Gerry Marshall

Gerald Dallas Royston Marshall (16 November 1941 – 21 April 2005) was a British racing driver.

He was commonly referred to by the nickname Big Gerry.

In 1963, Marshall started his first footsteps into motor journalism, something he was to enjoy for many years and he brought a Smile to the face of many a reader with his "Marshall Art" and "From the Hot Seat" columns that he regularly used to write.

You could often find club event reports in Autosport with glowing tributes to a Gerry Marshall and then notice at the end of the report that it was written by a certain GDRM, G.Marshall or G.Maynard (his first wife's maiden name).

Marshall's first official race was at Brands Hatch in March 1964 and in qualifying he was quickest in his class, but the weather (for once) and Lady Luck conspired against him and the race was snowed off.

Therefore, Marshall's first proper race was at Snetterton on the Easter Monday of 1964.

Beginning what would quickly become a habit, he won the 1000cc class and continued winning that season.

Although he rolled the car at Mallory Park in practice he was able to keep racing until money and impending engagement (to Carol) forced the sale of the Mini and absence from the tracks for a few months.

Driving Newtune's 1275s in the Snetterton 500 km with David Warnsborough the pair won the 1300 cc class in the European Saloon Car Championship race.

Whilst working in London for Robbie Gordon and James Boothby he was offered a drive in June 1965 in a TVR Grantura.

Marshall handled this with his usual verve and impressed Martin Lilley of Barnet Motor Company enough for him to offer a drive in a Lotus Elan and Marshall also went to work for the Barnet Motor Company, becoming sales manager and a director of TVR.

This change for Marshall proved to be a good one and as the sales manager he got to buy and sell many sports, GT and competition cars.

Towards the end of 1965 and at the beginning of 1966 Marshall had a string of wins at Brands Hatch and also drove the company's TVR Griffith.

It was reported at the time "This was a converted road car and only had a mildly-tweaked V8 motor, but it still went like stink!".

With this car Marshall enhanced his blossoming reputation and photographers rushed out of their usual hiding spots whenever he was on track and got dramatic pictures of Marshall driving the TVR in his now customary sideways fashion.

"It was the only way to drive the car" said Marshall, "although the Elan had to be driven neatly".

Also in 1966 Marshall raced Roy Ensor's 1275 Mini-Cooper S and a near-standard TVR 1800S Mk 3 in marque events, with some success.

In the Brands Hatch six-hour race the car was very well placed when a wheel fell off with only a few minutes to go.

Marshall and co-driver, his great friend Tony Lanfranchi, had got the car extremely well-placed whilst it was wet at the beginning of the race and it was only towards the end of the race when the track started to dry that several more potent cars managed to pass them.

"The meeting Gerry Marshall will want to forget" was the headline Auto News gave for a Brands Hatch sprint in the July.

On a wet track Marshall had aquaplaned off the circuit at Paddock Hill Bend and pretty much wrote off the Barnet Motor Company's Elan, which had only been raced a handful of times.

A week later, with a couple of broken ribs strapped up, Marshall raced a TVR at Silverstone in the Six-Hour Relay Race and there he lost a wheel twice.

In 1966 Marshall won numerous club races and gained publicity for the Barnet Motor Company.

With Martin Lilley now being in charge of TVR Engineering (him and his father had rescued TVR from bankruptcy) Marshall's racing plans for 1967 seemed to naturally revolve around TVR; the TVR Griffith was ideal, especially with the planned 400 bhp 5.3 litre Ford V8, there was the possibility of the 1-litre TVR Tina (named after Marshall's eldest daughter and one of the two prototypes is owned by the Marshall family) and also the TVR 1800S.

He is probably best remembered for his flamboyant and crowd-pleasing style during the 1970s driving for Dealer Team Vauxhall in the racing Firenzas "Old Nail" and "Baby Bertha", and also the V8 Holden-Repco Ventora, "Big Bertha".

He also won the 1971 Escort Mexico championship, beating future Formula 1 World Champion Jody Scheckter and finished 2nd in the 1974 Avon Tour of Britain driving for the same team as the equally respected rally driver Roger Clark.

Marshall's style has been described as "sideways, on-the-edge cornering that was to distinguish his driving in any car, large or small, front or rear drive."

This outward appearance belied an extraordinary cool-headed ability and intelligence behind the wheel.

His first biography, published in 1978, is titled Only Here For The Beer and a tribute edition was re-issued shortly after his death and his new biography (published by Haynes and written by Jeremy Walton and Gregor Marshall) was released in April 2010.

He died of a heart related illness whilst testing the ex-Richard Petty's IROC Chevrolet Camaro at Silverstone.

His son, Gregor, is also a race driver and he also has two daughters.

Some of Marshall's career highlights:

His professional driving career spans five decades, in 2000 chalking up his 600th win in a race at Snetterton Motor Racing Circuit, Norfolk in an Aston Martin DB4.

According to a 2002 edition of Motor Sport Magazine poll, he was one of the best drivers of all time.

He was awarded the BARC Gold Medal in 2002, the first saloon car driver to be presented with the honour and was a life member of the prestigious BRDC.

He took 625 overall and class wins and countless championship wins throughout his motor racing career.

He was also well known in motoring circles for his successful car dealership, Marshall Wingfield, originally located on the Finchley Road, London, before moving to Brook Street in Tring and through his adult life lived in Harrow, Chiswell Green, Bricket Wood, Hemel Hempstead, Northchurch, Aston Clinton and Pitstone.

His ashes are buried at St. Leonards Church in Southoe, where his grandparents are also buried - he was relocated locally during the Second World War.

His first Sprint victory was in 1963 driving a Mini, with his first race win following in 1964 (again in a Mini) and his last (and 625th) on 11 September 2004.

According to the 28 August 2019 edition of Motorsport News, he is the United Kingdom's number one British motorsport hero.