It may not have been originally a garage, but the timber woodshed at Ken Tyrrell’s spawned multiple title winners at the sport’s elite level of Formula 1.
Located in Ockham, Surrey, the timber shed remains as does the former Formula 1 factory where a party supplies business is set-up. Tyrrell and his brother set-up a timber merchant company after the war, which proved successful leading to his entry into motorsport.
Tyrrell raced himself before standing down as a driver in 1959 to aid younger drivers in rising to the top by entering his team Formula Junior and Formula 2 as all this occurred out of the woodshed at the family business.
Soon discovering Scottish hot shoe Jackie Stewart, Tyrrell’s team rose alongside its star driver through the ranks as it made the leap into Formula 1 in 1968 with the support of Elf, Dunlop and Ford, which was dominating the sport thanks to the DFV Cosworth engine.
Also involved was French manufacturer Matra and in doing so persuaded it to use the DFV instead of a V12 built by the marque.
Success proved almost immediate as Stewart was second in the 1968 World Drivers’ Championship, winning three races at Zandvoort, the Nurburgring and Watkins Glen.
A newly designed Matra, the MS80 in 1969 was designed by Gerard Ducarouge and Bernard Boyer allowed Stewart to go one better to take his first title.
Matra determined to focus on its V12 engine in 1970 led to the partnership being dissolved as Tyrrell secretly employed Derek Gardner to lead the design of the team’s first in-house entry. Although unreliable, it led to a successful period for Tyrrell as once again Stewart took the title in 1971 and again in 1973, his final season.
In 1971, Tyrrell took the Constructors’ Championship in its first full-season as a lone entity in Formula 1
But this era was not without tragedy. Formula 1 was at its height of danger during the 1970s and a fresh idea on safety was just around the corner, but young French protégé Francois Cervert was set to takeover from Stewart as Tyrrell’s driver of the future was killed in his attempt on pole at Watkins Glen. Tyrrell pulled out of the race in what was Stewart’s last entry as a driver and his 100th, but the team was almost lost to the sport as well.
Still a frontrunning team despite the tragedy, Tyrrell pushed on and so did the team leaving the shed during the mid-1970s to an expanded facility right next door. The shed remained and was used for various areas of the team until Tyrrell sold out to British American Racing in 1997.
There is a current campaign to get the woodshed relocated to Goodwood to ensure its prosperity for years to come.
It may just be the world’s most famous and successful woodshed as it helped build the underdog narrative of Tyrrell against the likes of Ferrari in just on three decades of Formula 1.
A story to be never repeated in the high money, ultra-professional environment currently in place.
Of course Tyrrell continued in Formula 1 until 1998, but was a contender during the 1970s when it ended the decade as a six-wheeler and was a leader of the non-turbo entries in the 1980s.
Tyrrell passed away in 2001 aged 87, while his wife Norah – an integral part of the Formula 1 operation – did so a couple of years later.