Kenny Acheson

Kenny Acheson (27 November 1957 - Present): Northern Irish racing driver from Cookstown, County Tyrone who participated in three Formula One World Championship Grands Prix in 1983 and 1985, failing to qualify for two of them and scoring no championship points. Acheson began his racing career in Formula Ford in the late 1970s, showing promise that led him to progress through the junior formulae. He won the 1978 Northern Ireland Formula Ford Championship and moved to England to further his career. In British Formula Three, Acheson demonstrated competitive pace, finishing third in the 1981 championship behind future Formula One regulars Jonathan Palmer and Dave Scott.

His F3 success earned him a step up to Formula Two for 1982, where he raced for the March works team, achieving several strong finishes including podiums. Acheson's Formula One opportunity came in 1983 when he was given a drive by the struggling RAM Racing team, making his debut at the South African Grand Prix. The RAM-March 01 was hopelessly uncompetitive, powered by a Cosworth DFV engine when turbocharged cars were beginning to dominate. At Kyalami, Acheson qualified in 25th position, last on the grid, and retired after 39 laps with engine failure.

He failed to pre-qualify at Long Beach and Monaco, and his brief F1 stint with RAM ended after just three attempts. For 1984, Acheson moved to CART IndyCar racing in America, competing for Theodore Racing alongside Danny Sullivan. He showed flashes of speed but struggled with the team's inconsistent equipment. The 1984 season included a spectacular crash at the Michigan 500 where Acheson's car became airborne, though he escaped injury.

His best CART finish came with sixth place at Phoenix in 1985. Acheson returned to Formula One for two races in 1985 with RAM, now running Hart turbo engines. At Detroit he failed to pre-qualify, and at the European Grand Prix at Brands Hatch he again failed to make it through pre-qualifying—a humiliating two-stage elimination system introduced that year to reduce the oversized grid. It marked the end of his Formula One career with a record of three race entries, one start, and two retirements before even reaching qualifying.

Following his unsuccessful Formula One and CART campaigns, Acheson found his niche in sports car racing. He joined the Brun Motorsport Porsche team and achieved significant success, winning the 1985 1000km of Spa alongside Oscar Larrauri. For several seasons he was a regular frontrunner in the World Sports-Prototype Championship, racing Porsche 962s with various teams including Joest Racing, Richard Lloyd Racing, and Brun. In 1987, Acheson scored one of his career highlights by winning the Norisring round of the World Sportscar Championship.

He also competed at Le Mans multiple times, with his best finish being fifth in 1985. Acheson continued racing sportscars through the early 1990s before transitioning into historic racing, where he remains active, regularly competing in classic Porsche 962s and other Group C machinery at events worldwide. Known for his determination, smooth driving style, and ability to extract performance from difficult cars, Acheson's Formula One career may have been brief and unsuccessful, but his achievements in sports car racing established him as a respected competitor. His failure to qualify at multiple Formula One events reflects more on the poor quality of the RAM team's equipment during one of the sport's most competitive eras than on his own abilities.