South African racing legend Dave Charlton, who started in 11 world championship grands prix from 1967-1975, died last weekend at the age of 76.
Yorkshire-born Charlton, whose family emigrated to South Africa while he was still a child, was a regular in his home round of the world championship.
He took his best finish at Kyalami in 1970, finishing 12th in a Lotus 49C run by respected local outfit Scuderia Scribante. A year later he raced a factory-Brabham BT33 in the South African Grand Prix
His sole outing for Team Lotus came in the 1971 British Grand Prix as team-mate to Emerson Fittipaldi, one of a number of Formula 1 outings in Europe.
After qualifying 13th, his engine expired on the second lap.
But Charlton, who started out racing an Austin Healey in 1960 after competing in speed events and won his debut race before moving into single-seaters driving a Lotus 20, is best remembered for his successes in his home country.
He won the South African drivers' championship, run to F1 regulations, six times from 1970-1975 driving first a Lotus 49, then a Lotus 72 before switching to a McLaren M23 in 1975.
Charlton was also successful in sportscars and saloon cars in South Africa, notably winning the Goldfields 3 Hours in 1971 sharing a Chevron B19 with John Hine.
autosport.com
