Tony Rolt passed away at 89

[VRM]

Tony Rolt passed away on Wednesday, February 6th at age 89.

Rolt was a lieutenant in the Rifle Brigade during the early stages of WWII. He fought in France, and was taken prisoner when the Germans overran the country. He was involved in the infamous glider escape plan at Colditz Castle (this is a fascinating story).

Rolt won LeMans in 1953 with Duncan Hamilton in a Jaguar C-Type. Hamilton often told the story of how he and Rolt showed up for the 24 hour race with incredible hangovers. Rolt denied the story, and team manager 'Lofty' England said that he would have never let them race in that condition.

Rolt drove in three F1 Grands Prix, but DNF'ed at all three races. He was also the last driver alive to have raced at Silverstone in 1950 at the very first F1 Grand Prix.

Shortly after the end of WWII Rolt also worked on developing four-wheel drive and four-wheel steering. He and his partners developed the only four-wheel drive F1 car to ever win a race. The technology developed by Rolt and his company was later used in the US at the Indy 500. Cars that used the Ferguson transmission (named for his partner Harry Ferguson) included Novi, STP, and the 1968 Shelby Indy 500 entries for Denny Hulme and Bruce McLaren. The Shelby entries were withdrawn before the race.

I had a chance to meet Rolt at the 1992 Silverstone Historics, and I was able to talk with him at some length. He was quite friendly, and was fascinated that a young kid like myself had even heard of him. We talked about 4 wheel drive (I had a full size Blazer back then) and LeMans. He reminded me of an English version of John Fitch.

Steve