BEHIND THE ICONS

WALTER HAYES

FORD CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: Revolutionised Ford PR, publicity and motorsport image. Inspired motorsport, F1 (with Cosworth), then RS brand programmes. Kept the flame burning in the ‘Corridors of Power’

INSPIRED: The Boreham motorsport operation and the appointment of Stuart Turner as Head of Motorsport, leading to homologation specials such as Sierra Cosworth, RS200, and Escort Cosworth

Between 1961 and 1989, when he retired from Ford, Walter Hayes was always an enthusiastic supporter of the company’s high-performance programmes. Yet by his own admission, he was really a newspaperman rather than a motor industry tycoon.

Already famous as a Fleet Street personality, he joined Ford in 1961 to revolutionise their public face. Originally in charge of Ford’s Public Affairs department, and soon beginning to influence the motorsport programme, he somehow found the money to build the Boreham motorsport operation, urged Ford to finance the now-legendary Cosworth DFV engine project, approved the launch of the Lotus Cortina and the Escort Twin Cam, and was the power behind the throne when the idea of an RS division was conceived.

After the RS operation began to run down, he listened, lobbied hard, and persuaded marketing to begin working on a new