For someone who stumbled into the motorsport world, Stuart Turner – who died aged 92 in early September – has left an indelible mark on the industry.
Turner was one of those rare individuals that had an infinite and enviable amount of strings to their bow. Seemingly everything he touched turned to gold. A champion rally co-driver, a visionary, an architect of major motorsport campaigns, a PR genius, a successful team manager, a masterclass motivator, an unforgettable communicator, an after-dinner speaker blessed with sharp wit, an accomplished journalist/writer and prolific author, a passionate advocate of grassroots motorsport and improving safety. Incredibly, all of that was Stuart Turner in a nutshell. An accountant by trade who transformed into one of motorsport’s most passionate all-rounders and influential figures.
“He had good success as a co-driver but for me the co-driving was nothing in relation to what he did afterwards,” says FIA deputy president, former Ford rally driver and M-Sport team founder Malcolm Wilson. “He was the guy you were always trying to impress. He just commanded so much respect and he could get the best out of people. His forward-thinking vision was unique and he was ahead of his time.”
Distinguished motorsport broadcaster and rally driver Tony Jardine adds: “If you cut him in two like a piece of Blackpool rock, he had a motorsport core down the middle. The central bit would be rallying as that was his passion and love.
“I think he stands out as not just a figurehead but a master strategist and commander. At any level he could operate, whether it was talking to the board of major motor companies or talking to the mechanics, they all loved him. He worked with the best and kept big boards at Ford and BMC onside and kept delivering the goods. He was a superstar. He strengthened motorsport and in particular he made Ford what it is today.”
Turner will be forever associated with Ford, where he held the position director of motorsport, overseeing its rallying operation and engine programme in Formula 1. It was a partnership with the Blue Oval that lasted from 1969 before his retirement in 1990. It was a far cry from Turner’s chance encounter in motorsport that initially set the ball rolling.
Stuart Turner, right, Ford Director of Motorsport Europe
Photo by: LAT Images via Getty Images
In the mid-1950s, Turner’s exposure to motorsport was minimal until he was invited to attend a rally by his sister and her boyfriend, who were competing. When they became lost, Turner picked up the maps and from there a love of rallying formed. A career as a co-driver beckoned that proved to be a successful one.
It led to Turner becoming a star in the road rallying scene before national glory arrived, becoming the first British rally champion, alongside Ron Gouldbourn, driving a Triumph TR3A in 1958. This title was successfully defended aboard an Austin-Healey Sprite, calling notes for John Sprinzel.
Word soon spread of Turner’s co-driving capabilities, which led to the Englishman competing on the international stage. Outings in Europe and Canada followed, although the most notable success was outright RAC International Rally of Great Britain victory in 1960, partnering Swedish rally sensation Erik Carlsson in a Saab 96.
Turner’s chameleon-like ability to adapt to several roles was perhaps first displayed by a decision for a career switch to journalism, taking up the sports editor role with Motoring News. It was here where his love of rallying led to the creation of the much admired Motoring News Rally Championship.
A return to the forefront of rallying followed when the British Motor Corporation appointed Turner as its competitions manager. Turner flourished at BMC and made a name for himself in global motorsport. Decisions to revolutionise its rally programme were made, with only the iconic Mini Cooper S and Austin-Healey 3000 avoiding the axe. It was a bold call but one that paid off massively.
Having forged a connection with drivers through his co-driving career, Turner’s charismatic leadership enticed the likes of legendary drivers Timo Makinen and Paddy Hopkirk to the fold. Success on the stages soon followed with perhaps the most famous being Mini’s giant-killing victory at the 1964 Monte Carlo Rally, led by Hopkirk.
Mini Cooper S – 1964 Monte Carlo rally winner driven by Paddy Hopkirk
Photo by: Ed Fahey
Using all the knowledge gained as a journalist, he managed to pull off a PR stunt, unimaginable today for rallying, to leverage this triumph to the maximum. The winning car and crew were transported from Monte Carlo to appear in front of a television audience of an estimated 22million on the BBC’s hit television show Sunday Night at the London Palladium, hosted by Bruce Forsyth.
“Comedian Tommy Cooper was on the bill and then there is Paddy Hopkirk with the Mini at the end taking the accolades,” recalls Jardine. “Turner was so astute and they moved heaven and earth to get that car there. The Mini already was doing well with people buying it all over Europe, but then sales went up even more after Monte Carlo and the London Palladium stunt.”
Turner’s time at BMC came to an end in 1968 when the company merged with British Leyland. Ford came calling. Its then PR boss Walter Hayes offered Turner a role, which he declined as he felt it was ‘ungentlemanly’ given his allegiance to BMC. Instead, a move to become oil giant Castrol’s deputy publicist manager was taken. But the lure of Ford was too much to resist when it came calling a second time while working as a travelling marshal for the 1968 London-Sydney Marathon.
Turner wasted little time in seeking out opportunities for Ford to showcase itself in motorsport and sell more cars – the ‘win on Sunday, sell on Monday’ approach was in full swing. A master stroke was to contest the 1970 London to Mexico World Cup Rally – a marathon 16,000-mile event. Ford entered a modified Mk1 Escort, with Turner leading the focus on reliability. It was inspired as future World Rally champion Hannu Mikkola took Ford to victory. The result spawned a new road-going version of the car – the ‘Escort Mexico’, emblazoned with the insignia that flew out of the showrooms, and is a cult classic today.
Ford quickly became synonymous with rallying and, in 1979, Turner oversaw Ford’s first WRC constructors’ and drivers’ titles as Bjorn Waldegard pedalled the Escort RS1800 to glory. A second drivers’ title would follow when Ari Vatanen and David Richards struck in the Rothmans-liveried Escort in 1981.
Alongside the rally programmes, Ford’s famous Cosworth DFV V8 engine was dominating the F1 world, though Turner wasn’t a man to frequent the F1 paddocks, choosing to spend his time strategising. Rallying was Turner’s first love and he fought to persuade the top brass to ensure Ford remained ever-present in the discipline despite difficult times.
Bjorn Waldegard, Hans Thorszelius, Ford Escort RS
Photo by: Motorsport Images
“I would say he was instrumental in keeping Ford in rallying,” says Jardine. “When the questions were asked by management because things hadn’t been going that well he wrote a big document about why Ford should continue and what it should do. He didn’t just do it from the heart, he had a strategy and a plan. That plan was followed and he delivered world champions.
“He made the Blue Oval what it is and it continued with the current Dakar programme and through M-Sport, and even driving on the motorway now there are still fast Fords everywhere.”
There were, of course, big decisions to be made. As Audi pioneered four-wheel drive with its all-conquering Quattro at the dawn of the Group B period in the 1980s, Turner decided to cancel Ford’s Escort RS1700T rally project and its C100 sportscar racing programme. The decision was made to develop the Ford RS200 Group B car, which unfortunately never realised its potential after Group B ended prematurely in 1986, the car’s debut season, where it scored a solitary podium in Sweden. The Sierra Cosworth would become its successor.
“In my time he was Mr Ford,” explains Wilson. “I was doing RS1700T testing. There was no question the 1700T was becoming very good, and it was three seconds a mile quicker than the Mk2 Escort, but Stuart said no. He came with a clean sheet of paper and said we need to go four-wheel drive and then obviously the RS200 came. At the time it was really hard for me because I had a contract for 1983 in the WRC, and he came in and canned the whole thing, but on reflection it was the right thing to do.
“He instilled the confidence in engineers and technicians to take the next step. This is what he was very clever at. He would come up with the ideas, but then he would give the guys the confidence to embark on them.”
Wilson, who took over Ford’s rallying operation through his own M-Sport company in 1997, also benefited from Turner’s vision and passion to educate and help the next generation into the sport: “He was one of those people that when he walked into a room you thought, ‘Right, I better pull myself together’.
Malcolm Wilson, Team Principal of Ford M-Sport
Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool
“Ford used to do full-day rally forums and there is a picture of me when I was 14-years-old attending one. Stuart was responsible for things like that. It was so educational, he just put so much into it. This was all his idea to promote the sport of rallying.”
Turner never really left motorsport, continuing to spread this passion in grassroots motorsport, offering his free time to countless local motor clubs across the country. He was also a huge advocate for improving motorsport safety, becoming a key figure in the establishment of the Motorsport Safety Fund. The accolades also continued with Turner receiving an Autosport award in 1990 and the Prince Michael Award of Merit in 2009.
“The fact that he supported so many motor clubs, and one minute he would be doing a major corporate after-dinner speech, and then promising Suffolk Motor Club that he would be there to give out prizes, and they would only pay his petrol, says everything about him,” recalls Jardine.
Turner would turn back to writing too, publishing more than 20 books, in which his sense of humour was ever-present, penning a Haynes manual for retirement of all things. This humour was a key component of his speeches; F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone was often the subject for some harmless teasing.
“In every sphere that I have seen him, whether that was listening to his speeches or working with Ford, he was just like any top co-driver,” Jardine adds. “There were strategies, plans and details. He would have his wife sitting there with a stopwatch timing the gags and how long the laughs were. He would work out which were the better ones, rework the gag or drop them. He was brilliant. He was a riot.”
Turner will be remembered as an individual who was as committed to grassroots motorsport as he was about F1 and Ford winning in the WRC. A soul driven by pure unadulterated passion.
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