TriumphTR2

Ken Richardson and the Triumph TR2

BRM's test driver, who reputedly condemned the 20TS prototype, joined Standard-Triumph to develop it, drove the TR2 at Jabbeke and in 1954 found himself running its competition department. His years with the TR2, to 1955, and what he said of them.

About the pictureThe cockpit of the Jabbeke car, MVC 575, photographed in 2016.

Looking down into the open cockpit of a pale green roadster: a single curved low screen, a black steering wheel, the dials and a floor with no seats fitted.
Stand-in The open cockpit of MVC 575, the car of the Jabbeke runs, at a show in November 2016; it is not a picture of the man.Andrew Bone, CC BY 2.0

Ken Richardson came to the TR2 from BRM, where he was, in oldracingcars.com's words, "a long-time development and test driver", the role he is best known for. The same site gives him no Grand Prix start: he was entered in 1951 but did not start. oldracingcars.com gives his birth in Bourne, Lincolnshire, in 1911, and his death there in 1997. This page follows him through the TR2's three years.⁠1​2

Life to 1955

Sources for Ken Richardson

Allen Brown, "Ken Richardson" (driver page), oldracingcars.com⁠1; Richard Heseltine, "Triumph TR2/3", Motor Sport, Jan 2010, p. 122⁠2; Paul Richardson, "TR2 Golden Anniversary", Moss Motoring, 1 Mar 2003⁠3; Triumph Motor Company (1945) Ltd, Triumph T.R.2 Sports Car (sales brochure), Rep. 12.53 (Dec 1953)⁠4; Bill Boddy ("W.B."), "Stop Press – A Fast Triumph", Motor Sport, Jun 1953, p. 50⁠5; Triumph Sports Owners Association, Triumph Sports Owners Association Newsletter, July 1956, Jul 1956⁠6; Richard Olguin and Harriet Olguin, "The TR 3-S At Le Mans", Sports Cars Illustrated, Oct 1959, p. 46ff⁠7; Moss Motoring, "Names to Know – Triumph's Kenneth Richardson"⁠8; Motor Sport, "Standard's convincing success in difficult R.A.C. Rally", Apr 1955, p. 17⁠9

In 1952 Richardson drove the 20TS prototype. Richard Heseltine, writing in Motor Sport in 2010, has him reputedly condemning it and then being invited to join the company. Through the winter he tested the car being made from it, and in May 1953 he drove a TR2 in speed trim at the Jabbeke speed test.

He was demonstrating a Swallow Doretti when it crashed, injuring Sir John Black, who then retired from Standard's board; Motor Sport, reporting it in February 1954, added that the Doretti was not to blame. That March the TR2 won the RAC Rally, and Richardson later told what followed:

This success made everyone at the works very competition-minded and they decided to start a competitions department – much to my horror, for I'd had 18 years in motoring sport and really wanted to get out of it.

Ken Richardson to Motor, 1973, as quoted by Richard Heseltine, Motor Sport, January 2010

He drove as well as managing. In May 1954 he finished the Mille Miglia with Maurice Gatsonides, whom Heseltine names as his team-mate; the results below place them as racingsportscars does, one place higher than Motor Sport's report of the time. A Richardson is printed in the TR2 crews of the 1954 Alpine Rally and of the Tourist Trophies of 1954 and 1955, but no source read says that it was Ken. In 1955 he drove one of Standard's small saloons on the Monte Carlo Rally, where Motor Sport found him very fast on the mountain circuit, and on the RAC Rally, where he finished third overall in a Standard Ten with J. C. Heathcote; that spring he won his class at the Inter-Varsity speed trial at Tempsford in the Standard Ten, and spun a left-hand-drive TR2 there on his second run. In June he and Bert Hadley drove the works TR2 PKV 375 at Le Mans in 1955, and they finished.⁠2​10​4​11​12​13​14​15​16​17​9​18​19

Before the 1955 race, in the words of British Pathé's commentary, "Ken Richardson backs his TR2 to the pit"; No. 29, the car he shared with Hadley, is on screen at about 1:55.Video: Le Mans 1955 - Reel 1 Part 2 (1955), British Pathé, 1955

His verdicts and words

His verdict on the 20TS has come down only at second hand. Heseltine wrote in 2010 that he "reputedly labelled it a 'death trap'". Later retellings are longer: an unsigned profile in Moss Motoring has him call it "the most awful car I've ever driven in my life, it's a bloody death trap", and Wikipedia, citing an article of 1973 by Richard Langworth, "the most bloody awful car I've ever driven". No first-hand account was read, and the three do not agree on the words.

On the works cars he ran, he told Motor in 1973, as Heseltine quotes him, that "The cars themselves were never very special." On his own part in making the TR2, his son Paul quoted him in 2003:

I advised on design aspects and was responsible for the development of the car, but there was a host of engineers involved who did outstanding work. Without them, the project would not have been possible.

Ken Richardson, as quoted by Paul Richardson, Moss Motoring, March 2003

Roles

  1. 1952

    Chief test driver

    Joined Standard-Triumph after driving the 20TS, invited, Heseltine writes, to take the car in hand; the 1953 brochure names him the Standard Motor Company's chief test driver. He spent hours lapping M.I.R.A. at over 100 mph during the TR2's development (Motor Sport, 1955)

    Richard Heseltine, "Triumph TR2/3", Motor Sport, Jan 2010, p. 122⁠2; Triumph Motor Company (1945) Ltd, Triumph T.R.2 Sports Car (sales brochure), Rep. 12.53 (Dec 1953)⁠4; Bill Boddy ("W.B."), "Impressions of the Triumph TR2", Motor Sport, Feb 1955, p. 30⁠10; Paul Richardson, "TR2 Golden Anniversary", Moss Motoring, 1 Mar 2003⁠3

  2. 1954

    Competition manager

    Ran the works competition department formed after the 1954 RAC Rally win (Heseltine, Motor Sport, 2010); at first it worked from a corner of the experimental department at Banner Lane

    Richard Heseltine, "Triumph TR2/3", Motor Sport, Jan 2010, p. 122⁠2

Results

Sources

Every source the site cites is on the sources page.

  • Primarymade at the time, by the maker or by people who were there
  • Referenceserious later work: clubs, specialists, magazines, books
  • Databaseresults and listings, entry by entry
  • Uncheckedencyclopaedias and enthusiast sites: cited beside a good source, named in the sentence, or marked Unchecked
  1. Allen Brown, "Ken Richardson" (driver page), oldracingcars.com. oldracingcars.com/driver/Ken_Richardson Reference
  2. Richard Heseltine, "Triumph TR2/3", Motor Sport, Jan 2010, p. 122, p. 122; p. 122, the 20TS; the competition department; Richardson to Motor, 1973; p. 122, "reputedly labelled it a 'death trap'"; the works cars; "Richardson himself teamed up with Maurice Gatsonides". motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/january-2010/122/by-richard-heseltine Reference
  3. Paul Richardson, "TR2 Golden Anniversary", Moss Motoring, 1 Mar 2003, Ken Richardson's own words. mossmotoring.com/tr2-golden-anniversary Reference
  4. Triumph Motor Company (1945) Ltd, Triumph T.R.2 Sports Car (sales brochure), Rep. 12.53 (Dec 1953), the Jabbeke caption; p. 6; p. 6, table of the runs. Primary
  5. Bill Boddy ("W.B."), "Stop Press – A Fast Triumph", Motor Sport, Jun 1953, p. 50, p. 50. motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/june-1953/50/stop-press-a-fast-triumph Primary
  6. Triumph Sports Owners Association, Triumph Sports Owners Association Newsletter, July 1956, Jul 1956, p. 1. vintagetriumphregister.org/tsoa/TSOAJuly1956.pdf Primary
  7. Richard Olguin and Harriet Olguin, "The TR 3-S At Le Mans", Sports Cars Illustrated, Oct 1959, p. 46ff. Primary
  8. Moss Motoring, "Names to Know – Triumph's Kenneth Richardson", the 20TS. mossmotoring.com/names-know-triumphs-kenneth-richardson Unchecked
  9. Motor Sport, "Standard's convincing success in difficult R.A.C. Rally", Apr 1955, p. 17, p. 17: "W.K. Richardson"; p. 17. motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/april-1955/17/stardards-convicing-successin-difficullt-rac-rally Primary
  10. Bill Boddy ("W.B."), "Impressions of the Triumph TR2", Motor Sport, Feb 1955, p. 30, p. 30, M.I.R.A.; p. 30. motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/february-1955/30/impressions-of-the-triumph-tr2 Primary
  11. Motor Sport, "Rumblings", Feb 1954, p. 17, p. 17, the Doretti. motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/february-1954/17/rumblings-february-1954 Primary
  12. racingsportscars.com, Mille Miglia 1954, results, results, No. 528; results table, 27th. racingsportscars.com/results/Mille_Miglia-1954-05-02.html Database
  13. Motor Sport, "Mille Miglia Musings", Jun 1954, p. 29, p. 29, "finishing 28th"; p. 29, which reports 28th. motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/june-1954/29/mille-miglia-musings Primary
  14. Motor Sport, "Matters Of Moment" (the 1954 Alpine Rally), Sep 1954, p. 15, p. 15, the Alpine team. motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/september-1954/15/matters-of-moment-september-1954 Primary
  15. racingsportscars.com, Tourist Trophy 1954 (Dundrod), results, No. 29. racingsportscars.com/results/Dundrod-1954-09-11.html Database
  16. racingsportscars.com, Tourist Trophy 1955 (Dundrod), results, No. 21. racingsportscars.com/results/Dundrod-1955-09-18.html Database
  17. Motor Sport, "Rumblings", Mar 1955, p. 25, p. 25, the Monte Carlo Rally. motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/march-1955/25/rumblings-march-1955 Primary
  18. Bill Boddy, "Inter-Varsity Speed Trial at Tempsford", Motor Sport, Apr 1955, p. 24, p. 24. motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/april-1955/24/inter-varsity-speed-trial-at-tempsford Primary
  19. racingsportscars.com, Le Mans 24 Hours 1955, results and car data, No. 29; results table, 15th; entry data, No. 29. racingsportscars.com/results/Le_Mans-1955-06-12.html Database
  20. Wikipedia (EN), "Ken Richardson (racing driver)", the 20TS, citing Langworth (1973). en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Richardson_(racing_driver) Unchecked
  21. Bill Boddy, "The Sports Cars of Britain", Motor Sport, Jul 1953, p. 19, p. 19, the engineering team. motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/july-1953/19/the-sports-cars Primary
  22. TR Register, "Triumph TR2 Buyers Guide" (the TR2 data sheet), TR2 page, the engineers. tr-register.co.uk/resources/buyers-guide/triumph-tr2 Reference
  23. Silverstone Auctions (now Iconic Auctioneers), "1955 Triumph TR2 – PKV 374" (lot 138), NEC Classic Motor Show Sale, 10 Nov 2019, lot 138. iconicauctioneers.auctioneersvault.com/catalogues/nec-classic-motor-show-2019/138 Reference
  24. Motor Sport, "Les Vingt-Quatre Heures du Mans" (1955), Jul 1955, p. 15, p. 15. motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/july-1955/15/les-vingt-quatre-heurs-du-mans-1955 Primary