Tommy Wisdom

1939 Bentley 4.25 Litre Embiricos Pourtout Coupé that Wisdom shared with its owner H.S.F. Hay in the 1949 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Model of the factory-entered Nash-Healey that Wisdom shared with Leslie Johnson in the 1952 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Thomas Henry ("Tommy") Wisdom (16 February 1906 – 12 November 1972^[1]) was a British motoring correspondent for the Daily Herald. He was also a racing driver who took part in numerous races and rallies.^[2]

Wisdom was born in Brighton. His wife Elsie was also a racing driver, and their daughter Ann Wisdom competed in rallies, most notably as Pat Moss's co-driver.^[3][4][5] Tommy Wisdom, died in Birmingham, aged 66.

Racing, rallying and record-breaking

Wisdom specialised in endurance events and entered 52 sports car races in 33 years, including 12 Le Mans 24-hour races, 10 Mille Miglias and 4 Targa Florios. He was a class winner in the Mille Miglia in 1949 and 1952, and at Le Mans in 1950 and 1952. In 1950 he lent his Jaguar XK120 to Stirling Moss for the RAC Tourist Trophy, which brought Moss his first major international race victory.

Cars that Wisdom raced included Singer, Riley, MG, Jaguar, Aston Martin, Bristol, Nash-Healey, Jowett and Bentley, and among his co-drivers were Jack Fairman, Leslie Johnson, and Graham Whitehead.

An experienced rally driver, he competed in the Monte Carlo Rally 23 times.^[6][7]

In 1959 he was a member of the three-driver BMC team whose EX-219 streamliner, a purpose-built experimental Austin-Healey Sprite, broke 12 speed records at Bonneville Salt Flats. The car averaged 138.75 mph (223.30 km/h) for 12 hours.^[8]

Sports car racing results

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References