Ken Tyrrell

Ken was a part of motor racing for five decades and was a part of Formula one for thirty one years.

He was in the timber industry in the fifties and just raced cars for fun in F3 and F2. He became part of the management for Cooper F3 and in 1964 he came across Jackie Stewart. The two of them became a successful duo for years to come.

The team became Tyrrell, Stewart and Ford. However, when Stewart retired in 1973 the team suffered and never achieved the same glory again. Ken became involved in the organisation and politics of formula one and became quite a powerful man before Bernie Ecclestone arrived.

Like Colin Chapman he was responsible for introducing some big sponsors to Formula one such as Benetton who started life off at Tyrrell. He has a talent for spotting talented drivers and introduced Martin Brundle, Mark Blundell, and Johnny Herbert to name a few.

In 1998 he sold his team B.A.T (British American Tobacco) which evolved in to B.A.R.