How the Marshall club racing dynasty remains intact

As the son of club racing legend Gerry, Gregor Marshall has racing in his blood. Although his ambitions are modest, his determination to get his Vauxhall Firenza on the grid at the 2020 Goodwood SpeedWeek tells of a driver who relishes a challenge

Marcus Pye Mar 4, 2021, 3:07 PM

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.

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Author Marcus Pye

Raised initially within earshot of South London’s fabled Crystal Palace circuit, racing engines are the soundtrack to my life. Car enthusiast Dad and godfather took me to British Grands Prix of the 1960s, which sowed the seeds of my passion. Reading Autosport every Thursday morning, following my hero Ronnie Peterson’s exploits, fuelled it.

Volunteering as a BARC junior at Thruxton in the mid-'70s led to lap-charting for commentator Simon Taylor, Autosport's publisher, and grid/pit marshalling. Landed my dream Autosport job aged 19 in July 1977, working under legendary editor Quentin Spurring and Robin Bradford. A staffer for 20 years (1000 issues!), freelance since 1997, I’m its longest-serving writer.

Over 45 seasons I have reported 1200-plus events - covering F2, F3000, F3, club and Historic racing to hillclimbs and sprints at towards 100 venues - and commentated worldwide, most notably at Goodwood and the Spa Six Hours.

My driving CV lists almost 550 competition cars spanning 140 plus marques. Since 1981 I’ve contested over 200 events, from Brands Hatch to Daytona, scoring the occasional result. Co-owning and racing the Chevron B40 in which Keke Rosberg won Enna-Pergusa’s European F2 round the weekend after I joined Autosport and an F5000 Lola T332 were special!

A lottery windfall would see me buy a Chevron B8 (my favourite car from boyhood), Lola T294 and March 782 - and expand my racing sticker archive, popular on Facebook. Beyond the sport and family, my abiding interest is classical music.