» Happy 65th birthday, Brian Henton!

One of four former F1 drivers to be celebrating his birthday today, Brian Henton is the oldest of this quartet, celebrating his 65th birthday today!

A former British F3 and Formula 2 champion, Henton competed in 38 Grands Prix between 1975 and 1982, but never scored a championship point, largely on account of the uncompetitive machinery he often had to drive.

Dubbed ‘Superhen’ by the British press, Brian started motor racing at the relatively late age of 23, and claimed (after winning the British Formula Vee title in 1971) that he would one day be a Formula 1 World Champion.

His F1 debut came in 1975 with Lotus, by which time the Lotus 72 was proving long in the tooth and its replacement, the 76, proved little better. Alternating between F2 and F1 for the next four years, he never quite made a name for himself in either category, until his winning the 1980 F2 title for Toleman propelled him full-time into F1 with the same team.

Sadly, the turbo-powered Toleman TG181 was truly awful, and he qualified just once. The 1982 season saw a few appearances with Arrows and then Tyrrell, but no results were forthcoming and he disappeared from the F1 scene altogether.

[Image via F1-Facts]