British motorsport mourns the loss at 86 of Alan Rees, a former driver in his own right who was also the last living founder of legendary F1 constructor March Engineering.
Rees passed away early on Friday morning after a “truly brave and valiant battle against illness” according to his heartbroken family.
Born in Wales, the son of a successful haulage contractor, Rees had the financial support to enable him to go racing and kickstarted his career in 1959 with a Lotus 11 sports car before moving into single seaters in the early sixties, eventually winning the Formula Junior title in 1961 with a Lotus 20.
This achievement earned him a spot on the works Lotus team for 1962, but the following year he joined Roy Winkelmann’s outfit in Formula Junior, progressing thereafter into Formula 2 and driving the team’s Brabhams with great success between 1964 and 1968, racing alongside future F1 world champion Jochen Rindt.
Although he was classified seventh in the 1967 German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring with a Winkelmann Brabham, having entered the race as part part of the F2 contingent of cars, Rees’ only start in a World Championship event at the wheel of an F1 car came at Silverstone in 1967, where he finished in ninth position driving a works Cooper-Maserati.
He eventually realized that his managerial skills surpassed his driving talent and stopped racing altogether to focus on the business side of the sport.
After hanging up his helmet in 1969, he became a co-founder of March Engineering – his initials being the ‘AR’ in March - along with Max Mosley, Graham Coaker and Robin Herd, an epic adventure that resulted in several years of tremendous commercial success for the Bicester company whose cars graced the grids of F3, F2 and of course F1.
In 1973, Rees took the reins of Don Nichols Shadow team in F1, a position he held until the end of 1976 when, along with Jackie Oliver, designer Tony Southgate, Riccardo Patrese and sponsor Ambrosio, he left to start the Arrows team.
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The Welshman remained the team manager at Arrows until 1991 when the company was sold to Footwork. However, both Oliver and Rees who had retained an interest in the company wrestled the outfit back from its Japanese owner after the latter withdrew its support.
In 1996, the pair sold out to Tom Walkinshaw. Rees handed over the Milton Keynes facilities to Stewart Grand Prix, which would later become Jaguar and then Red Bull Racing.
In doing so, he was directly or indirectly involved in the creation of five Formula 1 teams over the span of about 30 years, demonstrating his entrepreneurial spirit and passion.
We at F1i, extend our heartfelt condolences to the Rees family and to Alan’s close friends in this difficult time.
Alan Rees, 1938 - 2024
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