Endurance racer Mike Salmon has died after a prolonged illness. He was 82.
Mike Salmon’s career spanned more than 60 years and was most closely associated with the Le Mans 24 Hours. He raced at La Sarthe 13 times, beginning in 1962 at the wheel of his own Aston Martin DB4GT Zagato. His best result came the following year, finishing fifth alongside Jack Sears in a Maranello Concessionaires-backed Ferrari 330LMB. Salmon served as a sales director at the Ferrari importer for a number of years.
Following success in ’63, Salmon raced for the British outfit twice more, driving a 250LM in 1965 and a Dino 206S a year later. By 1967 he had moved on to a JW Automotive-run Ford GT40, in which he suffered burns to his arms and face after a fuel cap was left unsecured during the car’s first pitstop. Undeterred, he returned to Le Mans one more time in a GT40 before temporarily retiring from racing.
Unable to keep away, Salmon was back at Le Mans in 1977 and 1979, driving Robin Hamilton’s Aston Martin AMV8 RHAM, Group 5 Ferrari 512BBs in 1980 and ’81, and driving for Viscount Downe’s Aston Martin-Nimrod team between 1982-’84.
In addition to top flight endurance racing, Salmon proved tremendously competitive in Touring Cars, claiming a European Touring Car Championship victory at Brands Hatch in 1963 only to be disqualified on technical grounds. In the UK, Salmon scored a British Saloon Car Championship win at Snetterton in 1965, while driving a Ford Mustang.
