The decade between 1950 and 1960 saw motor sport recover from the previous decade; around the British isles, airfield runways, previously used by bombers and fighter planes, were often converted into race tracks. During this era, a number of British drivers rose to prominence with Stirling Moss and Mike Hawthorn becoming household names.
Whitehead Ferrari 125 – Swiss GP 51
Alongside such famous drivers, there were numerous  equally skilled but lesser known competitors who, on their day, were capable of beating some of the very best of British and European drivers. Many were wealthy privateers who could afford to indulge in the sport and raced at weekends for their own enjoyment and were often employed to drive for a factory team; in sports cars, the likes of Duncan Hamilton and Charles Mortimer travelled around Europe to race while in open-wheel formula cars, Reg Parnell, Roy Salvadori and, as featured in the photograph above, Peter Whitehead, competed against the established names. At the time, most drivers would swap between sports cars and grand prix cars and Peter Whitehead was no exception. Such was his ability, even Stirling Moss was happy to accept him as his co-driver. Peter was born into a family that had amassed its wealth in the wool trade and he continued to run the company as he travelled the world, often in the company of his race car if his trip coincided with a suitable event. He was born in 1914 and began competing in 1933 at the wheel of his Riley before purchasing an ERA B-type in which he secured his first major victory, winning the Australian grand prix at Bathurst in 1938. The ERA was raced successfully from 1947 but Peter missed the 1948 season following a serious accident when his aircraft crashed on take-off at Croydon airport, en route to visit the Ferrari factory in Italy. It took him a year to recover from his injuries but he later resumed his delayed journey to meet Enzo Ferrari who allowed Peter to became the first person to buy a competition Ferrari – the 125 – even though, by 1949, it was becoming uncompetitive. Despite this, Peter entered 11 grand prix between 1950 and 1954 but he recorded better results in sports cars, making headlines when he won the Le Mans 24-Hours in 1951 driving a Jaguar C-type. He raced at Le Mans between 1950 and 1958, coming home second in the final year when he drove an Aston Martin. Later that year he entered the Tour de France with his half-brother driving a Jaguar saloon but tragically the car slid off a bridge into a ravine, killing Peter instantly. The photograph shows his prized Ferrari 125 in the pits during the 1951 Swiss grand prix, a race in which he ultimately retired.
