Gerry Marshall - RIP

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Discussion

KJR

Original Poster:

793 posts

264 months

Thursday 21st April 2005
quotequote all
Sad news, according to Autosport.

Gerry Marshall fell ill while testing at Silverstone - he managed to stop the car safely, but has sadly passed away.

A true legend of British motorsport.


>>> Edited by KJR on Thursday 21st April 21:28

The DJ 27

2,666 posts

252 months

Thursday 21st April 2005
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Very sad news. A great bloke and a fantastic driver. No doubt he's up in heaven, going sideways in something with a V8.

Trackside

1,777 posts

232 months

Thursday 21st April 2005
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Another legend passes. I bet he's up there now, stood at a bar with Tony Lanfranchi.

Many memories of the Big Man, mainly of him going sideways! Saw him demonstrate Baby Bertha a couple of years ago (too young to see him race it, unfortunately) and that was a sight to behold.

They don't make 'em like that any more. Rest in peace Gerry.

canam-phil

489 posts

258 months

Thursday 21st April 2005
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Gerry was one of the first contacts I had with race drivers. He and my cousin were competing against each other and many an hour was spent together with him and the other drivers before the races.

Good man gone, but I will always remember his races. I saw him at the Goodwood Revivals driving amongst other things an Alvis Grey Lady... and very fast too.

He never lost his skills and I suppose he departed doing the thing he spent his life doing and I hope he left peacefully.

roop

6,012 posts

283 months

Thursday 21st April 2005
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Gerry Marshall was one of the greatest personalities in club motor sport in more ways than one. Not only was he supremely talented in that he could jump into absolutely any car and steer it to great effect, but he drove with a flair that few could match let alone beat albeit lacking in outright delicacy.

Off the circuit, Gerry got even better - I remember him propping up the bar at just about every Saturday night of a TVR race weekend and then into the circuit bar after the race on the Sunday.

His on and off track antics will be missed by all of us with rose-tinted spectacles looking back at the good old days of British club motorsport where everything had skinny tyres, real wheel drive and went broadside round every corner without fail.

RIP Gerry

>> Edited by roop on Thursday 21st April 22:54

hui

1,025 posts

247 months

Thursday 21st April 2005
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Very sad news indeed for all of us who watched a genius at work. I was introduced to racing by Tony Lanfranchi and Gerry Marshall who I met in the Victoria Pub in London in 1975. I met Barrie Williams shortly afterwards and 26 years into my own racing career have now seen another of my great racing chums go. As Angela Lanfranchi said to me today, there are bound to be a few good races up there now! Gerry could not have gone a better way. A true racer to the end. Gerry will be sadly missed and I will raise a glass to him this weekend as I'm sure will many others.

Graham

16,368 posts

283 months

Thursday 21st April 2005
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Gone but I doubt He'll ever be forgotten....


A true racer to the end....

G

wedge girl

4,688 posts

238 months

Thursday 21st April 2005
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I will raise a glass of very fine red, in respect of all the great memories he has given.

Eric Mc

121,776 posts

264 months

Thursday 21st April 2005
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Sad news. Always remember him manhandling a three wheeled Mustang around Woodcote at Goodwood a couple of years ago.

jeremyc

23,335 posts

283 months

Thursday 21st April 2005
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Very sad news: some of my earliest motorsport memories are of Gerry pedaling all kinds of machinery around Brands Hatch (very quickly).

One of the true legends of motorsport. RIP

Racing Rod

1,353 posts

266 months

Friday 22nd April 2005
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The race is won,

rest in peace.

towman

14,938 posts

238 months

Friday 22nd April 2005
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Closest I got to him was watching that astonishing race at Crystal Palace when he overtook the whole field after a forced stop. A Genius.

hut49

3,544 posts

261 months

Friday 22nd April 2005
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An out and out racer - I watched him regularly in the 70's at Brands Hatch and have a ton of photos of him with his beautifully prepared cars, always at or very near the front of the pack. Sad to think he's run his last race. RIP

ehasler

8,566 posts

282 months

Friday 22nd April 2005
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Very sad news.

I always looked forward to watching Gerry race - a true legend of British motorsport, and he'll be sadly missed.

robsinfield

144 posts

241 months

Friday 22nd April 2005
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Yes, sad news, but lets not forget that he was in his 60's, not in the best of health yet still tried to live his life to the full (and then some !), Motorsport News will no doubt tell us as much in their obituary next week. Am I right in saying that he held the record for the number of motor races started ?

Rob

roop

6,012 posts

283 months

Friday 22nd April 2005
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He won more races than any other British driver in history IIRC.

GrahamG

1,091 posts

266 months

Friday 22nd April 2005
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Over 600 race wins - A fine fellow and the reaction of some of those who I spoke to yesterday after hearing the news was a testament to that. Initial shock then immediate triggering of happy memories at the mention of his name. RIP Gerry

GarrettMacD

831 posts

231 months

Friday 22nd April 2005
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I once had the pleasure of being No.2 mechanic on Gerry's TVR Tuscan racer during the 1994 season. Frankly, the car was a piece of shite, forever, DNF-ing due to numerous mechanical faults, but Gerry never once complained.
Every race he took part in, he absolutely drove the nuts off the car, and it was always great to watch him exit every corner with a controlled slide, rarely to the detriment of lap times.
Over 600 race wins, over 1000 race entries, the figures say it all really. Without doubt the best racer I have ever seen (including F1/F3/F3000/GT's) and lived for the thrill of a race.
We should also remind ourselves that he was also bloody quick in single seaters, but because he wasn't a short-arsed little tt he could never fit into one!!!

RIP Gerry, not many of your lot left now

legaleagleboy

605 posts

250 months

Friday 22nd April 2005
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Never met Gerry although he grew up a few hundred yards from my house in Wembley, knew his younger brother a bit though.

He has had a real impact because he was just always around and entertained us all -- literally a larger than life character in the widest sense.

Gerry -- our sport has been blessed by your presence, can I give you my personal heartfelt thanks for what you have done. Goodbye big man.

paul f

chim666

2,335 posts

264 months

Friday 22nd April 2005
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I recall seeing the big geezer at Brands and Silverstone many times when I was marshalling.
Whether he was in Big or Baby Bertha, or a Griff, Aston or anything else with a big lump at the front, he'd make it fly!
I was in the Brands paddock one day talking with him, and he asked where my post was. "Clearways" I replied.
"OK then, I'll put it sideways on my last lap" - this was in Baby Bertha.
So after leaving every other car in his wake, and true to his word, on the last lap, he came round Clearways completely sideways, the big V8 howling, waving as he did so!
Wot a bloke!