To say I have lost a great friend today is an understatement, the sport of Powerboat Racing has also lost one of its greatest racers, organisers and ambassador.

I asked Tim Powell 9 years ago to write some words about his early days in Motor Racing.

JM,
You asked me to give you a few lines on why I started motor racing, albeit briefly.
I suppose there were 2 reasons.
One I Inherited ‘The Buzz’ from my Parents.
My Mother drove an Amilcar Car made in France from an early age.
One of her Brothers killed himself at Brooklands rolling a Bugatti over the banking.
Another fought for the RAF during the Battle of Britain in a Spitfire and was shot down and survived.
On my Father’s side he developed the Constant Velocity Universal joint which enabled Alec Issigonis to produce the first Mini front wheel Drive due to the high angle this joint gave for ‘Front Wheel Steer ‘ thereby eliminating the transmission Tunnel to the rear axle.
All Car manufactures then followed suit.
My Grandfather Introduced Standard Oil ‘ESSO’ to the UK in the early 1900’s.
So I suppose ‘Automotive’ ran in the blood.
Perhaps more importantly was that I lived at Bosham which was only 10 Miles from the Goodwood Motor Race Track.
I started Racing various ‘Bitsa’ Cars, then getting a bit more serious in Rear Engine Single Seater ‘Lotus” Cars’.
I moved up to racing a Jaguar Four Door Mark MK 1 saloon Race prepared by Jaguar originally prepared for Tommy Sopwith.
This car was short lived as to lack of speed -165 MPH, when Ford of America came out with the Ford Galaxy which could hit 200Mph but had trouble stopping!
So the Jag was out paced and no longer competitive so I went back to International Offshore Powerboat Racing.

‘God knows if it helps John, perhaps someone will find it interesting when I’m dead’, Tim said to me on the phone later that day.

Photo: powerboatarchive2.co.uk