Win Percy

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 he initially 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]

The following year saw 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 won his class driving a Toyota, and also attacked 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, until Walkinshaw offered Percy a drive in his Tom Walkinshaw Racing-run Mazda RX-7 for the 1980 season. 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. He once again won the BTCC crown for the 1982 season in the Toyota Corolla.[3]

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 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 riband 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 V8s, 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 been declared the champion until a month after the championship, when the FIA belatedly applied a rule that each driver's lowest scoring result would be dropped. This 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 given one of the driving slots. His 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 major crash when a tyre exploded at approximately 240 mph (386 km/h) on the long Mulsanne Straight, tearing off the rear bodywork and flipping the car into the air.[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 five 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 finished 6th in the Spa 24 Hours. 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 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]

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, he contested the Australian endurance races with Perkins Engineering under the Holden Racing Team name.

In 1990, at the behest of Holden Special Vehicles owner Tom Walkinshaw, Percy officially 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 faster and lighter Ford Sierra RS500s and Nissan Skyline turbos 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 returned to England following the death of their son in a car accident.

Percy and Allan Grice were surprise winners of the 1990 Bathurst 1000 in a Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV, before finished second in 1991 driving the newer Holden VN Commodore SS Group A SV. As a team manager and lead driver, Percy would claim that his hardest decision was to let Grice drive the final stint of the 1990 Bathurst 1000. Percy, who had injured his shoulder a few weeks prior to Bathurst and felt that veteran Grice was the better choice to drive the final stint. While Percy wanted Grice as his co-driver, team owner Walkinshaw was initially against the idea due to memories of Grice giving the TWR Rovers hell during the 1986 ETCC and only reluctantly let Percy chose his own co-driver. At the end of the 1991 Australian Touring Car season after two years in charge of the Holden Racing Team, Percy and his wife returned to England. After a relatively quiet year in which he did little racing, Percy returned to Australia and the HRT 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 Bathurst.[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 drove in many series around the world. He contested the 1993 British Touring Car Championship season in a Nissan Primera. While 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, as a driver he took the Jaguar XJ220's first race win.

In the late 1990s he became active on the historic motorsport stage, often driving his Jaguar D-type XKD 505 in historic sports car races. In 2002, driving XKD 505, he won all four races at the Le Mans Classic meeting.

In the summer of 2003, 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. He sued the West Dorset General Hospital National Health Service Trust and received an out of court settlement of £1.55 million in April 2008.[7] No longer able to compete, he is still a regular visitor to motor racing events around Britain.

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	Overall Position	Class Position
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	Overall Position	Class Position
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	Overall Position	Class Position
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

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.