Jack Fairman, whose film-star looks gave him a passing resemblance to Ronald Coleman, came into racing the hard way, studying at engineering college and then joining Daimler in Coventry as a fitter. Moving on to Armstrong-Siddeley, he began to establish his reputation as a test driver.

He first raced in 1934 in his own car and by 1939 he was well known on the amateur circuit. After serving with the Royal Tank Regiment in the war, he resumed racing with Bentleys and Bugattis, finishing eighth in the 1949 Le Mans 24-hour race in an HRG. He formed a solid partnership with Stirling Moss.

In 1952 he made his F1 debut at the age of 40, the first of 12 relatively uneventful races for a succession of teams. At the 1961 British Grand Prix he drove the remarkable four-wheel-drive Ferguson, but was forced to hand it over to Moss when the latter's Lotus broke down. His most productive season was 1956 when driving a Connaught he came fourth at Silverstone and fifth at Monza.

But he was at his best away from F1 - in Aston Martins he scored several world sports car championship victories - and also as an in-demand test driver. After a brief stint with ATS in Italy in 1963, he retired to run his engineering company.

Popular with his fellow drivers, he was nicknamed Jolly Jack or Fearless Fairman. His tremendous strength was also legendary, and on one occasion at the Nurburgring he single-handedly pushed his car out of a ditch.

Martin Williamson