Joe Tandy
| Joseph "Joe" Tandy | |
|---|---|
| Nationality |
 British |
| Born |
1 January 1983 Bedford, Bedfordshire, England, UK |
| Died | 13 May 2009 (aged 26) |
| Related to | Nick Tandy (brother) |
| Previous series | |
| 2008 2005 2004 2001–04 1994–99 |
Formula Ford Benelux Formula Palmer Audi TVR Tuscan Challenge Mini Seven Challenge Ministox |
| Championship titles | |
| 2005 2005 2004 |
Formula Palmer Audi Graham Hill Memorial Trophy Walter Hayes Memorial |
| Awards | |
| 2005 | BRDC Rising Star |
Joseph Tandy (1 January 1983 – 13 May 2009) was a British racing driver and team owner.
Tandy started his racing career unusually in short oval Ministox machinery in 1994. However, by the end of 1998, Tandy had won 45 races, with 60 other podium placings as he became both British and World Ministox champion, as well as being a three-time East Anglian Ministox champion. He continued in this level of motorsport in 1999, winning another 28 races to become British champion for the second time.
After a year off in 2000, Tandy took up circuit racing by moving into the Mini Seven Challenge in 2001. He competed in four seasons in the championship, picking up ten podiums, including three wins, all coming in 2004. He also won the Walter Hayes Memorial Trophy towards the end of the season. He also forayed into the TVR Tuscan Challenge by the end of 2004.
After finishing college and completing an engineering apprenticeship, Tandy began working as a technician for Jonathan Palmer's Palmersport corporate driving days concern. His engineering acumen elevated him to chief mechanic by the age of 22, while his racing career continued to go from strength to strength. This allowed him to test a Formula Palmer Audi car at Palmer's Bedford Autodrome, where he set a new lap record of 1:04.2 for the 1.8-mile West Circuit, breaking Justin Wilson's long established record from 1998. This gave him an incentive to sell his 70 bhp Mini and move up into the 350 bhp single-seaters.
Tandy had an impressive season in the championship, eventually winning the title on countback ahead of David Epton. Tandy and Epton had both finished on 284 points, but Tandy won the title thanks to six wins compared to Epton's four. This championship-winning campaign earned him one of the six nominations for the McLaren Autosport BRDC Award.
Tandy's racing career somewhat stalled after that, before creating Joe Tandy Racing in mid-2006. Brother Nick had been struggling with his Ray car lacking upgrades, but Joe decided to buy a similar chassis and run Nick for the rest of the campaign. The success was immediate, as Nick won first time out at Thruxton, and added another win at the championship finale at Castle Combe, as he finished runner-up in the championship standings. An on-the-road win at the 2006 Formula Ford Festival would have capped an amazing year for JTR, however Nick was penalised for a safety car misdemeanour, dropping him to fifth.
...
Wikipedia