Lewis-Evans began racing in 1951 with a Cooper 500
Formula 3 car, encouraged by and sometimes racing against his father. He achieved many wins and podia and continued to race in 500s until 1956, with the engines prepared by
Francis Beart during the later years, including a 1–2 victory at
Nurburgring in May 1954 with
Stirling Moss in Coopers, with Moss, first, in a
Beart Cooper and Lewis-Evans, second, in a Cooper with a Beart-prepared engine. In 1957, he won the
1957 Glover Trophy, run to Formula One rules at Goodwood. In his first championship Formula One race, the
1957 Monaco Grand Prix, Lewis-Evans finished fourth in an inferior
Connaught Type B, beaten only by multiple winners
Fangio and
Brooks, and
Masten Gregory in one of the dominant
Maserati 250F cars. This performance brought him to the attention of
Tony Vandervell, owner of the rising
Vanwall team, and by the next Grand Prix Lewis-Evans was driving the third Vanwall. The 1957 Vanwall was fast when its engine held together, but not always reliable. Lewis-Evans achieved his best finish for Vanwall when he was 2nd at the year's non-championship
Moroccan Grand Prix. He took pole position at the final World Championship event, the
Italian Grand Prix, but had to retire with engine problems. The
1958 Formula One season would prove to be a much better year, at least initially, for the entire Vanwall team. Principal drivers
Stirling Moss and
Tony Brooks took three victories each for Vanwall, with Moss also having won the season opener in the Rob Walker Cooper. Lewis-Evans' podium finishes in the
Belgian and
Portuguese events added nothing to the team's points haul as these races were won by Vanwall, but it reduced the points won by other makes. He also took pole position at the
Dutch Grand Prix, but failed to finish in the race. This was not his only retirement of the year – indeed his only other finish, although points-scoring, was a fourth place at the
British Grand Prix. Lewis-Evans crashed heavily at the dusty
Ain-Diab Circuit during the season-ending
Moroccan Grand Prix. His car's engine seized and sent him lurching into barriers at high speed, where it burst into flames. He was airlifted back to the UK, but died of his burns in hospital six days after the accident. His death cast a pall over Vanwall's victory in the
1958 International Cup for F1 Manufacturers, an achievement to which Lewis-Evans had contributed significantly. Vandervell never fully recovered from Lewis-Evans's death and withdrew from motorsport at the end of 1958. ==Racing record==