How the Marshall club racing dynasty remains intact

It takes a special person to follow in the footsteps of a parent who achieved eminence, particularly in the same field. Expectational or aspirational, this apparent gravitational pull is for some irresistible. Not least in motorsport, which is less dangerous than it was but far more difficult to break into.

Losing world champion fathers as children did not deter Stuart Graham from taking up motorcycle racing, or Damon Hill (whose Formula 1, Indianapolis 500 and Le Mans-winning dad Graham couldn’t stay away, even after grave injuries) jumping from two wheels to four to chase the same dream, then make history as F1’s first second-generation title-winner.

Faced with such a dilemma, other offspring have dabbled at racing then walked away, ploughed their furrows successfully in different directions, or competed for the hell of it at a sustainable level. Although there was no shortage of driving ambition, Gregor Marshall was told by his dad that if he wanted to race it would be without his help.

Gregor’s father Gerry Marshall, who died in April 2005, is a legend. The greatest British showman, ‘Big Gerry’ was one of the few drivers followed by legions of fans from circuit to circuit. A promoter’s dream, which increased burger, beer and ice cream sales, his swashbuckling throttle-heavy style defied conventional logic that sideways isn’t fast. Over 40 years he racked up more than 620 race wins from 1445 starts, most against quality opposition, in an extraordinary range of cars.

PLUS: The greatest club racing characters 

Named after Autosport’s charismatic hard-drinking Scottish founder Gregor Grant, Marshall’s son was born in November 1977, after his father – with Hertfordshire-based Dutch tuning wizard Bill Blydenstein – had put General Motors’ Vauxhall marque on the racing map. He’d raced Fords, and would again, but Gerry’s brilliance in Viva GT, Firenza and Magnum models did much for sales to brand fans created by his on-track prowess.

In the mid-1970s, Marshall was almost unbeatable in the ultimate Formula 5000 Holden Repco V8-engined ‘Baby Bertha’ SuperSaloon, a caricature Firenza which succeeded the massive and less wieldy Ventora ‘Big Bertha’, destroyed following brake failure at Silverstone in 1974. He subsequently cheated death when his Triplex Triumph Dolomite Sprint was tripped into a series of aerobatic rolls at Silverstone’s British Grand Prix meeting in 1979.

Gerry Marshall 1976 Firenza Silverstone

Photo by: Motorsport Images

Best known as a tin-top sorcerer, Gerry also raced Historic sportscars from Lister-Jaguar to Can-Am Lola T222 and (unfathomably given his weight and girth) single-seaters, including a Lotus 61 Formula Ford!

“I remember the Marsh Plant Lister living in a double-glazed, centrally heated carpeted ‘garage’ at his home, when the house didn’t have heating,” says Gregor.

He also recalls travelling with his dad when he was racing one of the Aston Martin DBR4 GP cars. “I called it the Green Tank, which may have been a little unkind,” he says of the bulbous front-engined machine, contemporary of the 1959 Le Mans 24 Hours and world sportscar championship-winning DBR1s, yet rendered obsolete by Cooper and Lotus rear-engined F1 chassis.

“After my parents split up, Mum, my two sisters and I lived in a top floor council flat in St Albans,” adds Gregor. “I like to think that grounded me. I was privately educated, but the only kid in a Catholic boys’ school with divorced parents.

“A race engine I had in build in 2014 took four years to complete, then blew on a rolling road in 2018” Gregor Marshall

"Mum dropped me off in a beaten-up Mazda estate. Dad had a beautiful house with a pool, and as a motor trader drove whatever flash cars he had in stock. The only time he took me to school we were late, so my friends didn’t see me arrive in one of the first Moonstone Blue Ford Sierra Cosworths, which was annoying.

"Buying an old Mini shell from Andy Hack, one of Dad’s mates, with the intention of turning it into a Mini Se7en racer at 17, didn’t change his mind so that was forgotten,” says Marshall. Eventually, though, he achieved his driving ambition, making his debut in the current Vauxhall Firenza at Castle Combe on 28 May 2007 (below). At the age of 29 he thus became a third-generation racer.

Grandfather Albert Moses – who changed the family’s name in the 1950s – had competed in trials in a Dellow, then raced an ex-Tulip Rally MG Magnette, his road car. He competed against Blydenstein (driving a tweaked Borgward Isabella), but hung up his helmet after rolling the MG at Snetterton. The car was still driveable, but Gerry and his younger brothers John and Martin rode home with a rope holding the rear doors closed!

Gregor Marshall Castle Combe Firenza 2007

The trials and tribulations of getting his Firenza up and running reliably would have broken most people. Not Marshall, now 43 and an after-sales consultant in the motor industry. Myriad problems, including a four-year engine build on a limited budget, followed by two blow-ups have almost inured him against disappointment, yet heightened the appreciation of better times.

“I was asked to present the Droop Snoot Group’s annual trophies in 2006 and said I was looking for Capri 3.0 or Magnum 2300 to start racing,” says Gregor. “The Lindsay twins [Edmund and Mario] went into overdrive with other members and found a basket-case – one of the cars prepared for the introductory race at Thruxton in 1974 – in Leamington. It was too far gone to be saved as a road car but that enabled me to strip it to a bare shell and build a racer.”

After seven races in 2007 it looked as if the dream was over: “Lack of funds, hard-to-find items and redundancy put paid to any racing in 2008.” Little did he know he wouldn’t race the car again until 2020...

“A race engine I had in build in 2014 took four years to complete, then blew on a rolling road in 2018,” adds Marshall. Vauxhall expert Neville Powell of NHP Motorsport has subsequently been his saviour.

A call from Goodwood focused the return, Marshall explains: “Although Vauxhall didn’t homologate the Droop Snoot nose, we were invited to compete in the Members’ Meeting’s Gerry Marshall Trophy race. We repainted the car in Dad’s 1972 DTV Firenza livery. Then COVID, lockdown and no racing!

"As restrictions were relaxed, a systems check at Brands Hatch on 13-year-old tyres in June ended abruptly when the engine let go due to a faulty oil pump that wrecked the crank.

“Goodwood announced SpeedWeek in August, including the GMT ‘Group 1’ race with a reduced entry, from 60 cars to 30. We had two months to solve the mechanical issues, including rebuilding my Mark 1 Viva GT gearbox. Sourcing a limited slip differential for my 052 axle was a problem. With quotes ranging from £3000 to £8500, Paul Conboy kindly agreed to loan me his.

Gregor Marshall 2020 Goodwood SpeedWeek Firenza

Photo by: MAWP+SPORT

“In September we tested there with the correct tyres but disaster struck again. This time it was a blown head gasket: in the long fast corners, the alternator moved and its small metal fan cut the bottom radiator hose. Neville was confident it was just the gasket, so with engine repaired, we got on with the list of jobs that needed finishing prior to the event.

At six feet three and 115kg, he’s taller than his father was, and an altogether more equable character, quietly spoken and urbane

"Without Neville, Andy Birch and Mario Lindsay, for helping me get the Firenza ready, and Graeme Law and Jim Morris [of Lifeline Fire & Safety] for donating sought-after items I needed, it would not have happened.

“Just studying the entry list with four Chevrolet Camaros, two Ford Mustangs, two Rover SD1s and seven three-litre Capris, and the calibre of drivers, was quite daunting. I knew my co-driver [three-time British Touring Car champion Matt Neal] and I were going to be severely outgunned. Matt, whose father Steve Dad knew from the 1960s, was up for it though and I could not miss the opportunity.”

Considering Marshall’s lack of mileage and currency, he performed creditably: “Matt was great, and 20th and 18th finishes were brilliant. Yes, there were retirements, but that’s motor racing.”

Marshall’s CV totals 10 meetings, including a start in Jon Ellison’s Triumph TR4 at Donington Park and two previous GMT races at Goodwood. In 2014 he saddled a clone of his dad’s 1969 Vauxhall Viva GT, and in 2019 finished 16th in Stuart Caie’s “fantastic” replica of Gerry’s 1978 Triplex Capri 3.0S. Despite his relative inexperience he’s impressing people. At six feet three and 115kg, he’s taller than his father was, and an altogether more equable character, quietly spoken and urbane.

But there’s no mistaking the determination and talent in those Marshall genes. Regrets? Gregor rues the family selling his Dad’s favourite car, the faithful Firenza ‘Old Nail’ in which Gerry won 63 races. Guyana’s General Motors guru Philip de Freitas and American Mervyn Dornford subsequently raced it. Paul Chase-Gardener, who bought it at Bonhams’ Goodwood sale in 2010, had it restored and invited Gregor to drive it at the 2012 Festival of Speed. The old warhorse is for sale again, with the ex-Dave Millington Brookhire club racer of the 1970s in the package!

In bygone days a philanthropic patron would have wanted Marshall Jr in the hotseat. Any ardent Vauxhall fans fancy making new history?

Goodwood SpeedWeek 2020

Photo by: Gary Hawkins