Celebrities who raced

[Har1MAS1415]

Something different.

Refers to celebrities who took part in any form of Motorsport.

This is former world featherweight boxing champion Barry McGuigan competing in the 1987 ESSO MG Metro Turbo Challenge.

(Currently watching the celeb in question on "I'm A Celebrity! Get Me Out of Here!" at the time of writing.)

 

[05XR8]

Frankie Muñiz from Malcolm in the Middle. He used to race open wheel cars. He’s racing Stock Cars now.

 

[Har1MAS1415]

French actor Claude Brasseur won the 1983 Paris-Dakar Rally with Jacky Ickx in this converted Mercedes 280 GE.

 

[daan]

Broadcaster Mike Smith drove Sierra Cosworths and M3s in the BTCC for a few years and was fairly successful.

 

[Har1MAS1415]

Michael Fassbender has been driving Ferraris and Porsches since 2017 and took part in the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2022 and 2023.

 

[AudiMan2011]

Keanu Reeves took part in the Toyota GR86 Cup at Indianapolis this year

 

[Har1MAS1415]

Rowan Atkinson raced in the UK Renault 5 Turbo Cup in the mid-1980s.

 

[MatskiMonk]

Actor, Patrick Dempsey, fairly well known in sportscar racing...

Maxi Jazz, front man of Faithless (now passed), raced in the Porsche Cup

British Olympic cyclist, Sir Chris Hoy, raced at Le Mans, and a number of races along the way...

Bloke from Emmerdale (British TV Soap), gave up acting and raced in the BTCC...

Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason raced at Le Mans a handful of times

 

[Har1MAS1415]

Actor, Patrick Dempsey, fairly well known in sportscar racing...

View attachment 1407693

Maxi Jazz, front man of Faithless (now passed), raced in the Porsche Cup

View attachment 1407694

British Olympic cyclist, Sir Chris Hoy, raced at Le Mans, and a number of races along the way...

View attachment 1407695

Bloke from Emmerdale (British TV Soap), gave up acting and raced in the BTCC...

View attachment 1407696

Kelvin Fletcher

 

[MatskiMonk]

Kelvin Fletcher

That's the one. At least I got the programme right.


AC/DC's Brian Johnson at the Daytona 24 hour...

That's the only other one I can of outside of Celebrity Pro-Am races.

 

[crooky369]

Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner raced in the US professionally. I think the car below was their entry in the Daytona 24 hours.

 

[Har1MAS1415]

This is Bob Drake. He was a stunt performer and he was also the last driver to race the Maserati 250F in the F1 World Championship at the 1960 United States GP.

Bob Drake

Bob Drake (born 14 Dec 1919 San Francisco, California; died 18 Apr 1990 Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California).

www.oldracingcars.com

 

[-Fred-]

Paul Newman raced just about everything under the sun and was co-owner of the Newman-Haas Indycar team.

 

[Har1MAS1415]

Rick Parfitt Jr raced in the British Touring Car Championship in 2021 and 2022.

 

[McLaren]

Paul Newman raced just about everything under the sun and was co-owner of the Newman-Haas Indycar team.

Interestingly, iirc, Newman got this fellow into racing a Z car as well in 1987 for a very short time.

While filming for the movie, the two men became close friends, which ultimately led to Newman offering Cruise a chance to race a Nissan 300ZX in various Sports Car Club of America races as part of the Newman/Sharp team in the 1987 season. While not a professional driver, Cruise went on to win 4 of his 16 races in his very first season, impressing everyone with his racing skills.

 

[Har1MAS1415]

Interestingly, iirc, Newman got this fellow into racing a Z car as well in 1987 for a very short time.

Oh yes! Tom Cruise!

 

[-Fred-]

Gene Hackman drove a Toyota Celica for Dan Gurney's AAR team in 1983

 

[Har1MAS1415]

Steve McQueen

He drove Sir John Whitmore's Mini Cooper at Brands Hatch in October 1961.

B.R.S.C.C. BRANDS HATCH

B.R.S.C.C. BRANDS HATCH (October 1st) The B.R.S.C.C. National Race Meeting at Brands Hatch saw some excellent racing mixed with some uninteresting stuff. The best, race of the day came in…

www.motorsportmagazine.com

 

[ScottPuss20]

Eric Bana

Mind you this was in '08. Of course he's probably more remembered for his Falcon Coupe.
(And yes that little boy in the red t-shirt is me)

 

[Har1MAS1415]

Tiff Needell, TV presenter (most notably on Top Gear and Fifth Gear), one-time F1 driver with the Ensign team.

 

[daan]

View attachment 1407794
Tiff Needell, TV presenter (most notably on Top Gear and Fifth Gear), one-time F1 driver with the Ensign team.

That's like mentioning Sky F1 analyst Martin Brundle as a celebrity racing driver. Tiff was a proper racing driver first.

 

[Har1MAS1415]

Shane Lynch of Boyzone fame.

 

[Roo]

@Har1MAS1415 You can always put several drivers and photos in one post like MatskiMonk did, that'll save you having to wait for someone else to post.

Mötley Crüe vocalist Vince Neil did 4 races in the 1992 Indy Lights championship, with a best result of 10th at Milwaukee.

Supermodel and TV presenter Jodie Kidd raced in the 2004 Maserati Trofeo.

 

[Har1MAS1415]

@Har1MAS1415 You can always put several drivers and photos in one post like MatskiMonk did, that'll save you having to wait for someone else to post.

Mötley Crüe vocalist Vince Neil did 4 races in the 1992 Indy Lights championship, with a best result of 10th at Milwaukee.

Supermodel and TV presenter Jodie Kidd raced in the 2004 Maserati Trofeo.

That's true.

Doesn’t always occur to me, I admit.

Back on subject.

Brazilian Suzane Carvalho went from actress to the first ever female Formula 3 Champion. She was the South American F3 Class B Champion in 1992.

This is her competing in Pan American Indy Lights.

Mulheres ao volante: Suzane Carvalho

É a primeira vez deste ano que a seção Mulheres ao Volante aparece no nosso querido blog. Depois de falar sobre as mulheres que brilharam principalmente no velho continente, hoje vamos falar sobre …

formulatotal.wordpress.com

Suzane Carvalho

Suzane Carvalho is a former winner of the South American Formula Three Championship (B class), in 1992. She got quite a late start ...

speedqueens.blogspot.com

 

[MagpieRacer]

Actor Eric Bana, most in Australia, doing rallies among other things, known for his Falcon.

Actor Michael Fassbender has competed in multiple racing series' and raced at the Le Mans 24hr.

Actor and comedian, Rowan Atkinson, has competed in mutiple classic racing events and is a Goodwood regular.

Pink Floyd drummer, Nick Mason, has many cars in his collection and has raced most of them, he has also raced at the Le Mans 24hr.

 

[Har1MAS1415]

Matt Aitken of Stock Aitken Waterman fame entered the Monaco and Silverstone rounds of the 1991 Jaguar Intercontinental Challenge.

 

[Famine]

That's like mentioning Sky F1 analyst Martin Brundle as a celebrity racing driver. Tiff was a proper racing driver first.

Although you never see him, the voice-over artist and narrator from the cartoon series "Roary the Racing Car" - and actually he appeared as the driver to Peter Sellers' decoy Bond in Niven's Casino Royale - drove in some F1 races back in the day.

 

[Har1MAS1415]

Actor, Patrick Dempsey, fairly well known in sportscar racing...

View attachment 1407693

Maxi Jazz, front man of Faithless (now passed), raced in the Porsche Cup

View attachment 1407694

British Olympic cyclist, Sir Chris Hoy, raced at Le Mans, and a number of races along the way...

View attachment 1407695

Bloke from Emmerdale (British TV Soap), gave up acting and raced in the BTCC...

View attachment 1407696

Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason raced at Le Mans a handful of times

View attachment 1407697
View attachment 1407698

Pink Floyd manager Steve O'Rourke raced at Le Mans eight times between 1979 and 1998.

 

[Tornado]

The Tom Cruise one always fascinated me because he seemed to have a decent knack for it and he's done several movies where he's done his own car stunts and he seemed to enjoy it (insofar as Tom Cruise is capable of feeling emotions) and then he never ever did it again.

 

[Har1MAS1415]

James Dean

Andrew Ridgeley of WHAM raced in Renault 5s and Formula 3 in the mid-1980s.

The messy racing career of an ex-Wham! superstar - The Race

When pop superstars Wham! split, George Michael went straight into a solo career. Andrew Ridgeley went straight into... French Formula 3

www.the-race.com

Racing drivers that became TV/Film personalities/celebrities are allowed.

That's why I mentioned Tiff Needell earlier in the thread.