Peter Procter - Misplaced Pages

British cyclist and rally driver (1930–2024)

Peter Roderick Procter (16 January 1930 – 15 August 2024) was a British cycling champion, rally driver and racing driver.

Life and career

Procter was born on 16 January 1930. Shortly after his birth he moved to Harrogate, and then to Alne Hall in the village of Alne, near York. Following the premature death of his parents, he moved back to Bradford, where he took up cycling. Procter competed in all types of cycle racing at home and on the Continent, but excelled in hill climbs, winning the British championship in 1951.

After becoming disillusioned with UK cycling, and after the British Olympic Committee failed to select both him and other top cyclists of the time to represent Great Britain in the Olympics, Procter dropped out of professional cycling to concentrate on his building company in Bradford. He was soon involved in rallying. He competed in events including the RAC Rally, Tulip Rally, Coupe des Alpes (Alpine Rally), Tour de France Automobile and Monte Carlo Rally. Procter also competed in the Le Mans 24 Heures race several times, and raced in many Grands Prix, his highest position second in the Berlin Grand Prix.

Procter's racing career ended in 1966 when he was hit from behind in a saloon car race at Goodwood. After several somersaults, the car burst into flames and Procter was left with third degree burns to 65 per cent of his skin. After many months of treatment and operations, he left hospital and returned home to Yorkshire, where he lived with his wife and family.

Procter returned to driving a few times, including racing his original Sunbeam Tiger at the Le Mans Historic in 2002, and remained involved in motorsport, as a member of the British Racing Drivers Club at Silverstone.

Procter died on 15 August 2024, at the age of 94.

References

"Peter Procter – BRDC Members". British Racing Drivers Club. Retrieved 16 January 2014.
"Peter Procter; 1930 – 2024 – a few words on one of the nicest people in sport". Motorpunk. Retrieved 17 August 2024.
"Peter Procter our beloved and incredible Daddy passed away on Thursday". Gary Procter on Facebook. 17 August 2024. Retrieved 17 August 2024.

Tigers United

External links

Peter Procter at Cycling Archives (archived)

v t e British National Road Race Champions (men)
NCU (1938–1958)	Jack Holmes (1938) Jack Fancourt (1939) Reg Braddick (1944) J. A. O'Driscoll (1945) Ernie Clements (1946) Alex Taylor (1947) Bob Maitland (1948) A D Newman (1949) Gordon Thomas (1950) Peter Procter (1951) Graham Vines (1952) Ted Gerrard (1953) B J Sandy (1954) Bernard King (1955) Alan Jackson (1956) Ron Coe (1957 Independent) Stan Brittain (1957 Amateur) Bill Seggar (1958)
BLRC (1943–1958)	Ernie Clements (1943) Percy Stallard (1944) Ernie Clements (1945) George Edwards (1946) E I Upton (1947) R C Ashwin (1948) Dave Bedwell (1949) Ralph Parkin (1950) Charlie Bland (1951) Mike Howarth (1952) Derek Evans (1953) Reg Browne (1954) Des Robinson (1955) Mike England (1956) Charlie Mather (1957) Bill Baty (1958)
BLRC Independent (1946–1958)	A H Clarke (1946) Dennis Jaggard (1947) Harold Johnson (1948) Bob Thom (1949) Leonard West (1950) Dave Bedwell (1951) Ian Steel (1952) Bob Maitland (1953) Arthur Ilsley (1954) Graham Vines (1955) not held in 1956 Ron Coe (1958–1957)
Amateur (1959–1995)	Bill Baty (1959) Bill Bradley (1960–(1961) Keith Butler (1962) Bob Addy (1963) Pete Gordon (1964) Les West (1965) Arthur Metcalfe (1966) Les West (1967) Pete Matthews (1968) Brian Jolly (1969) Dave Rollinson (1970–1971) Doug Dailey (1972) Grant Thomas (1973) William Nickson (1974) Kevin Apter (1975) Doug Dailey (1976) Steve Lawrence (1977) Robert Millar (1978–1979) Steve Lawrence (1980) Mark Bell (1981) Jeff Williams (1982) John Cavanagh (1983) Neil Martin (1984) Paul Watson (1985) Deno Davie (1986) Paul Curran (1987) Neil Hoban (1988) David Cook (1989) Simeon Hempsall (1990) John Hughes (1991) Simon Bray (1992) Rob Harris (1993–1994) Simon Bray (1995)
Professional (1959–1995)	Ron Coe (1959) race was not held in 1960 Dave Bedwell (1961) John Harvey (1962) Albert Hitchen (1963) Keith Butler (1964) Albert Hitchen (1965) Dick Goodman (1966) Colin Lewis (1967–1968) Bill Lawrie (1969) Les West (1970) Danny Horton (1971) Gary Crewe (1972) Brian Jolly (1973) Keith Lambert (1974) Les West (1975) Geoff Wiles (1976) Phil Edwards (1977) Phil Corley (1978) Sid Barras (1979) Keith Lambert (1980) William Nickson (1981) John Herety (1982) Phil Thomas (1983) Steve Joughin (1984) Ian Banbury (1985) Mark Bell (1986) Paul Sherwen (1987) Steve Joughin (1988) Tim Harris (1989) Colin Sturgess (1990) Brian Smith (1991) Sean Yates (1992) Malcolm Elliott (1993) Brian Smith (1994) Robert Millar (1995)
1996–	Dave Rand (1996) Jeremy Hunt (1997) Matt Stephens (1998) John Tanner (1999–2000) Jeremy Hunt (2001) Julian Winn (2002) Roger Hammond (2003–2004) Russell Downing (2005) Hamish Haynes (2006) David Millar (2007) Rob Hayles (2008) Kristian House (2009) Geraint Thomas (2010) Bradley Wiggins (2011) Ian Stannard (2012) Mark Cavendish (2013) Peter Kennaugh (2014–2015) Adam Blythe (2016) Steve Cummings (2017) Connor Swift (2018) Ben Swift (2019) not held in 2020 Ben Swift (2021) Mark Cavendish (2022) Fred Wright (2023) Ethan Hayter (2024)

This biographical article related to English cycling is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it.

This biographical article related to English motor racing is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it.

Categories: