Ecclestone

Bernie Ecclestone

Bernard Charles Ecclestone was born in a small Suffolk village, the son of a trawler captain, and spent his early childhood in the town of Wangford, near Southwold. The family moved to Bexleyheath in southeast London and Ecclestone left school at 16 and went to work at the local gasworks. His passion was motorcycle scrambling and he began competing immediately after the war. As machinery was scarce he began buying and selling motorcycle spare parts, doing the business in his spare time. He built up the spares business and then went into business with Fred Compton to form the Compton & Ecclestone motorcycle dealership.

Bernie Cooper 1.jpg (84852 bytes) Bernie made the move to car racing in a Formula 3, acquiring a Cooper Mk V for 1951. He won the Junior Race and finished fourth in the Championship Race at Brands Hatch in April, then first in both his heats on 12th May and second in his heat for the International Trophy at Goodwood on the 14th. In June, Bernie took second in his heat, to John Cooper, and fourth in the final of the Open Challenge at Brands then a second and a third at Boreham on the 30th. Back at Brands, he won his heat of the Open Challenge on 6th August then second in the Brighton Speed Trials. On 9th September he won his heat and took second in the Open Challenge Final, ahead of Stuart Lewis-Evans and Les Leston but was disqualified from the Brands Hatch Championship Final. Ecclestone won his heat of the Open Challenge and but failed in the final on the 23rd, still enough to make him Brands Hatch Junior Champion for the year. Still in the Cooper Mk V, Bernie won the Holiday Special in April 1952.

Bernie ran a Kieft CK 51 for part of the 1953 season.Bernie and won the Consolation Race on 3rd May. His aspirations as a driver took a knock when he collided with his friend, and fellow car dealer Bill Whitehouse and found himself in the car park behind Paddock Hill Bend!

Bernie Cooper 2.jpg (102555 bytes)

Bernie decided to concentrate on business which grew to include the Weekend Car Auctions firm, loan financing and property. In 1957 Ecclestone returned to the sport as manager of Stuart Lewis-Evans. He ran a pair of Connaught cars for Lewis-Evans, Roy Salvadori, Archie Scott-Brown and Ivor Bueb. He even tried to qualify one of the cars himself at Monaco in 1958. At the end of the year Ecclestone abandoned the sport again following the death of Lewis-Evans but in the early 1960s his friendship with Salvadori, who was by then running the Cooper team, led to a meeting with Jochen Rindt (who's wife, Nina was the daughter of Curt Lincoln). Ecclestone became Rindt's manager and business partner and in 1968 and 1969 he was involved in running the Lotus Formula 2 factory team which was running Rindt and Graham Hill.

At the start of 1972 he bought the Brabham Team from Ron Tauranac and set about turning it into a winning force. He was one of the founders of FOCA in 1974, along with Chapman, Teddy Mayer, Max Mosley, Ken Tyrrell (who also began his career in 500s) and Frank Williams. He led the team owners in a battle with the FIA in 1975 for a new system of entries and appearance money being paid to all the teams.

ecclestone.jpg (13850 bytes) In 1978 Ecclestone became Chief Executive of FOCA, with Mosley as his legal advisor, and a new battle began with the FIA's Jean-Marie Balestre. The fight for the commercial control of the sport continued until March 1981 when the Concorde Agreement gave FOCA the right to negotiate TV contracts.

That year Brabham won the World Championship with Nelson Piquet. After more success with Brabham, Bernie sold the team to concentrate on the administration of Formula 1. He has since played a key role in turning F1 into a highly successful, global business and made himself rather wealthy as a result.