Joe Tandy
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Joseph Tandy (1 January 1983 – 13 May 2009) was a British
racing In sports, racing is a competition of speed, in which competitors try to complete a given task in the shortest amount of time. Typically this involves traversing some distance, but it can be any other task involving speed to reach a specific g ...
driver and team owner. He won the 2005
Formula Palmer Audi Formula Palmer Audi, officially abbreviated to FPA, and sometimes informally abbreviated to Palmer Audi, was a one-make class of open wheel Formula racing founded in 1998 by former Formula One driver, Jonathan Palmer. It was based in the Unite ...
championship and was awarded a BRDC Rising Star in the same year. Tandy later founded his own team, JTR, which he ran until his death in a car accident.


Career


Driver

Tandy started his racing career unusually in short oval Ministox machinery in 1994. However, by the end of 1998, Tandy had won 45 races, with 60 other podium placings as he became both British and World Ministox champion, as well as being a three-time East Anglian Ministox champion. He continued in this level of motorsport in 1999, winning another 28 races to become British champion for the second time. After a year off in 2000, Tandy took up circuit racing by moving into the Mini Seven Challenge in 2001. He competed in four seasons in the championship, picking up ten podiums, including three wins, all coming in 2004. He also won the
Walter Hayes Walter Leopold Arthur Hayes (12 April 1924 – 26 December 2000) was an English journalist, and later public relations executive for Ford Motor Company, Ford. Hayes was key in developing Ford's Formula One program, by signing Jackie Stewart a ...
Memorial Trophy towards the end of the season. Tandy also took part in the
Oulton Park Oulton Park is a hard surfaced Race track, track used for motor racing, close to the village of Little Budworth, Cheshire, England, from Winsford, from Chester city centre, from Northwich and from Warrington, with a nearby rail connection a ...
round of the 2004 TVR Tuscan Challenge. After finishing college and completing an
engineering apprentice An engineering apprenticeship in the United Kingdom is an apprenticeship in mechanical engineering or electrical engineering or aeronautical engineering to train craftsmen, technicians, senior technicians, Incorporated Engineers and Chartered Eng ...
ship, Tandy began working as a technician for
Jonathan Palmer Jonathan Charles Palmer (born 7 November 1956) is a British former racing driver, motorsport executive, and broadcaster, who competed in Formula One from to . Before opting for a career in motor racing, Palmer trained as a physician at Lon ...
's Palmersport corporate driving days concern. His engineering acumen elevated him to chief mechanic by the age of 22, while his racing career continued to go from strength to strength. This allowed him to test a
Formula Palmer Audi Formula Palmer Audi, officially abbreviated to FPA, and sometimes informally abbreviated to Palmer Audi, was a one-make class of open wheel Formula racing founded in 1998 by former Formula One driver, Jonathan Palmer. It was based in the Unite ...
car at Palmer's
Bedford Autodrome Bedford Autodrome is an autodrome based on the former site of RAE Bedford, in the village of Thurleigh, Bedfordshire. It is owned by former Formula One driver Jonathan Palmer's MotorSport Vision organisation. The autodrome It is built on t ...
, where he set a new lap record of 1:04.2 for the 1.8-mile West Circuit, breaking Justin Wilson's long established record from 1998. This gave him an incentive to sell his 70 bhp Mini and move up into the 350 bhp single-seaters. Tandy had an impressive season in the championship, eventually winning the title on countback ahead of David Epton. Tandy and Epton had both finished on 284 points, but Tandy won the title thanks to six wins compared to Epton's four. This championship-winning campaign earned him one of the six nominations for the
McLaren Autosport BRDC Award The Silverstone Autosport BRDC Award is an award set up in 1989, following the demise of the Grovewood Awards, to reward and recognise young racing drivers from the UK. As its names suggest, the award is backed by Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone, ...
. At the time, Tandy was looking to move into the
Atlantic Championship Series The Atlantic Championship Series is an American open-wheel racing series with races throughout North America. It has previously been called Champ Car Atlantics, Toyota Atlantics (after its then engine supplier for sponsorship reasons), or just ...
in the United States. He later tested for
Walker Racing Walker Racing was a racing team founded by Derrick Walker in 1991 racing originally in the CART Championship Car series. It last competed in the United SportsCar Championship under the name of Team Falken Tire until Falken Tire pulled out of n ...
ahead of the 2007 season.


Team owner

Tandy's racing career somewhat stalled after that, before founding Joe Tandy Racing in mid-2006. Brother
Nick Nick may refer to: People and fictional characters * Nick (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Désirée Nick, German actress and writer Places * Nick, Hungary, a village * Nick, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, Poland, a ...
had been struggling with his Ray car lacking upgrades, but Joe decided to buy a similar chassis and run Nick for the rest of the campaign. The success was immediate, as Nick won first time out at Thruxton, and added another win at the championship finale at
Castle Combe Castle Combe is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in Wiltshire, England. The village is around north-west of Chippenham and north-east of Bath, Somerset, Bath. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census, the parish had ...
, as he finished runner-up in the championship standings. An on-the-road win at the 2006
Formula Ford Festival The Formula Ford Festival is an annual meeting of Ford-powered single-seat racing cars which is held at the end of the British racing season, at the Brands Hatch motor racing circuit in the county of Kent, in Southern England. The events are he ...
would have capped an amazing year for JTR, however Nick was penalised for a safety car misdemeanour, dropping him to fifth. The Tandys then expanded the team to three cars in 2007, with Nick, Freddie Hunt (son of
Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...
world champion
James Hunt James Simon Wallis Hunt (29 August 1947 – 15 June 1993) was a British racing driver and broadcaster, who competed in Formula One from to . Nicknamed "the Shunt", Hunt won the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in with McLaren, and wo ...
) and Daniel Murray driving the Ray machines. Nick won six races en route to third in the championship, twelve points behind runner-up James Nash. After their
Formula Ford Festival The Formula Ford Festival is an annual meeting of Ford-powered single-seat racing cars which is held at the end of the British racing season, at the Brands Hatch motor racing circuit in the county of Kent, in Southern England. The events are he ...
win was taken away the year before, Nick won the race in 2007, after
Callum MacLeod Callum MacLeod (born 20 January 1988) is a professional British race car driver who drives in the British G.T. Championship. He also won the 2007 British Formula Ford Championship and the 2009 European F3 Open Championship. He was born in Nor ...
was given a two-second time penalty for braking severely while leading under the safety car. To aid with his brother's rise through the motorsport ranks, Joe bought a
Mygale Mygale Racing Car Constructor (Mygale SARL) was a French racing car manufacturer that specialised in the production of Open wheel car, single seater chassis for use in formula racing. It is most notable for its Formula Ford chassis. Mygale also ...
Formula Three Formula Three (F3) is a third-tier class of open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held in Europe, Australia, South America and Asia form an important step for many prospective Formula One drivers. History Formula Three (adop ...
chassis for a campaign in the
British Formula Three Championship British Formula Three Championship may refer to: *British Formula 3 International Series, a class of auto racing for Formula 3 open wheeled single seater racing cars, which took place from 1951 to 2014 *BRDC British Formula 3 Championship The ...
. He also moved his Formula Ford team onto the French company's chassis. Tandy managed to turn the Mygale into a regular frontrunner, railing against the established
Dallara Dallara Group S.r.l. is the largest multi-national Italian race car manufacturer, founded by its current President, Giampaolo Dallara. After working for Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini and De Tomaso, in 1972 in his native village of Varano de' M ...
hordes with a small operation and a meagre budget. Despite missing the rounds in
Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...
, Nick managed to finish ninth overall in the championship, with three podiums coming at
Spa A spa is a location where mineral-rich spring water (sometimes seawater) is used to give medicinal baths. Spa health treatments are known as balneotherapy. The belief in the curative powers of mineral waters and hot springs goes back to pre ...
,
Silverstone Silverstone is a village and civil parish in the West Northamptonshire unitary authority area of Northamptonshire, England. The village is about south-southwest of Towcester and northeast of Brackley, both accessed via the A43 road, A43 main ...
and Donington. In Formula Ford, despite not achieving any wins, Matt Hamilton finished as JTR's best driver with sixth overall. 2009 saw new chassis again for both the Formula Three team and the Formula Ford team, as JTR became the ''de facto'' lead team for Mygale in both series, as Ultimate Motorsport pulled out of Formula Three before the start of the 2009 season. Nick started in fine form with a double podium at the season-opening rounds at
Oulton Park Oulton Park is a hard surfaced Race track, track used for motor racing, close to the village of Little Budworth, Cheshire, England, from Winsford, from Chester city centre, from Northwich and from Warrington, with a nearby rail connection a ...
, and just eighteen days after his brother's death, took the team's first win at Rockingham. Meanwhile, in Formula Fords, Josef Newgarden and Liroy Stuart were signed to campaign the cars, with Newgarden winning the third round of the championship, again at Oulton Park. JTR continued racing despite founder Joe's death.


Personal life

Tandy was born in Bedford to parents Joe and Marilyn Tandy. His younger brother is
Nick Tandy Nicholas Tandy (born 5 November 1984) is a professional British racing driver currently racing for Porsche Motorsport as a factory driver in the IMSA SportsCar Championship. Tandy is the only person to have completed the Grand Slam of overal ...
a successful racing driver who drove for Joe's team, JTR. At the time of his death, Tandy was engaged to be married to Sophie Temple.


Death

Tandy was travelling with his fiancée Sophie Temple's brother, Luke Temple, in his
BMW 5 Series The BMW 5 Series is an executive car manufactured and marketed by BMW since 1972. It is the successor to the BMW New Class sedans and is currently in its eighth generation. The car is sold as either a sedan or, since 1991, a station wagon (marke ...
towards
Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population was 106,940. Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire and seat of the Borough of Bedford local government district. Bedford was founded at a ford (crossin ...
, when a collision between the BMW and a
DAF Daf (), also known as dâyere and riq, is an Iranian frame drum musical instrument, also used in popular and classical music in Persian-influenced South and Central Asia, such as in Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Iran, Uzbekistan, many ...
box van A box truck—also known as a box van, cube van, bob truck or cube truck—is a chassis cab truck with an enclosed cuboid-shaped cargo area. On most box trucks, the cabin is separate to the cargo area; however some box trucks have a door betwee ...
occurred at around 12:25
local time Local time is the time observed in a specific locality. There is no canonical definition. Originally it was mean solar time, but since the introduction of time zones it is generally the time as determined by the time zone in effect, with daylight s ...
, at the junction of the
A428 The A428 road is a major road in central and eastern England. It runs between the cities of Coventry and Cambridge by way of the county towns of Northampton and Bedford. Together with the A421, (and the A43, M40 and the A34), the eastern s ...
and the Box End Road just outside Bromham. Tandy died at the scene, while Temple was airlifted to
Addenbrooke's Hospital Addenbrooke's Hospital is a large teaching hospital and research centre in Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county to ...
in
Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...
, where he later died due to serious head injuries sustained in the crash. The van driver suffered minor injuries in the accident. The van driver was cleared of all charges at court, and it was found that Tandy had been driving a car with a faulty braking system at speeds of around 117mph, while nearly two times over the drink drive limit. Tributes to Tandy were paid by former boss
Jonathan Palmer Jonathan Charles Palmer (born 7 November 1956) is a British former racing driver, motorsport executive, and broadcaster, who competed in Formula One from to . Before opting for a career in motor racing, Palmer trained as a physician at Lon ...
, Sam Roach the director of the
British Formula Ford Championship The British Formula Ford Championship was an entry-level single seater Auto racing, motor racing category, designed to give racing drivers their first step into car racing after karting. Drivers from around the world were attracted to the United ...
the
SRO Motorsports Group SRO Motorsports Group (formerly the Stéphane Ratel Organisation) is an international sporting organisation best known for promoting and running a variety of racing events and series, including the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa, Intercontinental GT ...
and the Mini Se7en Racing Club. Tandy's funeral took place on June 1, 2009, at St Peters Parish Church in
Pavenham Pavenham is a small village and civil parish on the River Great Ouse in the Borough of Bedford in Bedfordshire, England, about north-west of Bedford. Village amenities consist of St Peter's Church, a pub, Village hall, tennis Club, Cricket Clu ...
. In January 2010, Tandy's family setup a racing academy in his name to support the next generation of racing talent.


Career summary


References


External links


Official website
*
Joe Tandy Racing websiteJoe Tandy Racing Academy website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tandy, Joe 1983 births 2009 deaths Road incident deaths in England English racing drivers Formula Ford drivers Formula Palmer Audi drivers Sportspeople from Bedford