After a lengthy battle with cancer, BRDC Life Member Ian Khan died on Sunday 6 July. He was 65 years of age and had been a Full Member of the BRDC since 1992 and later converting to Life Membership. As was customary for aspiring young drivers in the 1970s, Ian started out in Formula Ford before graduating to Formula 3. Forming his own team with Mike Rowe to run a VW-powered Ralt RT30 in class B aka the National class of the Lucas British Formula 3 Championship, in 1986 Ian won once at Brands Hatch and finished sixth in the final standings. The following year, using both the Ralt and a Reynard 863, Ian went one place better by finishing fifth in the National Class.
Realising that he was unlikely to reach Formula 1 against the likes of Johnny Herbert, Damon Hill and Martin Donnelly, Ian switched to sports car racing, initially with John Bartlett Racing in the uncompetitive Bardon DB1. Towards the end of 1987, he had the opportunity to join the late Hugh Chamberlain’s team for the 1000 Ks World Sports Car Championship races at Spa Francorchamps with Nick Adams and at Fuji with Graham Duxbury, finishing a good fourth in the C2 class of the Japanese race.
A back injury restricted Ian’s racing over the next couple of years but a move to touring cars provided one of his best seasons when he won the BRDC/BRSCC GROUP N Saloon Car Championship, taking five wins in the process with his Ford Sierra RS500 and augmenting his season’s points by being one of five drivers to share a BMW M3 to finish second overall in the Willhire 24 Hours at Snetterton. The main British touring car championship was by now into its Supertouring era including a strong Total Cup for Privateers’ category which Ian entered for 1993 with a Vauxhall Cavalier GSi. Highlight of his season was probably the end-of-season TOCA Shootout at Donington Park which, thanks to the reversed grid, Ian led for several laps ahead of all the aces. A second season in the BTCC for 1994 beckoned, initially with a Toyota Carina E although this proved unsatisfactory, leaving Ian to continue the season with his faithful Cavalier. Results did not improve, and Ian did not complete the season.
After the BTCC episode, Ian continued to race prolifically. In 1995 he won two races in the Ferrari F355 Challenge and finished fourth in the final standings. He won two races again in the F355 Challenge in 1996 but finished one place lower at the end of the season. In 1997 Ian finished second in the International Group N Endurance Series with a BMW M3, winning three races and finished eighth overall in the Nurburgring 24 Hours. In 1998 Ian won the Paul Ricard 4-hour touring car race which was followed by a couple of seasons in the Renault Clio V6 Trophy.
In 2002 Ian joined forces with German driver Jurgen von Gartzen for a season in the FIA GT Championship with a Porsche 911 GT3RS, twice finishing ninth in what was a very competitive and strongly-supported series. Another of Ian’s most notable results came in the 2003 Le Mans 24 Hours when he shared a Porsche 911 GT3 RS with Michel Neugarten and Nigel Smith to finish third in the LM GT class and 18th overall. In 2007 Ian contested the FIA GT3 European Championship in a JMB Racing Ferrari 430 Challenge GT3 with Stephane Daoudi, winning in Bucharest and taking second in one of the Silverstone races to finish ninth in the series. He also won the G3 class, and finished 14th overall, in the Spa 24 Hours with a Porsche 997 GT3 Cup. Armed with a Ford GT, and with Thomas Mutsch as co-driver, in 2008 Ian enjoyed a very good season in FIA GT3. They won both of the opening races at Silverstone and also won at Brno. However, later results were not so good so that, having led the standings in the first half of the season, they fell back and ended up in fifth place. Ian’s last notable race was the Porsche Supercup event supporting the 2009 Monaco Grand Prix.
Always a keen participant in BRDC social activities, at the end of 1998 Ian moved to Monaco, to an apartment overlooking the Grand Prix circuit. He took on the Regional Co-ordinator role for the area and worked hard to ensure that the annual Monaco lunch in Grand Prix week was an event to remember. To his wife Lindsey, their daughter Rebecca and sons James and Alexander, and to Ian’s many friends and acquaintances in the sport the BRDC extends its sincerest condolences.
