Innovation
The story of the Tyrrell shed that began a Formula 1 championship-winning dynasty
by Samarth Kanal
6min read
The roots of the Formula 1-conquering Mercedes team can be traced a long way - back to a 126 square metre shed. Now saved from demolition and restored to its former glory, this building once spawned championship-winning F1 cars for a very different team: Tyrrell.
Founded in 1958, Ken Tyrrell’s eponymous racing team was set up in a building measuring just 6x21 metres. It was purchased from the British Ministry of Defence and erected in the yard of his family’s timber business.
The team would win three Formula 1 drivers’ titles and one constructors’ championship title, fielding drivers including Jackie Stewart, Didier Pironi, Ronnie Peterson, Martin Brundle, Michele Alboreto and Francois Cevert.
In 1998, Tyrrell completed its final F1 season as it was sold to the group creating British American Racing (BAR).
That team would itself be sold and morph into Honda, then championship-winning Brawn GP - and then eventually Mercedes-AMG in 2010.
That all began in this building.
Team founder Ken Tyrrell outside the shed in 1971 - the year his team won the constructors’ and drivers’ championships
The origins of the Tyrrell shed
Tyrrell himself raced for his team in lower formulae from 1958 but he soon gave up driving and concentrated on running the team. The likes of John Surtees and Jacky Ickx would make their single-seater debuts for the team - but it was the arrival of Stewart that dovetailed with a meteoric rise for this Surrey-based squad.
Stewart dominated the 1964 Formula 3 championship with Tyrrell then switched teams to make his F1 debut with BRM in 1965. It took until 1968 for Tyrrell to change its focus to F1 - and in 1968, it entered the world championship with Stewart back at the wheel.
With a Matra-built chassis, Tyrrell dominated the following season. In 1970, under great secrecy, Tyrrell began building chassis 001 - its first design of its own - much of it in this shed.
The team won the 1971 constructors’ and drivers’ titles, and the 1973 drivers’ title too.
Tyrrell soon outgrew this building and by the mid-1970s it had a new factory next door - although the shed was still kept in use for parts fabrication and storage.
Jackie Stewart won the 1971 and 1973 drivers’ championships with Tyrrell
Life at Tyrrell
Brian Lisles, who was development engineer (a role now akin to that of a race engineer) for Tyrrell for a decade before becoming the team’s chief designer in 1987, recalls his stint at the team and the crucial role of this building.
He says that while the newer Tyrrell building became the team’s central site for fabrication, the old shed was still as busy as ever.
“I’m sure when Ken built it, it was probably state-of-the-art for a single-seater team to have such a big building - but it was actually made of wood and it probably didn’t meet modern standards for insulation! It was a building where you could keep reasonably warm - it wasn’t freezing cold,” says Lisles to RaceTeq.
“We went from two people to probably six or seven working there during the Formula 1 days.
“The fab [fabrication] shop was always a busy place because the chassis took so long to make. We’d build around six chassis in a year. The first one might have taken eight weeks to build. That’s probably 38 weeks of work per year for the fabrication team - all they did was build chassis, tidy up and do crash repairs.
“They were busy all the time. Just the constant sound of riveting and beating on bits of metal. Certainly, that was my main memory of the place.”
The Tyrrell 001 and Tyrrell 008 in the shed at the 81st Goodwood Members’ Meeting in 2024
Lisles tells RaceTeq that the shed contained rows of fabricating benches and equipment, while advertising boards hung from the rafters.
He recalls that the Tyrrell 011, which secured two grands prix wins between 1981 and 1983 despite lacking the turbo engine that powered its more successful opponents, was one of the “noteworthy” cars he helped design at Tyrrell given its bespoke aluminium honeycomb chassis.
“It arrived in the [middle] of the turbo revolution, but it [011] was actually a very good car. It turned out to be an easy car to make go reasonably quickly,” says Lisles.
The former chief designer adds that the car had a “fortunate” trait in that its Goodyear cross-ply tyres would expand with speed due to centrifugal forces (unlike the Michelin radial tyres of the time) which ensured the car had just enough ground clearance at high speeds to prevent it from hitting the ground.
<p class="p1">Tyrrell 011 secured two grand prix victories for the team with 1982 being the only full season campaigned by the car</p>
The team was “running on fumes” by the late 1980s, according to Lisles, and it was being left behind. By the time Lisles managed to secure a contract to use the University of Southampton’s wind tunnel in 1988, that year’s fledgling 017 design was almost redundant.
The F1 team would continue operating until 1998, by which time it was a backmarker with a massive funding deficit compared to its rivals. That was 10 years after Lisles left Tyrrell for Indycar squad Newman/Haas.
Team founder Tyrrell passed away in August 2001 at the age of 77, leaving an enduring legacy: a long line of sterling drivers that raced for his team; race- and championship-winning Tyrrell machines - including the six-wheeled and short-lived P34; and a team that evolved into Brawn GP and the Mercedes colossus.
“I've been in professional motor racing a long time, but I've only ever worked for two people, who are Ken Tyrrell and Carl Haas,” says Lisles.
“And both of them were excellent people to work for. Other than my little upset with Ken when I left in early ‘89,” he hastens to add.
Tyrrell 017 was designed without sufficient wind tunnel time. By the late 1980s, the team did not have sufficient resources to compete effectively
Why did the Tyrrell shed need restoring - and how will it be used in the future?
The Tyrrell shed stood at its original site in Surrey, UK, for more than 70 years, although it was only ever intended to be a temporary structure. It fell into disrepair after the F1 team ceased operations and, in 2022, it was threatened with demolition.
The Tyrrell family, former Tyrrell F1 drivers Stewart and Brundle and more figures including Goodwood owner Charles Gordon-Lennox, the Earl of March, funded and planned to rescue the shed.
Lord March told RaceTeq that motorsport writer and historian Doug Nye alerted him to the “tragedy” that was the impending demolition of the shed.
Due to asbestos in the roof and rotten windows (of which the original latchings and fittings were retained), plus issues surrounding planning permission, there were delays to the process of dismantling, transporting and rebuilding the shed at Goodwood.
Scaffolding around the Tyrrell shed, which was renovated at Goodwood
“I rang a few people - Jackie [Stewart], Martin Brundle, and said, ‘Will you help me do it?’. It wasn't a huge amount of money, and we all chucked a bit in the pot, and we were able to move it,” adds Lord March.
The restored and rebuilt shed was exhibited at the Goodwood Members’ Meeting in April 2024 before an official unveiling at September’s Goodwood Revival. It still includes some of the original furniture including notice boards, stickers, and posters, that have been left on the walls.
At the Members’ Meeting, Goodwood used the shed to exhibit two of Tyrrell’s F1 cars: the 1970-71 001 and 1978 008.
“There was very little nostalgia after the war [World War Two],” says Lord March. “It was all about moving on, really; not about preserving things.
“I'm really pleased. Goodwood is very respectful, and we want it to feel very authentic. Yet at the same time, we don't want it to be [stuffy].”
The Goodwood owner adds that the promoters of the event aim to use the shed to promote STEM education, given how “extraordinary” its history is.
Lord March says the shed could be used as a space to inspire and educate students in STEM fields
“It’s an extraordinary feeling that you get when you look at [the Tyrrell shed compared to] what Red Bull have got at Milton Keynes while three world championships came out of that shed.” he says.
“So, it turned out well,” concludes Lord March. “It would be great if we could do something to help promote young engineers or apprentices. So, there is room for it to be a STEM education [space].”
Now restored, the Tyrrell shed serves as a reminder of the team’s humble beginnings and monumental achievements. Formula 1 dynasties grew from this very building that housed some of F1’s greatest machines and employed some of F1’s legendary engineers.
At Goodwood, it will continue to pay tribute to Ken Tyrrell’s legacy - and perhaps galvanise some of the engineers of the future.