Ken Tyrrell, the genius of motor racing

Ken Tyrrell was a man of many talents: a former driver, he founded and managed the team that bears his name, leaving an indelible mark on the history of Formula 1. The British driver passed away 22 years ago.

He was a respected figure, but one who also inspired fear. No one could afford to waste his time, and his favorite pastime was motor racing. Above all, he wanted his team and his cars to be the best, just like all the other participants. “On the phone, Tyrrell was direct, often abrupt, even rude. When you called Ken, you had to know exactly what you wanted to say and get straight to the point. If necessary, he would end the conversation with the bare minimum of politeness,” recalls his biographer Maurice Hamilton. Tyrrell had no patience for delays and demanded that his cars perform at the highest level at all costs. After managing a Formula Junior and Formula 2 team, the former Royal Air Force serviceman moved into Formula 1 as director of Matra International in 1968. He signed the brilliant Scotsman Jackie Stewart, whose talent was already well established. The partnership proved successful, with the team finishing third in the championship, ahead of Matra Sports, the parent company. “Our advantage over the old teams is that we are a small organization, so we have no ties to large companies that impose their ideas. Our goal is to win car races,” Ken Tyrrell said at the start of the 1969 season.

Homemade cars That season, the young Scotsman, nicknamed “The Woodcutter,” won his first world title, a triumph that would be followed by others. But Tyrrell, a former driver himself, was addicted to challenges. To mark the start of the new decade, he entered his own cars, based on the March chassis, but the trio of Stewart, François Cevert, and Patrick Servoz-Gavin failed to score a single point in 1970. The following year, the story was very different: Stewart succeeded Jochen Rindt as world champion, Cevert won his first victory, and Tyrrell clinched the constructors' title.

Death strikes Stewart repeated his success two years later, but tragedy struck the team. What should have been Stewart's 100th Grand Prix and a celebration for Tyrrell turned into disaster at Watkins Glen in 1973, when François Cevert was killed during qualifying. For the final race of the season, which was also Stewart's last appearance, no blue Tyrrells took to the starting grid. The driver designated to succeed Stewart was replaced in 1974 by another Frenchman, Patrick Depailler, who, alongside Jody Scheckter, drove one of the most iconic cars in F1 history: the Tyrrell P34.

Six wheels The P34 was equipped with six wheels, four at the front, a concept designed to “provide more grip at the front,” according to Depailler. “Derek Gardner had been pushing this idea for three years. I resisted, but he won,” the team boss later explained. This radical car cost 35 million Swiss francs, and in its first season in 1976, Scheckter won the Swedish Grand Prix with it. By the end of that year, the P34 was the third-best car on the grid, behind the dominant Ferraris and McLarens. The experiment was short-lived: the car was abandoned the following season and Tyrrell reverted to a conventional four-wheel design.

The team then remained in the middle of the standings. After a final victory in 1983, the “lumberjack” found himself at the center of controversy when, in 1984, his cars were deemed too light and disqualified from the championship. A brief and discreet comeback
The former soldier, once described as a “garage mechanic” by Enzo Ferrari, briefly resurfaced thanks to the famous duel between Jean Alesi and Ayrton Senna in Phoenix in 1990, but nothing came of it. Financial difficulties soon forced Tyrrell to sell, and the British team passed into the hands of BAR, marking the end of Ken's direct involvement in motor racing. After his forced retirement, he made only a few occasional appearances. His last public appearance was in 2001, when he surprised the paddock by taking the time to chat with those around him, which was rare for a man who never seemed to have a minute to spare. He announced that he was entering the final phase of his life and passed away on August 25 of that year.