Tony Dron

Tony Dron
Dron in a Mercedes-Benz W125 at Donington Park in 2007
Born
Anthony Middleton Dron[1]

(1946-08-29)29 August 1946
Surbiton[2]
Died16 November 2021(2021-11-16) (aged 75)[3]
Cambridge
NationalityBritish
Occupation(s)Racing driver, writer

Anthony Middleton Dron (29 August 1946 – 16 November 2021) was a British racing driver, motoring author, and journalist.[4]

Racing history

Dron was best known for racing Touring Cars in the 1970s (Triumph Dolomites for the works BL/Broadspeed team) and for competing in Porsches at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the early-to-mid-1980s, including a class win at Le Mans in 1982 in a Porsche 934, and driving a Group C (Kremer CK-5) in 1983. He was a full-time professional race driver from 1974 to 1979, for teams that included British Leyland, Unipart and Alfa UK, but his career as a racer first began in May 1968 and continued for a full 43 years.

Dron achieved a remarkable range of victories, winning events in 24 makes[5] and 41 models of car. (These are actual wins, not all the makes and models in which he competed.) The total number of wins is not known, but is well into the hundreds.

Race wins have been recorded in:

  • Alfa Romeo: 1600GT Junior, TZ1
  • Allard: JR
  • Aston Martin: DB4
  • Austin: Metro
  • Austin-Healey: 3000, 100/4
  • Bentley: 3-litre
  • BMW: Counties 3 Series, M3
  • Caterham: Seven (two types)
  • Chevrolet: Camaro
  • Datsun: 240Z
  • Ferrari: 330LMB, 246S
  • Fiat: 128 1300GT Coupé
  • Ford: Escort Mexico, Falcon, Zephyr Mk II, fwd RS2000
  • Jaguar: Mk 1, Mk 2, D-type
  • Lister: Jaguar "Knobbly"
  • Lotus: Mk 9
  • Lola: Mk6GT
  • Mazda: 323
  • MG: Maestro, MGB
  • Morgan: Plus 8
  • Porsche: 924, 924GTR, 911RSL, 928S2, 928S4, 930, 934, "935", 911 Carrera 2
  • Renault: 5
  • Triumph: TR4, Dolomite Sprint
  • TVR: Tuscan

In later years, he was also seen racing (and winning in) an enormous variety of historic cars, including the Le Mans-winning 1959 Aston Martin DBR1 and the 1960 Ferrari 246S Dino. In the Ferrari, Dron won the Sussex Trophy at the Goodwood Revival for three consecutive years. Having competed numerous times in the modern Nürburgring 24 Hours, he was known to be a highly experienced competitor on the old Nordschleife, where historic racing victories include an outright win in the 1996 Eifel Klassik in a 1963 Ferrari 330LMB, from pole position in a field of 180 cars.

Dron retired from race driving in 2011, although he still worked as a motoring journalist and test driver for Octane magazine.

Publications

Dron wrote a regular column in Octane. He was the author of several books, including Porsche: Engineering for Excellence (2008) and Alan Mann – A Life of Chance (2012, with Alan Mann), and was editor of the monthly magazine "Classic Cars" during the 1980s and early 1990s.

Racing record

Complete British Saloon / Touring Car Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.)

Year Team Car Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Pos. Pts Class
1974 Team Broadspeed Castrol Triumph Dolomite Sprint B MAL
Ret† 		BRH
DSQ 		SIL
9 		OUL
7 		THR
6 		SIL
9 		THR
5 		BRH
8 		ING
5† 		BRH
6† 		OUL
? 		SNE BRH
5 		11th 38 3rd
1975 Penthouse Racing Alfa Romeo 1600 GT Junior A MAL
?† 		BRH
16 		OUL
7 		THR
? 		SIL
Ret 		BRH THR
? 		SIL MAL
7† 		SNE SIL
? 		ING
Ret† 		BRH OUL BRH 17th 29 5th
1977 British Leyland Triumph Dolomite Sprint C SIL
3 		BRH
2 		OUL
1† 		THR
7 		SIL
Ret 		THR
2 		DON
2† 		SIL
1 		DON
1† 		BRH
1 		THR
1 		BRH
5 		2nd 52 1st
1978 British Leyland Triumph Dolomite Sprint C SIL
1 		OUL
5† 		THR
5 		BRH
2† 		SIL
5† 		DON
6† 		MAL
7† 		BRH
6 		DON
DSQ† 		BRH
? 		THR
? 		OUL
Ret† 		3rd 83 1st
1984 Team Toyota GB / Hughes of Beaconsfield Toyota Celica Supra A DON SIL
4 		OUL THR THR SIL SNE BRH BRH DON SIL 24th 3 15th
1987 Chris Hodgetts Motor Sport Toyota Corolla GT D SIL OUL THR THR SIL SIL BRH SNE DON
13‡ 		OUL DON SIL NC 0 NC
Source:[6]

† Events with 2 races staged for the different classes.

‡ Guest driver - Not eligible for points.

References

  1. ^ "Tony Dron". Motorsport Database. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  2. ^ "Drivers". BTCC. Archived from the original on 3 July 2013. Retrieved 13 April 2013.
  3. ^ "Tony Dron 1946-2021". Guild of Motoring Writers. 17 November 2021. Archived from the original on 17 November 2021. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  4. ^ Pye, Marcus (20 November 2021). "Tony Dron obituary: Touring car racer and journalist dies aged 75". Autosport. Retrieved 20 November 2021.
  5. ^ "Tony Dron obituary: Touring car racer and journalist dies aged 75". 20 November 2021.
  6. ^ de Jong, Frank. "British Saloon Car Championship". History of Touring Car Racing 1952-1993. Retrieved 25 October 2022.


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