Win Percy

Winston Percy
Win Percy in 2012
Nationality	English
Born	(1943-09-28) 28 September 1943 Tolpuddle, Dorset
BTCC record
Teams	Toyota Mazda Jaguar Rover Nissan
Drivers championships	3
Debut season	1975
Best championship position	1st (1980, 1981, 1982)

Winston "Win" Percy (born 28 September 1943, near Tolpuddle, Dorset) is a former motor racing driver from England. He competed in many classes of motorsport during his long career, but is perhaps most famous as one of the greats of touring car racing. Joe Saward of Autosport magazine once described him as being "often regarded as the World's Number One Touring Car Driver".^[1] Percy was British Touring Car Champion three times, and at the time of his retirement was the most successful non-Antipodean driver ever to compete in Australia's premier national motorsport event: the Bathurst 1000km.^[1]

The early years

Percy found his way into motor sport through his first employment as a motor mechanic at his local garage. His first race was in 1964, in a local time-trial event driving his own road-going Ford Anglia 1200. He won, beating drivers of far more powerful cars in the process. While initially he pursued competitive driving as a hobby, his innate talent quickly resulted in many high-placed finishes in national-level races, including taking all three victories in the 1973 televised rallycross races at Cadwell Park. On the back of these results he turned professional in 1974, driving Spike Andersons Samuri Datsun 240Z in the British Modified Sports Car Championship. Once again, he won.^[2]

Enter the BTCC

The following year saw Win Percy enter the British Touring Car Championship for the first time, a race series that he would come to dominate in the years ahead. His first race in the BTCC would also be the first time he encountered Tom Walkinshaw, after Percy had not only won his class in the Toyota he was driving, but also put up a spirited attack on Walkinshaw's Ford Escort in the class above. In 1983, Percy won the Willhire 24 Hour in a Porsche 928S.

He stuck with Toyota for the next four years, but the Walkinshaw-Percy partnership finally came together in the same team when Walkinshaw offered Percy a drive in his Tom Walkinshaw Racing-run Mazda RX-7 for the 1980 season. True to form, Percy won the 1980 Championship for TWR, and then went on to repeat the feat in the following year. Owing to a misunderstanding of Walkinshaw's off-beat sense of humour, Percy agreed to move back to Toyota for 1982. This did little to stop his march to championship glory however, as he once again won the BTCC crown for the 1982 season in the Toyota Corolla.^[3]

The World Stage

The Rover Vitesse of Tom Walkinshaw and Win Percy at the Nürburgring in 1985.

Despite remaining with Toyota during the 1983 BTCC season, Percy maintained his links to TWR with occasional drives in their V12 powered Jaguar XJS coupé which was quickly proving the car to beat in Group A racing, and Walkinshaw managed to tempt him back full-time in 1984. However, rather than a return to the BTCC, TWR entered three of the big Jaguars in the European Touring Car Championship with Percy co-driving the lead car with Walkinshaw. The team won the 1984 ETCC with Walkinshaw also taking the drivers' title while the Walkinshaw, Percy and Hans Heyer Jaguar won the ETCC's blue ribbon event, the Spa 24 Hours. The following year after Jaguar shelved its touring car program to concentrate on racing Sportscars which saw TWR switch to works-backed Rover Vitesse V8's, again competing for the ETCC title. Walkinshaw and Percy this time took joint third in the drivers' championship. Along the way they scored victories in seven of the 500 km rounds: Donington; Silverstone; Monza; Vallelunga; Nogaro; the Österreichring; and Salzburg. 1985 also saw the Walkinshaw-Percy partnership in Australia for the first time, in an XJS, for the 1985 Bathurst 1000 where they finished third (the team's third car driven by Australia's John Goss and West German Armin Hahne won the race).

Once again, the TWR Vitesse cars were entered for the ETCC in 1986 where Percy finished 2nd in the Drivers' Championship. He had originally been declared the champion until a month after the championship the FIA amended the results (suddenly remembering that drivers had to drop their lowest scoring race) which gave the championship to BMW driver Roberto Ravaglia. However, 1986 also saw TWR running Jaguar's works Group C1 entry for the 24 Hours of Le Mans race; Percy was a natural choice for one of the driving slots. Percy's Jaguar XJR-6 lasted for 10 of the 24 hours, partnered by Gianfranco Brancatelli and Hurley Haywood at the wheel, before a drive-shaft failure dropped the car out of the race from second place. Percy entered Le Mans again the following year, but suffered a horrific crash when a tyre exploded at full speed (approximately 240 mph (386 km/h)) on the long Mulsanne Straight, tearing off the rear bodywork and flipping the car into the air "up above the trees".^[4] The wreckage finally came to a halt 600 metres down the road but, despite almost obliterating the vehicle, Percy walked away from the crash with nothing more than a badly battered helmet.

With TWR not racing in the 1987 World Touring Car Championship, Percy only drove selected rounds of the series as a driver for hire. This saw him team with fellow Englishman Andy Rouse in a turbo Ford Sierra as well as Australian team Roadways Racing driving a V8 Holden Commodore with Allan Grice, though in his 5 WTCC races Percy failed to finish each time.

Percy contested the 1988 European Touring Car Championship driving a factory backed Nissan Skyline HR31 GTS-R with Allan Grice. The pair, along with Sweden's Anders Olofsson would finish a strong 6th in the Spa 24 Hour. In October, Percy and Grice again drove a Roadways Racing Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV in the Bathurst 1000, though electrical trouble through the race saw them finish in a disappointing 15th place.

He continued to race in national and international competitions with a variety of teams until the end of the decade winning the 1989 Spa 24 Hours race in an Eggenberger Motorsport Ford Sierra RS500.^[5]

Australia

Percy managed and drove for the Holden Racing Team in 1990

Percy co-drove in the Australasian rounds of the 1987 World Touring Car Championship with Allan Grice in a Holden Commodore VL, and again at the 1988 Bathurst 1000. In 1989, Percy contested the Australian endurance races with Perkins Engineering.

In 1990, at the behest of Tom Walkinshaw, Percy formed the works Holden Racing Team to contest the Australian Touring Car Championship. Racing on the largely unfamiliar Australian race tracks, Percy as both team manager and lead driver put in a strong showing against the Ford Sierra RS500s and Nissan Skylines to be the highest placed Commodore driver, finishing 8th in the series with a best finish being 3rd in at the Lakeside round. This was despite being forced to miss Round 6 of the series at Mallala when he and his wife were back home in England following the tragic death of their son in a car accident.

Percy won the 1990 Bathurst 1000 and finished second in 1991, both times with Allan Grice as his co-driver. At the end of 1991 he returned to England. After a relatively quiet year in which he did little racing, Percy returned to Australia in 1992 to drive the new 1993 spec Holden VP Commodore alongside Grice at both the Sandown 500 and the Bathurst 1000, finishing 5th outright and first in Class C for the new spec cars at the latter.^[6]

Percy continued to contest the Australian endurance events, driving for the Holden Racing Team in 1993, Wayne Gardner Racing in 1994 and 1995, and John Faulkner Racing in 1997.

After 1991 he led a peripatetic lifestyle, with drives in many series around the world. He contested the 1993 BTCC in a Nissan Primera. Despite acting as team manager in the Mazda entry for the 1994 BTCC, and chief tester and latterly team manager for Harrier between 1995 and 1997, he managed to squeeze in the Jaguar XJ220's first race win.

In the late 1990s he became a familiar figure on the historic motorsport stage, often seen getting his Jaguar D-type XKD 505 very sideways in fiercely contested historic sports car races. More often than not Percy would emerge victorious. In 2002, driving XKD 505, he won all four races at the Le Mans Classic meeting. Sadly, this spectacle was not to last long.

Accident

In the summer of 2003 Win Percy suffered a serious accident in his garden. He was taken to hospital, where a medical error led to him being paralysed from the waist down. Win Percy sued the West Dorset General Hospital NHS Trust and received an out of court settlement of £1.55 million (estimated General Damages £90,000) in April 2008.^[7] No longer able to compete, he is still a regular visitor to motor racing events around Britain.

Career Results

Results sourced from Driver Database.^[8]

Complete World Touring Car Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	DC	Points
1987	Andy Rouse Engineering	Ford Sierra RS Cosworth	MNZ	JAR	DIJ	NUR	SPA Ret	BNO						NC	0
		Ford Sierra RS500							SIL Ret
	Roadways Racing	Holden VL Commodore SS Group A								BAT Ret	CLD Ret	WEL Ret	FJI

Complete European Touring Car Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)^[9]

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	DC	Points
1979	The Akai Golf	Volkswagen Golf Mk1	MNZ	VAL	MUG	BRA DNS	JAR	ZEL	BRN	NUR	ZAN	SAL	PER				NC	10
	Browne & Day	Ford Capri III 3.0S												SIL 6	ZOL
1982	Tom Walkinshaw Racing	Jaguar XJS	MNZ	VAL	DON	PER	MUG	BRN	SAL	NUR	SPA Ret						NC	NA
	Patrick Motorsport with Duckhams Oil	Rover Vitesse										SIL 15	ZOL
1983	Tom Walkinshaw Racing	Jaguar XJS	MNZ DNS	VAL	DON	PER	MUG	BRN	ZEL	NUR	SAL	SPA Ret		ZOL 8			NC	NA
	Team Toyota GB	Toyota Celica Supra											SIL 16
1984	Tom Walkinshaw Racing	Jaguar XJS	MNZ Ret	VAL 11	DON 1	PER 3	BRN 2	ZEL 2	SAL 1	NUR Ret	SPA 1	SIL Ret	ZOL 4	MUG Ret			7th	145
1985	Tom Walkinshaw Racing	Rover Vitesse	MNZ 1	VAL 1	DON 1	AND Ret	BRN 8	ZEL Ret	SAL 2	NUR Ret	SPA Ret	SIL 1	NOG 1	ZOL Ret	EST Ret	JAR 1	3rd	198
1986	Tom Walkinshaw Racing	Rover Vitesse	MNZ 1	DON 1	HOC 4	MIS 3	AND 2	BRN 2	ZEL 1	NUR 4	SPA Ret	SIL 2	NOG 16	ZOL 3	EST 2	JAR 2	2nd	203
1988	Nissan Europe	Nissan Skyline HR31 GTS-R	MNZ	DON Ret	EST	JAR	DIJ Ret	VAL	NUR 19	SPA 6	ZOL Ret	SIL Ret	NOG 11				40th	45

Complete Australian Touring Car Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	DC	Points
1990	Holden Racing Team	Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV	AMA 14	SYM 9	PHI 7	WIN Ret	LAK 3	MAL	WAN 5	ORA 6		8th	32
1991	Holden Racing Team	Holden VN Commodore SS Group A SV	SAN 5	SYM Ret	WAN Ret	LAK 11	WIN 6	AMA 8	MAL 4	LAK	ORA 8	8th	30

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1981	Mazdaspeed Co. Ltd.	Yojiro Terada Hiroshi Fushida	Mazda RX-7	IMSA GTO	25	DNF	DNF
1986	Silk Cut Jaguar Tom Walkinshaw Racing	Gianfranco Brancatelli Hurley Haywood	Jaguar XJR-6	C1	154	DNF	DNF
1987	Silk Cut Jaguar Tom Walkinshaw Racing	Jan Lammers John Watson	Jaguar XJR-8LM	C1	158	DNF	DNF
1988	Nissan Motorsports	Allan Grice Mike Wilds	Nissan R88C	C1	344	14th	13th
1993	TWR Jaguar Racing	Armin Hahne David Leslie	Jaguar XJ220	GT	6	DNF	DNF
1995	PC Automotive Jaguar	Bernard Thuner Olindo Iaccobelli	Jaguar XJ220	GT1	123	DNF	DNF

Complete Spa 24 Hour results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1979	Equipe Esso	Vince Woodman Jonathan Buncombe	Ford Capri III 3.0S	+2500	NA	DNF	DNF
1980	Tom Walkinshaw Racing	Pete Lovett	Mazda RX-7	-2500	347	DNF	DNF
1981	Tom Walkinshaw Racing	Marc Duez Jeff Allam Chuck Nicholson	Mazda RX-7	-2500	445	4th	1st
1982	Tom Walkinshaw Racing	Tom Walkinshaw Chuck Nicholson	Jaguar XJS	Div. 3	NA	DNF	DNF
1983	Tom Walkinshaw Racing	Martin Brundle Enzo Calderari	Jaguar XJS	Div. 3	NA	DNF	DNF
1984	Tom Walkinshaw Racing	Tom Walkinshaw Hans Heyer	Jaguar XJS	Div. 3	453	1st	1st
1985	Tom Walkinshaw Racing	Tom Walkinshaw Hans Heyer	Rover Vitesse	Div. 3	86	DNF	DNF
1986	Tom Walkinshaw Racing	Tom Walkinshaw Eddy Joosen	Rover Vitesse	Div. 3	383	DNF	DNF
1987	Andy Rouse Engineering	Andy Rouse Thierry Tassin	Ford Sierra RS Cosworth	Div. 3	252	DNF	DNF
1988	Nissan Motorsports Europe	Allan Grice Anders Olofsson	Nissan Skyline HR31 GTS-R	Div. 3	482	6th	4th
1989	Eggenberger Motorsport	Gianfranco Brancatelli Bernd Schneider	Ford Sierra RS500	Div. 3	481	1st	1st

Complete Bathurst 1000 results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1985	JRA Ltd	Tom Walkinshaw	Jaguar XJS	C	160	3rd	3rd
1987	Roadways Racing	Allan Grice	Holden VL Commodore SS Group A	1	96	DNF	DNF
1988	ICL Racing	Allan Grice	Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV	A	139	15th	11th
1989	Holden Racing Team	Neil Crompton	Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV	A	158	7th	7th
1990	Holden Racing Team	Allan Grice	Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV	A	161	1st	1st
1991	Holden Racing Team	Allan Grice	Holden VN Commodore SS Group A SV	A	160	2nd	2nd
1992	Holden Racing Team	Allan Grice	Holden VP Commodore	C	141	5th	1st
1993	Holden Racing Team	Tomas Mezera	Holden VP Commodore	A	107	DNF	DNF
1994	Coca-Cola Racing	Russell Ingall	Holden VP Commodore	A	161	5th	5th
1995	Coca-Cola Racing	Brad Jones	Holden VR Commodore		161	5th	5th
1997	John Faulkner Racing	John Faulkner	Holden VS Commodore	L1	154	5th	5th

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Win Percy.

• Win Percy's Get Well Soon page
• Interview with Win Percy at Gear Wheels online.
• ETCC results and photos.