Ted Toleman obituary: the man who gave Senna his F1 break
The man who led his family racing team into F1, Ted Toleman, has died at the age of 86
Ted Toleman, who has died at the age of 86, gave opportunities to a number of notable F1 drivers
DPPI
From hopeless backmarker to potent Formula 1 giant-killer, the Toleman team gave a host of key personalities their F1 break between 1981 and ’85, including drivers Derek Warwick, Teo Fabi and Stefan Johansson – but most notably Ayrton Senna and the man who would go on to design every one of Michael Schumacher’s seven world championship-winning cars, Rory Byrne.
Ted Toleman, who died in April aged 86, ran the family car transportation business with Bob, the son of Ted’s adoptive parents. It was Bob who was the initial driving force behind the interest in motor sport, encouraged by managing director Alex Hawkridge. The Toleman Group became a familiar sponsor in club motor sport during the 1970s, notably on the DFV-powered Super Saloon ‘DFVW’ 1600 fastback of Colin Hawker, as a means of promoting the business. The brothers and Hawkridge also raced.
Brian Henton in the 1980 F2 TG280
McKlein
Tragedy struck in 1976 when Bob Toleman was killed in a Formula Ford accident at Snetterton. Undeterred, Ted Toleman continued to race a Lola Sports 2000 on occasion as Hawkridge stepped up investment in motor sport as an entrant, the company backing South African Rad Dougall who dominated FF2000 in 1977. Toleman then hired promising designer Rory Byrne from Royale and jumped straight into Formula 2.
The company stamped its mark in 1980 with its own Hart-powered TG280 F2 designed by Byrne and John Gentry. Brian Henton and Derek Warwick swept to a team 1-2 in the European F2 Championship, prompting Toleman to take the plunge into F1 for 1981.
Initially out of its depth with Byrne’s Hart turbo-powered TG181, Henton and Warwick only qualified for one race each in a fraught maiden F1 season. But by 1984, when Hawkridge signed British Formula 3 champion Ayrton Senna, Toleman was a genuine contender, the Brazilian almost winning a rain-affected Monaco GP.
Toleman’s Ayrton Senna, 1984
Grand Prix Photo
But the following year, after Senna had defected to Lotus and the team found itself without a tyre deal, Toleman’s final F1 car, the TG185, failed to make the start of the season. The team was sold to fashion house Benetton, the name under which it then ran from 1986, and Toleman withdrew from motor sport.
Ted Toleman also raced off-shore powerboats and in 1985 captained the Virgin Atlantic Challenger, with Richard Branson on board, which narrowly failed to set a new record for the fastest crossing of the north Atlantic. Although Hawkridge ran the F1 effort, the support of chairman Ted was key to the company’s against-the-odds racing success. “I owe everything to Ted Toleman, Alex Hawkridge and the team,” said Derek Warwick. “I wouldn’t have been in F1 without them.”