Robert Kenneth Tyrell came from an unassuming background that did not include much in the line of Motorsports. His father was in the lumber business, and during the Great War (WWII) Ken enlisted in the RAF and became a mechanic on Hurricanes and Spitfires. It appears that the orderly methods of working on fighter planes became the basis for his managerial approach to his race teams. After the war he went into the lumber business with his brother and supplied the leading sawmills in his county. At this time Ken was an avid football fan and was a supporter of his local team. A friend, Alan Brandon introduced him to Motorsports racing via the Formula 3, 500 cc class of open wheel racecars. Ken soon bought Alan’s car and began racing. He had a modest career as a driver and was even chosen by John Wyer as a member of the Aston Martin team in 1956.
Prior to 1960 Ken had been racing Cooper F-3 and F-2, and he came to realize that he might better put his talents to use as a team manager rather than a driver. In 1960 he left Cooper and set up his own Formula Junior team. The Tyrell Racing Organization progressed with quite a number of successes in various classes and Formulas. In 1968 Ken took the big step and managed the Matra Formula 1 team with Jackie Stewart as his lead driver. In 1970 Ken bought a March 710 Cosworth Ford and raced that in F-1. The next big steps in Tyrell Racing came in 1971 with a car of his own design and manufacture, the Tyrell 003. The thing that amazes me the most is that these cars were built in a small garage at the back of his lumberyard.
Tyrell racing cars, for the most part, may have not been the most innovative designs with a couple of exceptions. In 1976 and ’77 Tyrell introduced the innovative and unusual P34 6 wheel Formula 1 racecar. The P34 even won the Swedish GP of 1976 with Jody Schecter as the driver.
In 1990 Tyrell introduced the Tyrell 019 with a step up front chassis that was commonly used in F-1 at this time. Instead of having a flat bottom from the front to the rear, the floor of the chassis is raised from a point behind the front wheels. Jean Alesi was the chosen driver for the Tyrell 019.
The Tyrell 022 of 1994 was powered by Yamaha V10 and driven by Mark Blundell and Ukyo Katayama. Yamaha supplied the engine on the condition that Katayama was given a place on the team. The Yamaha engine proved to be fragile and somewhat gutless as it was giving away 100-horse power to the rest of the cars in F-1 that year.
This particular Tyrell was driven by Katayama and now has a Judd V10 engine. Even though it may not have been a front-runner, it is still a neat car. Tyrell continued to race in F-1 until 1998 but finally decided to retire from racing, as he did not have a budget or an engine for 1999. Ken’s comment on his retirement from racing, “Well, I had a lot of good times when you think about it.”
I will say this about this car, “if you are ever near it when it comes past at full chat; wear ear plugs as it just plain hurts.” Umpteen thousand revs and a 160 mph: Oh my God what a sound. As I overheard in the pits, this car set a new lap record at Miller last summer.
