A long illness took him away. He spent the last years of his existence in the Philippines where he had previously found a wife and had no longer had contact with Formula 1. He had broken ties with Motorsport decades ago, but his name remained engraved in history, because with a small structure managed to climb prestigious positions in just a few years, before the sale of the team to Benetton which then won two world championships with Michael Schumacher.
Ted Toleman has passed away at the age of 86. British, born in South Africa in 1938, he had inherited his passion from his father Albert, owner of a transport company that handled the distribution of Fords in England, and who had gained good experience in rallies, instilling in his sons Ted and Bob the germ of motor racing.
The Toleman family had been affected by the drama of Bob who killed himself in 1977 in a Formula Ford race, but the tragedy had not changed Ted's plans who had planned a leap into Formula 2 with his own team which fielded two March single-seater for Brian Henton and Rad Dougall, second and fifth respectively in the final classification. He didn't like the idea of using other people's cars, so his ambition was to become a manufacturer: he realized his dream in 1979 by linking his destiny with that of Rory Byrne, a creative and very imaginative South African aerodynamic engineer.
Brian Henton, Toleman TG181 Hart
Picture of: Motorsport Images
In 1980, the team entrusted on the track to Alex Hawkridge dominated the European F2 championship, winning with Brian Henton followed by his teammate, Derek Warwick. The transition to F1, therefore, was a natural leap, but a terribly difficult one. The Toleman TG181 was a heavy car with an underpowered and unreliable Hart engine. Ted had had the courage to bring Pirelli tires back to the GP after 20 years away, so in his first year in the Circus he had only qualified in two events (Monza and Las Vegas), finishing in 10th place with Henton in the Italian GP .
Johnny Cecotto, Toleman TG183B Hart
Picture of: Motorsport Images
In 1982 Teo Fabi joined Warwick and with the TG182 things improved, because the Englishman managed to set the fastest lap in the Dutch GP and in Great Britain he had recovered to second place before retiring due to the failure of a half-shaft. In 1983 Bruno Giacomelli took over Teo Fabi: the TG183B, christened “Batmobile” for its very particular shapes, achieved a fourth place with Warwick in South Africa: the result in Kyalami had been preceded by some points races.
Ayrton Senna, Toleman TG184
Photo credit: Sutton Images
The top was reached in 1984 with the hiring of Ayrton Senna who made his F1 debut with the TG184. The Brazilian gives a great boost to the team: after two sixth places, he finishes second in the highly contested Monaco GP which took place in the pouring rain. Ayrton had made an amazing comeback on the water to finish behind leader Alain Prost with McLaren. When the Frenchman's overtaking was taken for granted, Jacky Ickx (race director of AC Monaco) decided to interrupt the race considering the conditions to be unsafe and sparking a lot of controversy for the theft of what could have been Senna's first victory and Toleman. Magic had deserved two more podiums in Great Britain and Portugal.
Teo Fabi, Toleman TG185
Photo credit: Sutton Images
In 1985 the epilogue of the adventure: Senna had gone to Lotus, while Toleman was once again in financial difficulty and was taken over by Benetton, starting a cycle that would be a world championship. Teo Fabi had had time to conquer a masterful pole position in the German GP.
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