Born 22 December 1945

David Oxton had an incredibly long and successful open-wheeler career in New Zealand starting with a Brabham twin-cam in1967, and finishing with a Ralt RT4 in 1984. In between he won eight championships including the prestigious Gold Star title five times – three in a row in Formula 5000 Beggs, and then the last two successively in the early 1980s with Ralts.

He drove a March Formula 1 car with an underpowered de-stroked Cosworth V8 in the 1971 Tasman but had done enough to impress George Begg who put David into his FM4 and the combination immediately bore fruit resulting in the first of David’s five Gold Star titles. That season – 1971/72 – he also won New Zealand’s first Formula Ford title which gave him entry into the Formula Ford World Cup at Brands Hatch at the end of 1972. He put the oldest car in the field on pole position.

He returned to New Zealand and took out his second Gold Star with Begg’s new FM5. With one mechanic and a meagre budget they headed to Europe to compete in the Formula 5000 championship predominantly run in England. Despite their ‘one-off’ machine and various other hurdles, they were never disgraced – although solid results were hard to come by in a particularly competitive year. That car provided David with his third Gold Star in 1973/74.

As they’d been with Formula Ford, the Oxtons were foundation supporters of the new Formula Pacific category and after early promise in a pair of Chevrons, David found real success with various Ralt RT4s including winning the New Zealand Grand Prix in 1983. In 1977 however he was again abroad and again at the wheel of a low budget Kiwi effort with a one-off car designed by a New Zealander. Allan McCall’s Tui was often next best car in David’s capable hands behind future Formula 1 stars Gilles Villeneuve and Keke Rosberg in the hard fought North American Formula Atlantic Championship. After a short stint in Group A saloons he hung up his helmet to dedicate himself to his business, wife Kelly and two sons although was often seen on TV as a sage pundit, as well as acting as a mentor for young up and coming drivers.

Hometown: Auckland, NZ

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

Five time winner of NZ Gold Star
Winner of New Zealand Grand Prix (1983)
First NZ Formula Ford Champion (1971/72)
Winner of NZ International F.Pacific Championship
NZ representative at FF World Cup (Brands 1972)