Career Highlights

Gerry Marshall was a British racing driver who was a legend. To many he was the face of British Club racing. His style of driving was often described as sideways and on-the-edge but this distinguished his driving in any car, large, small, front, rear or all wheel drive, if you saw a car at the front going sideways, then you knew it was being driven by Gerry.

This outward exuberance belied his extraordinary speed, cool-headedness, car control, intelligence and his overall ability behind the wheel.  Indeed some might say that the only thing that was faster than his driving was his mind -  he was well known for his one-liners and nick-name giving.

Gerry's career was successful almost from the very beginning. Motorsport was was in his DNA. He had always been interested in anything mechanical from a very early age and indeed could drive a tractor almost as soon as he could walk! 

He won his first race in 1964 at Snetterton in a 1.0 litre Mini Cooper.  Snetterton was to become a significant part of his career, as nearly 40 years later he claimed his 600th victory there in August 2000 in the Marsh Plant Hire,  Aston Martin DB4.

Over the course of Gerry's career he notched up a staggering 623 race wins.  Gerry was a life member of both the BRDC and the BARC and was awarded the Gold Medal by the BARC in 2002, for his "Outstanding contribution to British Motorsport". 

Gerry came second in the Spa 24 hour race in 1977.  He was also awarded, in the same year,  the prestigious *E.R.A. Club Trophy.

Gerry finished second, only 11 seconds adrift to Roger Clark in a works Escort on the 5 day Tour of Britain.  He won the 1971 Escort Mexico Championship from Jody Scheckter.

Gerry competed at every level from Truck Racing at Brands Hatch to Formula Ford. 

Gerry also owned and ran a motor dealers in North London, with his partner John Wingfield, before he was tragically killed in a motor racing accident in 1976. He then moved his business to Hertfordshire.

Gerry wrote weekly columns for several motoring publications throughout his career.  He was often called upon for his encyclopedic knowledge of motorsport and of course if anyone wanted a controversial quote!

Gerry could often be seen championing other drivers,  and indeed backed many talented racing drivers,  as diverse as World Champion, Dennis Hulme,  to the equally entertaining salon car driver, Karl Jones.

So,  in between racing, running his own business, fending off libel cases, backing other drivers and being a father of three - he was fairly busy!

*The E.R.A. Club Trophy
Awarded to a British Driver, driving a British car, who established the most meritorious performance of the year outside the United Kingdom.