Ken Tyrrell, integrity and passion

Ken Tyrrell (1924-2001), was a British F1 team owner and constructor, founder of the Tyrrell Formula One team. When we use the term “legend” in Formula 1, it is ordinarily about the drivers that win races and championships on track. However, occasionally, this term is valid for team owners. Indeed, Enzo Ferrari, Frank Williams and Ken Tyrrell are true examples of being legends of the sport.

Ken, the last of romantics in Formula 1, fought against a mountain to keep together his squad, a real family, in an era in which the sport became more and more corporate. He won with a small team, very few did. “He was a dinosaur and I say that in the nicest possible way, because we will never see the life of Ken Tyrrell again,” said Murray Walker.

The dominator of F1 in the late 60’s and early 70’s, first with Matra and then from 1971 on, with his own cars, combined with a partnership and enduring friendship with Jackie Stewart that yielded three drivers’ championships for the Scot (picture below).

Ken was also able to bring important innovations to the F1 circus, such as the six-wheeler P34 imagined by Derek Gardner, introduced in 1976 and in the early 90’s, with the hiring of Harvey Postlethwaite, Tyrrell will be the first to field a single-seater with a raised nose, that was later copied by all the teams and is still used to this day.

Esteemed journalist Nigel Roebuck once wrote the following about Ken Tyrrell: “In a time when motor racing was conducted with integrity and passion, one unique character graced the stage of Formula One. His name was Ken Tyrrell.”