News and events
Half-way into the Goodwood Revival weekend, and only weeks after talking to C&SC for this month’s Firenza feature (see p152), came the sad news that Barrie ‘Whizzo’ Williams had passed away on the morning of 8 September, just shy of his 80th birthday.
The last surviving member of the ‘terrible trio’, whose other alumni were Tony Lanfranchi (d2004) and Gerry Marshall (d2005), ‘Whizzo’ was a racing institution, known, recognised and loved in paddocks throughout the world. With somewhere between 700 and 800 races plus 250 rallies – and many wins – behind him, he only retired from competition in February.
His first event was at Prescott in 1957, followed by seat time as a works driver for his father’s Fastakart business, and his first car race was in 1960 at Rufforth in a Morris Minor. He earned his nickname in 1964 when he won the Welsh Rally (an International, and his first experience of forest stages) in the Mini Cooper ‘S’ that he owned until his death. He won the first F3 race he took part in, the Wills International Trophy at Silverstone in 1966, but retired from single-seaters after teammate Chris Lambert was killed in a Formula Two race.
A BRDC member since 1971, he tamed the fearsome Jaguar-egal, with its 7-litre Ford V8 – “always like driving on a wet road” – and his success continued in saloons in the ’70s, as a works driver for Colt in the BTCC, plus outings in DTV Vauxhalls. He also won a series of one-make titles in the 1980s. His talent – sideways as you like, or neat and quick as the pace demanded – was a perfect match for the surge in popularity in historic racing, where he shone for the next 25 years.
For all his larger-than-life persona, he was a humble man who cared about the sport and its people, and was entirely without airs and graces. He was a fixture at Silverstone as an instructor, bringing many a student (including this one), through their ARDS courses. As a long-time supporter and president of the British Motorsports Marshals Club, he would regale audiences at club dinners with hilarious tales of his career – which invariably turned out to be true.