Stuart Turner, one of British rallying’s most influential figures, has died.
He had no interest in rallying when blithely he accepted the offer of a back-seat ride in his sister’s boyfriend’s Rover 14 on a local navigation event. When they became lost, this reluctant wages clerk/trainee accountant plotted a new career path.
It would take him to the very top of motorsport – twice – as he oversaw two of its most iconic rally cars: the Mini and the Ford Escort.
In the process, he drew up the blueprint and rewrote the rulebook of how to win – regularly. He was a stickler for detail and had an eye for a loophole, too.
Paddy Hopkirk and Henry Liddon en route to 1964 Rallye Monte-Carlo victory aboard Mini Cooper ‘S’ 33 EJB
Turner’s initial successes had been obtained in the co-driver’s seat. He sat alongside Ron Gouldburn and John Sprinzel in the first two iterations of the British Rally Championship, from 1958.
He was also co-driver to Saab’s Erik ‘On the Roof’ Carlsson in the 1960 RAC Rally, during which he was impressed when Carlsson switched off the engine in the middle of the first roll, during their first roll, on the recce.
But Turner was even more effective ‘driving a desk’.
