Desmond Titterington

Born in Cultra, near Holywood, County Down, Northern Ireland, Titterington went to school in Scotland during the Second World War and then attended the University of St Andrews before returning to Northern Ireland. When he returned, he bought a J2 MG and started driving in minor club races. In 1951 he acquired an Allard J2, and the following year he won the Leinster Trophy, before going on to win the Phoenix Park Formula Libre Race in 1953.^[2]

In 1954, Titterington joined the Ecurie Ecosse team and placed well at several British club events, while occasionally racing his own Triumph TR2.The following year he raced for both Ecurie Ecosse and the Jaguar works team, winning the Ulster Trophy and finishing second at the Goodwood 9 Hours.^[3] He was a witness to the 1955 Le Mans disaster as he was in the pits due to being injured prior to the race. Titterington blamed his teammate Mike Hawthorn for the crash due to his exuberant driving style when pitting, though the official inquiry later exonerated Hawthorn.^[4] He raced in the 1955 RAC Tourist Trophy at Dundrod Circuit in his native Northern Ireland, the first championship race since Le Mans, alongside Hawthorn in a Jaguar D-Type.^[5] The Jaguar team were winning in the race and holding off the Daimler-Benz's Mercedes-Benz 300 SLRs but Hawthorn accidentally put the car into the wrong gear when accelerating out of a corner and broke a connecting rod on the car and blew the engine, leading to the Jaguar team having to retire.^[6] Titterington drove for Jaguar at the 1956 Le Mans 24 Hours but besides crashing his car in practice he lost the opportunity to drive in the race when teammate Paul Frère was eliminated in an accident on the first lap.^[7][8]

Titterington also drove for Mercedes-Benz at the 1955 Targa Florio in Sicily, the last round of the Sports Car championship that year. He and co-driver John Fitch finished fourth in the race.^{[citation needed]}