A Brief Biography, part 3

Innes effectively retired from frontline Motor Sport in 1967,  taking a job as the Sports Editor of Autocar magazine.  During the year he was finally divorced from his first wife Norma and had married Edna Humphries.  At the end of 1968 Innes left Autocar to compete in the London-Sydney Rally.  His experiences formed the basis of the book 'Marathon in the Dust', a follow-up to his acclaimed autobiography 'All Arms and Elbows.  Innes was a fine writer, his Autocar obituary for Jim Clark, for instance, is considered by many to be a classic of motor sport literature.

1967

Innes returned to Kirkcudbright in Scotland where he set up home in the village of Borgue.  Here he ran a trawler business, fishing the Irish sea.  This unusual career move was the source of many a good tale but little financial reward, and Innes returned to England after six years. He worked for a while in the car trade and then in the 1980s resumed his journalistic career with Road and Track also freelancing for magazines such as Classic Cars, and even writing on occasions for The Times.  As Grand Prix editor of Road and Track and later as a TV/radio commentator. Innes was once more a fixture on the Motor racing scene.

1970

Innes entering Kirkcudbright harbour 1975

1993

Innes's house in Borgue

In 1992 Ireland was elected President of the British Racing Drivers Club, succeeding the Queen's cousin Gerald Lascelles.  The club, which owns the Silverstone circuit and ran the British Grand Prix was facing a major crisis which Innes met effectively, despite the tragic death of his son.  Around this time Ireland was diagnosed with cancer and after a courageous struggle he died in October 1993, having been married that summer to his third wife Jean Mander (nee Howarth), a former model who had been engaged to Mike Hawthorn at the time of the World Champion's death.  Innes was survived by his wife and two daughters from his first marriage.

Innes pictured on his wedding day in 1993. Thanks to Peter at www.f1power.com

The BRM boss Louis Stanley, an insightful observer of the motor racing scene,  described Innes Ireland as a turbulent personality,whose outsize energy and enthusiasm never came to fruition, a driver with a big talent who could have achieved so much more had he imposed self-discipline. Innes lived, according to Stanley "without sense, without an analyst and provoked astonishment and affection from everyone".

Innes cheerfully admitted to the pursuit of a somewhat hedonistic lifestyle, "I live my life the way I enjoy it.  I do the things I want to do - probably without too much regard for the people around me."  Whether this outlook is to be praised or condemned I will leave for the reader to decide.

Robert MacGregor Innes Ireland 1930-1993