The following year Anderson acquired a Brabham BT11 and he and his wife Marie-Edmée set off on the World Championship trail as a privateer entry, taking a superb third in the attrition-hit Austrian Grand Prix at Zeltweg and winning the Wolfgang von Trips Trophy as the best private entrant of the year. In 1965 his season yielded no points and was cut short after the Brabham was wrecked at the Nurburgring, but the Londoner was back on the grid for the advent of the 3-litre formula in 1966 with a new Climax four-cylinder engine in the back of the rebuilt car.

Anderson returned to two wheels in 1966 to assist Yamaha in developing their new 250cc machine and he took a fifth in the Dutch TT at Assen before taking sixth in the Italian Grand Prix in his Brabham, thus scoring World Championship points on two wheels and four in the same season.

Anderson continued with his old Brabham into the 1967 season, still taking the fight to the works teams, but sadly while testing at a wet Silverstone he aquaplaned off the track and crashed into a marshals’ post, dying in hospital of his injuries.