Obituaries

Tony Marsh

Few drivers have succeeded in as many avenues of motor sport as Tony Marsh, who has died aged 77. He started in the early 1950s doing trials in the winter and hillclimbs in the summer, and won the British Hillclimb Championship three years running.

When he moved into circuit racing he continued with the other disciplines too. No other driver has ever competed in a World Championship Grand Prix, starting from the same grid as Fangio, Moss, Hawthorn and Collins; and won the British Formula 2 Championship; and collected the British Hillclimb Championship; and very nearly took the British Trials Championship – all in the same season. That was Marsh’s tally in 1957. As a privateer he raced bob-tail Cooper sports car, F2 Cooper, Cooper Monaco, F1 Lotus 18 and F1 BRM, earning a lot of success in British events, but also taking in non-championship F1 races on the continent. One of his best drives brought third place in the 1961 Brussels GP, behind the works Coopers of Jack Brabham and Bruce McLaren.

On his only visit to Le Mans, in a Team Elite Lotus with John Wagstaff, he won the Index of Energy, and he did three German GPs at the Nürburgring, finishing each time. He won three more British Hillclimb Championships in the 1960s, developing his own Marsh Special with V8 Oldsmobile power and ingenious self-built four-wheel-drive transmission. Then, despite a heart attack at the age of 41, he turned his attention to sailing, shooting, flying and ski-bobbing – he was chairman of the Skibob Association – but nearing 60 he returned to hillclimbs. Even last season he was competing at the top level in a Gould-Cosworth GR55 single-seater. This quiet, modest man’s competition career spanned 58 years.\

Joe Tandy

Joe Tandy, the Formula Ford and F3 team owner, has died in a car crash near his home in Bedfordshire.

Tandy started his professional career as a technician at Palmer Sport before progressing to chief mechanic. Having won the Ministox World Championship he moved up to single-seaters in the 2005 European Formula Palmer Audi Championship, which he won at his first attempt.

In 2006 he started Joe Tandy Racing and by ’07 it had three cars in the British Formula Ford series, which finished on the podium 26 times and won 14 races. In 2008 and ’09 the team moved into F3 as well as continuing its success in FFord.

Tandy’s BMW collided with a lorry on May 13 and he was pronounced dead at the scene.