Tyrrell and Mrs. Wilson
1981 CAR magazine
Symptomatic of the current problem era for grand prix racing is Ken Tyrrell – former architect of championship glories, now reduced to searching desperately for sponsors and forced to accept “hire drives”. What does Tyrrell think about the current crop of drivers, and what do Tyrrell and Desire Wilson feel about her Deutz-backed drive at Kyalami? It’s all here in this searching, exclusive interview by Maurice Hamilton. Pictures by Grant Loft house.
THE FADED umbrella was a sign of the times. When Ken Tyrrell’s contract with Candy expired, the washing machine manufacturer’s name was carefully re¬moved from each panel on the blue brolly but the persistent rain on race morning picked out the “Candy” out¬line. It was a graphic reminder of the changing fortunes dealt out by Grand Prix racing.
It was ironic, too, that Tyrrell should return to Kyalami, scene of former glories, with nothing on his cars but the maker’s name. The 1968 South African Grand Prix had marked Ken Tyrrell’s Formula 1 debut with Jackie Stewart in the brand new Matra-Cosworth – and, even then, they led the race, albeit briefly.
Since then, the team from Ripley in Surrey have won the race, not to mention the World Championship, three times, and the plain-speaking former timber merchant has earned a reputation as a payer of the largest retainers in the business.
Now he stands in the orderly queue outside prospective sponsors, talking, waiting, presenting, waiting, persuading-and hoping.
I in the meantime, the new season beckoned and Tyrrell had to make a decision on at least one driver. According to Ken, the choice of Eddie Cheever was based on more than a hunch or a hope:
“I liked the way he went about things last year. Despite all the problems with the new Osella, he always-gave-the-impression of being-keen and enthusiastic, always ready to have a go from the moment practice started. So, I decided to give him a run in our car at the end of the season.
Half and second faster
“He took half-a-second off our best times at Silverstone and Donington with only minor adjustments to the car. Then we went back to Donington again and took another half-a-second off. After that, we went to Ricard where we did a lot of work without skirts — and we left there with the fastest time of all for a skirt less car.
“While we were there, I spent some time out on the circuit and I saw Laffite go off in a big way at the exit of the fast right-hander at the end of the straight. Jacques stepped out okay and I knew Eddie would be the next car on the scene. I was interested to see what his reaction to a big shunt would be.
“I was surprised when he lifted off before he could see any signs of the accident and when I asked him about it afterwards, he said he could smell burning rubber. . . It reminded me of the time Jackie Stewart realized there had been an incident at a corner because he smelt cut grass!
“I was impressed with Eddie and the way he was able to relate to our engineers while testing the car. As far as the second seat goes, I will not be able to fill it until I know what sponsorship arrangements have been reached for the season.
“I would have been quite happy to take either Jean-Pierre Jarier or Derek Daly if my sponsorship had been fixed, but as far as the first seat was concerned, I felt Eddie was the better driver, particularly from the point of view of developing the car.
“Jean-Pierre is a very fast driver and I feel his overall performance last year would have been much better if he had had a better car. The same thing applies to Derek. I don’t think he has sufficient experience to be able to sort a car out yet, but we all know that he is a quick driver and when he sits in a good car, he will be a front runner.”
Spectacular retirements
The most notable feature of Daly’s 1980 season had been the spectacular retirements. Had this tinted Tyrrell’s judgement and would it affect Daly’s future?
‘The fact that he has had so many accidents certainly doesn’t help. From the team’s point of view, it makes life difficult once you start the European season. When you are racing every two weeks and you keep having accidents, then it is very difficult to keep your team competitive because they are spending most of the time repairing cars, rather than developing them.
“We had 11 accidents in races last year. Two of them were the fault of the car, the other nine were driver error – not necessarily our drivers. Take Canada for example. That was a Jones or a Piquet problem and I don’t think our drivers had much choice but to run into the wreckage; but it was another two accidents, nevertheless.”
The incident at Montreal might have resulted in a total wipe-out for the team had Mike Thackwell not avoided the shunt by the skin of his teeth. The New Zealander’s race was a short one but as
far as Ken Tyrrell is concerned, young Thackwell had made his mark.
“If circumstances permit, I would like to give him another go. I was very impressed indeed. He doesn’t know anything about Formula 1 and I don’t think he knows a lot about the development of the car but, let’s face it, how could he? There is no doubt, however, that his natural talent is such that he is obviously a star of tomorrow.
“While we are on this subject, there is one point! would like to make. I think the business of taking on a young driver is going to be made much more difficult by the question of Prost and McLaren, when a team runs a driver like Prost – presumably on a three-year contract – then it is obvious that they will have to bear with that driver while he settles in during the first year.
“In McLaren’s case, they go through that year, only to have Prost go away and drive for another team. Okay, there will be a court action, but who wants that?
“If a driver is going to feel free to break his contract, then there is little hope for young drivers in Formula 1. It depends on what the settlement is. I would reckon that it cost McLaren half of their total expenditure to run Prost last year.”
Sad about ‘hire drives’
Tyrrell estimates the cost of running his two-car team for the season to be in the region of R2,5 million. As a result. Ken was prepared to hire his second car out at Kyalami after a determined stand against the popular and increasingly necessary habit of “hire-drives”.
“I am very sad that this has had to happen. In all the sponsorship deals in the past, I have never had a sponsor dictate who drove the car. But with things the way they are at the moment, I have had to keep the second car free. The choice of a second driver could affect sponsorship for the season, so I will let that car go to sponsors for indi¬vidual races until such time as 1 find backing for the season.
“It was natural to have Desire Wilson for this race, of course, but when you look back at our record, particularly at Kyalami, it marks a big change for the team. It’s a sign of our performance during the last three years, and obviously, it is much easier to get sponsorship if your performance is good.
“Our highest position last year was fourth-which was pathetic. So, we have to improve on that situation and it may be difficult to attract sponsors until we do.
“You could say that, with the exception of Williams and Brabham, the other Ford-engined teams were no better than us last year, and yet most of them have sponsors. I in many cases, however, they had ongoing deals, so they have another year to out things right.
In the meantime, Tyrrell’s enthusiasm for going motor racing has remained undiminished through the recent trials and tribulations-both political and financial – and he was ready for Kyalami, come Hell or high overdraft. . . An agreement was reached with Deutz to give Desire Wilson the second car and the gutsy young South African lady grasped the opportunity with her neatly manicured hands.
‘Eyeball’ chat with Desire
Desire’s enthusiasm led to one or two spins and an eyeball-to-eyeball chat with Mr. Tyrrell, as he made his views known in typical forthright fashion.
“I have always been impressed by her performance,” said Ken. “1 thought that she did an excellent job during that tire test session before the British Grand Prix last year. Without a doubt, she is the best woman driver in a single-seater that we have seen in my time. She is probably the best ever and I think her performance here proved that.
“First time out in the car and she qualified 16th. Now you can assume that there are eight drivers not here who might have qualified further up the grid, which means she still would have qualified. That’s a very good effort indeed!
“She is not afraid to get on with the job, although she had a couple of spins and went off the road during practice. I wasn’t very happy with that and told her so.
“Then she went off again, so I sat down and spelt out a few home truths – and she promptly went out and was quicker than she had been all weekend!”
Desire received any criticism with good grace and common sense. It was, after all, a golden opportunity, as she herself pointed out when I spoke to her at Kyalami.
“After so many disappointments be¬fore,” she declared “it was a fantastic opportunity. The team were so co-operative, they gave the feeling that they were working for you, the driver.
“I felt so much more at ease here than I did while trying to qualify for the British Grand Prix in 1980. At that time, I was trying to do well and impress everybody at the same time.
“But at Kyalami, I settled down and got on with doing the best I could, considering I was rather out of prac¬tice. I hadn’t driven a Formula 1 car since the previous August. . .
“I spun three times on one set of tires during practice and after I had changed to a new set of tires, I had no more spins. I can only presume that the first set were harder than the second, but the thing that impressed me most was Ken Tyrrell’s immediate acceptance of the fact, when I asked for another set.
“He was the perfect team manager, always ready to I listen to both sides of the argument. When praise was due, you got it. Mind you, he was frank and to the point when he had to be! He told me not to worry about other drivers shaking their fist. He said I should give a two-fingered salute when necessary! All that helped put me in a good frame of mind.
My worst start – ever!
“I can’t say I was in a good frame of mind after that start. I suppose we all have to make a bad one from time to time but I had never made one like that – never! It was terrible.
“Once I got under way, I tried to make the most of it and I had a good go in the wet. Once it began to dry out, my performance seemed to average-out and I tried to keep going. Unfortunately the car began to oversteer more and more and it finally caught me out at Wesbank and that was that.
“Apart from the beginning and the end, I thought I had a good race. I found that I lacked tactical experience. For example, when I passed Chico Serra, he out-foxed me and got ahead again by using experience gained in Formula 2 and Formula 3. One way and another, I learnt a hell of a lot.”
Eddie Cheever, meanwhile, had done a workmanlike job after an appalling setback during the rain-soaked warm-up. Leaving the pits, Cheever had taken fourth gear and was checking his mirror before attempting to move onto line for Crowthorne. In an instant, the car turned sharp left and careered across the track, ramming the concrete retaining wall head-on. The violence of the impact was as horrifying as it had been unexpected. The pedal box was crumpled beyond recognition and Cheever’s left driving boot was firmly wedged in the foot well long after the wreckage had been returned to the garage.
Fortunately, Cheever had both cars available to him during practice — 010 (3/5) and 010 (2) – which meant the latter was not an unknown quantity when it came to starting the race. Caught out by a hasty starter, who had the green lights in operation while Tyrrell number 3 was still approaching the grid, Cheever was late away as he strug¬gled with his slicks.
“It was a good effort,” commented Tyrrell after the race. “I thought he drove very well, considering all the problems. The same applies to Desire. I didn’t want to risk starting her on slicks for her first Grand Prix in the wet but once she had recovered from that stalled engine, she really gave it a go. A fantastic effort!
“One way and another, it turned out an expensive weekend, what with damaged skirts and the shunt. But it was worth it. At least it was a race.”
For Eddie Cheever, it was more than that. He may have been classified seventh, but it was the first time he had run a Grand Prix without stopping! The back of his virgin-white overalls was stained with Tyrrell blue as he hobbled around the garage looking for Brian Lisles, the team’s engineer.
“Have you got a couple of minutes?” he asked. “I’ve got lots to talk about.” With that, they disappeared into their caravan parked in the paddock and set about finding ways of improving the car — and putting a sponsor’s name on that blue umbrella.
Text processed by OCR software from scanned photos of CAR 1981 magazine
about Desiré Wilson
