{"id":749363,"date":"2026-08-25T15:44:26","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T15:44:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/749363\/"},"modified":"2026-08-25T15:44:26","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T15:44:26","slug":"memories-of-ken-tyrrell-25-years-on-from-his-passing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/749363\/","title":{"rendered":"Memories of Ken Tyrrell, 25 years on from his passing"},"content":{"rendered":"

McLaren<\/a>\u2019s magnificent trophy cabinet must be about half a mile long. At least, that\u2019s how it seems when you take a walk along the McLaren Technology Centre\u2019s boulevard and admire the silverware. A mention in the last issue of Autosport that McLaren needs to extend this massive display cabinet brought a wry smile that had nothing to do with the thought that Stefano Domenicali will feel the need to issue another statement saying how wonderful Formula 1 is. I was actually thinking about a former F1 team principal\u2019s attitude to the trappings of success. \u00a0<\/p>\n

When Ken\u00a0Tyrrell passed away 25 years ago this August, a member of his family idly wondered what he had done with the trophies. After all, the Tyrrell Racing Organisation had won three drivers\u2019 world championships, two constructors\u2019 crowns and 33 grands prix. So, where was the silverware? None had been on display in the team\u2019s modest headquarters in the former woodyard in deepest Surrey. It was only while rummaging around in the attic of the family home that they found cups blackened with age and barely recognisable \u2013 but no less significant for what they represented.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here was the trophy for the 1968 Dutch GP, the F1 team\u2019s first win (running a\u00a0Matra); then a cup from the German GP of the same year, marking a truly incredible drive on the Nurburgring Nordschleife by Jackie Stewart in appalling wet and foggy conditions that would never be countenanced today; and then two official mementoes of Stewart\u2019s victories at Monaco. And so it went on, each dust-caked award being the tangible evidence of how an F1 team of no more than 25 people had beaten the likes of Ferrari<\/a>, Lotus and McLaren with cars built in a wooden hut bought for a song from an army barracks in Guildford. They don\u2019t make race teams like that anymore and none of the current F1 team principals come from the same mould as Robert Kenneth Tyrrell. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

But here\u2019s the thing. If Ken were still around today and you wistfully repeated that thought, he would curtly dismiss the comparison as romantic claptrap. \u201cI think a lot of people have sentimental diarrhoea,\u201d was his colourful response \u2013 delivered with a toothy grin \u2013 when I raised the subject during an interview in 1993 on the 25th anniversary of the birth of his F1 team. \u201cLook,\u201d he said, \u201cit\u2019s different. The cars are more advanced, there\u2019s more money but, when it comes to racing \u2013 when it comes to winning \u2013 it\u2019s exactly the same. It\u2019s bloody difficult; always has been, always will be.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Watch: From The Archive: The Ken Tyrrell Story<\/p>\n

It is easy to imagine that his view would be similar if discussing the current state of Duracell F1 (other batteries are available). He would also be in total accord with 24 races \u2013 or however many F1 manage to cram onto their Profit and Loss Account (aka F1 Calendar). Yes, the money would be nice. (Tyrrell was smart enough to take a third car to the United States GP in the days when the event at Watkins Glen was the biggest payer of prize money \u2013 by quite some way \u2013 on the 12-race calendar.) But Ken simply loved going racing. Mind you, his enthusiasm for motorsport was only marginally ahead of a passion for Tottenham Hotspur and the England first XI. Particularly the latter.<\/p>\n

In what now seem wonderfully carefree days before the internet and social media, it was almost impossible when away from home to keep abreast of the latest test match score. When on the telephone to their respective sports desks back in the UK, F1 correspondents for national newspapers soon learned, even if they didn\u2019t know a wicket from a walking stick, to enquire about the test match. It was a cast iron certainty this would be the first question Ken would ask if you walked into the\u00a0Tyrrell garage with the misguided intention of talking F1. Being ignorant of the latest state of play at Lords would be treated with the same disdain as not knowing your mother\u2019s maiden name.<\/p>\n

Tyrrell bent down, leaned into the cockpit, his craggy face an inch from Stewart\u2019s. \u201cYou think you\u2019ve got problems,\u201d he roared. \u201cEngland are 78 for six!\u201d<\/p>\n

Stewart tells the story of practice at the Nordschleife. The Scot had come into the pits, flipped up his visor and was reeling off a catalogue of problems: the handling, the tyres, the track, the weather, the engine; nothing was right. Tyrrell, clipboard tucked under his arm, listened impassively. When the monologue had finished (bear in mind, this was in the days before headsets and radio communication), Tyrrell bent down, leaned into the cockpit, his craggy face an inch from Stewart\u2019s. \u201cYou think you\u2019ve got problems,\u201d he roared. \u201cEngland are 78 for six!\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n

Having watched from the spectator fence during the previous decade as his team set the standard, I was never in doubt that Ken\u00a0Tyrrell was the man I wanted to interview first when I became a professional writer and travelled to the 1977 South African GP. Not only did Ken agree to see me, a complete stranger and novice, he also suggested we meet over a gin and tonic with his wife Norah at their room in the Kyalami Ranch. The chat lasted for more than an hour. It was the first of many we would enjoy until that sad day 25 years ago. At no time did Ken ever ask me to come and look at his trophies \u2013 largely because he hadn\u2019t the faintest clue where they were.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read Also:<\/p>\n

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Photo by: Rainer W. Schlegelmilch \/ Motorsport Images<\/p>\n

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