Club column: Hugh Marshall
Inspired by Autosport’s 70th anniversary feature looking at great club racing characters, here’s one long-time UK competitor’s recollections of his encounters with them
“I don’t think he taught me anything that day, but he certainly frightened me when he went off ”
When I read Autosport’s special 70th anniversary publication, I realised how fortunate I have been during my 40-year involvement in national motorsport. The recent deaths of Pete Stevens, Ricky Parker-morris and Brian Jones have focused my mind on a long association with British motorsport and the characters who are highlighted in the 70th anniversary edition.
Tony Lanfranchi and Gerry Marshall, fed up with me continuously haranguing them in the Victoria pub in London W2 about racing, told me to stop talking about it and do it. By that time, in 1978, I knew the two of them well, and also Brian Jones and Barrie Williams from the old clubhouse at Brands Hatch (pre-kentagon) and the Victoria, which was close to my office. Tony lent me an old pair of overalls and a spotty crash helmet, the latter of which he took back when I rolled my Renault 5TS at Snetterton wearing it. The helmet was the one on the cover of Down the Hatch, Tony’s book.
Gerry had enlisted Tony‘ strawberry’ straws onto prepare two Renaults for the 1979 Elf Gunk Renault 5 Championship. Juliette Slaughter and Barrie provided driving tips, and Cognac Camus Brandy the sponsorship. Brian enjoyed a tipple when he commentated on my progress with team-mate Rob Upton.
Dave Loudoun was one of the competitors in the championship that year, as were TVR stalwart Steve Cole, Dave Cox, Jim Edwards Sr and a number of drivers who went on to greater things.
My friendship with Tony, Gerry and Whizzo lasted to the end, and Brian’s death really rounded out an extraordinary period in the history of British motorsport. Brian always welcomed me to the commentary box (and the bar afterwards) when I was racing – I have a treasured picture on the back of the Capri winner’s car with Brian at Brands. Jackie Epstein became a firm friend, and he and Brands boss John Webb helped me on my way with my foray into team ownership with Multisports in the 1980s. Nigel Greensall came to drive with us and we were narrowly beaten to the championship with Jeremy Hoyland driving. The association with Brands led us to some development work for Ford through Brands Hatch Ford and Jackie. In 1984, I made a few outings in the ex-letchworth Roofing Triumph Dolomite Sprint bought from Gerry Marshall for £600, and sold back to him for the same price in part exchange for his Production Saloon 2.8 injection Capri, which saw me through a 25-race season in 1985. That introduced me to the likes of John Cleland, Colin Blower, Skid Scarborough, Malcolm Prior, Vic Lee, John Hammersley and many others.
Then, in 1986, I raced a Mk1 Lotus Cortina owned by Peter Bryant, who sadly passed away this Christmas. Peter was a great rally man, navigating for Ari Vatanen and Russell Brookes after his early Motoring News rally days. His friendship with John Whitmore and Tony Lanfranchi moved the Cortina on towards the end of that year and I graduated to Class B Thundersaloons in 1987 in an Escort RS2000. Among my co-drivers were Tony (for most of 1987), Barrie Williams, Ian Khan, Rod Birley, Barry Barnes and Rod Barrett from Tasmania and Brands Hatch’s press office. Following Gerry Marshall’s parting of the ways with Nick Oatway, after Gerry crashed the Stars and Stripes Manta at Zandvoort, I took over the car’s preparation and co-driving duties in Class A. Arguably the Stars and Stripes was a more iconic car than Vauxhall’s Carlton and, in my opinion, deserved more than a passing reference in the Autosport Thundersaloons article (12 November 2020).
It was true to its engine origins, hence the colour scheme. The car won in Malaysia and then came back to the UK and to Thundersaloons, where I was racing an ex-british Touring Car Championship Toyota Supra.
Later, I sampled TVR Tuscans in 1998 and, after a short foray in the Marcos Mantis Championship – including the 1999 grand prix support GT race – I went back to the Tuscans, running these fabulous cars until I hung up my helmet in May 2019. Gerry Marshall’s final link with my career was at Donington Park, when I first arrived to test a Tuscan. He was surprised to find that my initial test had impressed, and took me on a rollercoaster ride of the circuit in a roadgoing TVR Griffith. I don’t think he taught me anything that day, but he certainly frightened me when he went off at the Old Hairpin! We didn’t hit anything, thank goodness!
Tony Lanfranchi thought I was nuts to drive a Tuscan, while Barrie Williams always wanted to drive mine and sadly never did. Gerry Marshall was a great exponent of the car and looked at my exploits in motorsport in a different way from the moment I started racing those cars. Brian Jones remained the gentleman he always was, and he and I shared the odd beer to reminisce about the old Gerry and Tony show whenever we met. It is so sad that they are now all gone and an era has ended.