Tom Walkinshaw passes, aged 64

Tom Walkinshaw has passed away from cancer at the age of 64. The Scotsman leaves behind a legacy of top flight competition in motorsport including V8 Supercars and the BTCC.

After a short spell in single seaters, Tom Walkinshaw’s motorsport career was primarily as a touring car racer in the seventies and early eighties. The Scotsman established his own team, Tom Walkinshaw Racing (TWR) in 1976, to continue to race in the British Touring Car Championship.

Walkinshaw won the 1984 European Touring Car Championship in a Jaguar XJS, before retiring from racing in 1987 and focusing on management. He first took TWR to sportscars, winning the Le Mans 24 Hours twice, and also moved into Formula 1 with a foothold in the Benetton Formula 1 team in 1991.

Walkinshaw was instrumental in signing a fresh faced Michael Schumacher to the team, and was involved in the team’s only two Formula 1 titles in 1994 and 1995.

In 1994, TWR re-entered the BTCC, alongside its Formula 1 programmes racing Volvos, entering with the Volvo 850 Estate in its first year, before moving to the more typical saloon version in 1995 and the S40 from 1996 onwards.

In 1998, TWR won the BTCC drivers championship with Rickard Rydell against seven other manufacturers, and would continue in the championship for one more year before leaving to focus on the Arrows Grand Prix team.

After Arrows Grand Prix folded part way through 2002, Walkinshaw would return to take a stake in the HSV Dealer Team and Holden Racing Team squads in 2005, the latter of which he had formed with Holden in 1988. Soon after his return, drivers Rick Kelly and Garth Tander would take consecutive titles for the team in 2006 and 2007.