Richard Seaman

Richard John Beattie Seaman (4 February 1913 – 25 June 1939) was a British racing driver. He drove for the Mercedes-Benz team from 1937 to 1939 in the Mercedes-Benz W125 and W154 cars, winning the 1938 German Grand Prix. He died of his injuries after his car overturned at the 1939 Belgian Grand Prix.

Seaman was born in Aldingbourne House near Chichester, Sussex, into a wealthy family, the son of William John Beattie-Seaman and Lillian Seaman. He initially lived at Kentwell Hall, Long Melford, Suffolk, developing an enthusiasm for motoring from his childhood. After studying at Rugby School Seaman moved onto Trinity College, Cambridge, where as a student Seaman's first experience of racing was at the 1931 Shelsley Walsh Speed Hill Climb near the Malvern Hills, won by Whitney Straight. Seaman's parents encouraged him to become a Member of Parliament or a lawyer.

During his time at Cambridge University Seaman and a friend embarked on a three-day flight to South Africa, and he often cruised around Europe with his family. His family bought Pull Court in Worcestershire in 1933, former home of the two politicians Richard Dowdeswell, father and son, as a stately home for him to inherit. In 1934 he resolved to become a racing driver and took his MG car to the European mainland to gain experience.

In his early career Seaman won the Voiturette race of the Swiss Grand Prix event at Bremgarten on his first attempt, he went on to win it three times consecutively. He won other small races for English Racing Automobiles (ERA), notably at Brooklands and Donington Park. Seaman competed in the Mont Ventoux Hill Climb after being encouraged to do so by Straight. A talented Anglo-American aristocratic racing driver, Straight, served as Seaman's friend and mentor during his early years of motor racing.

In 1935 Seaman enjoyed a fruitful year with ERA; he took pole position at the 1935 Dieppe Grand Prix, and won the junior category of the 1935 Coppa Acerbo. And he also won the Czech Masaryk Grand Prix with ERA B-Type (Voiturette) in September 1935. In his early years Seaman took part in speed trials on the Eynsham bypass near his student home of Cambridge, but by the 1936 Grand Prix Season he was more focused on Grand Prix racing.

Seaman was very successful in the 1936 season both in UK and on the Continent using a 1926 1,500 cc (92 cu in) Delage race car which was developed and modified to be almost unbeatable at the time with Seaman driving. He won the British Empire Trophy in 1936 at Donington Park in an ERA. Seaman also won the 1936 Donington Grand Prix in a Delage sharing the honour with Swiss Grand Prix driver Hans Rüesch.

Seaman competed in numerous hill climb events also, winning his class at Freiburg in 1936, impressively only a second behind the overall winner Hans Stuck in an Auto Union.^{[citation needed]}

Eventually Mercedes team chief Alfred Neubauer invited him for a trial at the Nürburgring. Both Silver Arrows teams used to have at least one foreign driver, if available.^{[citation needed]}