Malcolm Wilson Rally driver and WRC team boss
MALCOLM WILSON IS ONE OF THOSE people who have gone a long way without ever leaving home. Born in Cockermouth, Cumbria, 66 years ago, he’s been a successful driver and an even more successful team boss, building cars that win WRC rallies and drivers’ and manufacturers’ titles, all from a base just a few miles from his birthplace.
Dapper in a blue jacket, dark waistcoat and Daz-white shirt, Wilson is standing in the recently completed showroom at Dovenby Hall, headquarters of M-Sport. He’s surrounded by another near-constant in his life: Fords. There are Sierra and Escort RS Cosworths and the only RS1700T road car in existence, three cars he helped develop as rally cars for Ford, plus a couple of WRC cars built by M-Sport that were winners first time out, and both road versions of the Ford GT.
‘My first car memory is Ford,’ says Wilson. ‘The first car I drove was a Ford Popular, the side-valve, sit-up-and-beg type. I must have been eight. My parents were out and the babysitter was obviously keen to get me driving, so I had cushions on the seat, all of that.’
Wilson’s parents ran a breaker’s yard and whenever he wasn’t at school he’d be working there. ‘Guys would turn up in Anglias and Cortinas with wide wheels looking to buy 1500 GT engines. When I was about ten, I was chatting to a couple of guys who were getting an engine out and one
