Rob Walker: 1917-2002

The Englishman will be best remembered as a perennial thorn in the side of factory GP teams during the late 1950s and 1960s. Between '58 and '68, his team scored a total of nine F1 world championship GP victories. He was also one of the most popular personalties ever to grace the paddocks.

Walker's partnership with Sir Stirling Moss marked his team's most successful period in the sport. Together, they scored maiden victories for both Cooper and Lotus, beating the marques' works teams to do so.

Moss was attracted to Walker's Dorking-based team because of his desire to drive for a British outfit. Their first GP glory came at the '58 season opener in Argentina when Moss delivered an historic victory. Not only did it mark Cooper and Walker's first GP win, it was also a first for a rear-engined car, a private entrant and the Coventry Climax motor.

In '60, Walker began running the first rear-engined Lotus GP car, the 18. Moss duly delivered the marque's first win at Monaco behind the wheel of the blue machine with the white hoop around its nose. He repeated the result the following year in a performance that is regarded as one of his greatest. Moss held off the might of the 'shark-nosed' Ferrari 156s of Wolfgang von Trips and Phil Hill around the Principality's streets.

Stirling's top-line driving career came to an end with a crash at Goodwood on Easter Monday '62, and it marked the end of Walker's most sucessful period in the sport too. But there was still the odd great day to come.

For the '68 season, Walker persuaded Colin Chapman to supply him with a Lotus 49 for Jo Siffert to drive. At the British Grand Prix at Brands Hatch, 'Seppi' put in the race of his life to hold off Chris Amon's Ferrari for victory.

Walker's F1 team continued into the '70s, running the works Surtees outfit. But his squad's best days were behind it and eventually, Rob pulled out of F1 forever. But his legacy as the greatest privateer entrant in the history of GP racing was already secure.

For a full obituary, plus an appreciation from our GP editor Nigel Roebuck, see this week's AUTOSPORT, on sale May 2.