Obituaries

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Basil Tye

BASIL TYE, Managing Director of the RAC Motorsports Association, died suddenly over the Easter Weekend while relaxing on his recently constructed boat “Mosport”. He was 59, and had been involved with the RAC since the mid-fifties. Basil’s first introduction to motor racing was at Brooklands as a spectator in 1938. After the war, he acquired a 1.5-litre supercharged Alta in 1947 which he raced in club events. This was followed by a series of other cars including a Jaguar XK 120 which was used for rallying and other competitions as well as racing. He was a founder member of the Jaguar Drivers Club.

After a brief spell running the family motor business after the death of his father, he joined the RAC as an assistant manager on the motorsport side, working his way through the posts of Deputy Manager and Deputy Director to become Managing Director in 1979, presiding over the re-organisation of the “Motorsport Division” into the Motorsports Association. In his various capacities at the RAC, Basil had represented the UK on many FISA Commissions, and became the President of the FISA Circuits and Safety Commission.

Outside motoring, his interests included music, the theatre and boating. He leaves a widow, Beryl, and son, Hayden. At the time of going to press, no announcement had been made about a successor.

Professor Robert Eberan-Eberhorst

PROFESSOR Eberan-Eberhorst died in Vienna in the middle of March, shortly before his 80th birthday. A modest man who rose to prominence in the thirties as Dr. Porsche’s assistant on the Auto-Union project, Eberan-Eberhorst became a professor of automobile design at the Dresden Technical College during the war. After hostilities ceased, he worked again with Dr. Porsche for a brief period before going to Cisitalia in 1947 to mastermind their Grand Prix car design. He came to England in 1949 and worked as Chief Engineer for Aston Martin for four years before returning to Germany to be Technical Superintendent at Auto Union until 1957. From then until 1973 he was a professor at the Technical College in Vienna.