Ian was born in London in July 1930 and became office manager for the Cooper Car Company. Regular good placings and some wins in 1951, highlights being a win at the Nürburgring in June and the lap record at Avus a few weeks later, all using a Cooper. For 1953, he switched to a Mackson.

Ian later drove the Cooper-Maserati in Grand Prix during 1959 and 1960 before switching to one of the Scuderia Camoradi team's Lotus 18s the following year and then, in 1963, he had two outings with Scirocco-BRMs.