Former Works rally driver, successful team manager, and lately managing director of Safety Devices, Tony Fall has passed away of an apparent heart attack. He was 67.
Fall was in Tanzania, assisting the organizers of the East African Safari Classic Rally, when he was taken ill. He died in his sleep on the night of December 1, 2007, of a suspected heart attack.
Richard Anthony Fall was born in Bradford, Yorkshire, in 1940. Working as a car salesman, he began club rallying in a Mini. He was soon spotted by BMC Competitions team manager Stuart Turner, and co-opted into the Works team alongside Paddy Hopkirk, Timo Makinen and Rauno Aaltonen. His first major international victory in the Mini was the 1966 Circuit of Ireland, co-driven by Henry Liddon.
He rallied with BMC for three seasons—including competing on the original London Sydney Marathon and finishing 23rd in a Morris 1800—and then joined the Lancia team, where he achieved his highest-ever finish on the RAC Rally of Great Britain: 3rd in 1969.
He then joined Datsun for three seasons, achieving many high placings on world rallies, at the same time driving for other factory teams, including BMW, Porsche and VW.
A long association with General Motors commenced in 1974, when Tony established Dealer Opel Team at Tonge Park, Yorkshire, employing such driver talent as Ari Vatanen and Tony Pond.
Success in the UK with DOT led to his appointment as Director of Motor Sport for GM Euro Sport, based in Russelsheim, Germany, in 1978. Under his direction, Walter Rohrl became World Rally Champion in 1982, and—in the latter part of the decade—Tony introduced the Opel-Vauxhall Lotus formula for single-seat racing cars, which launched the careers of many Grand Prix stars, including Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard.
Tony, who in recent years had driven a replica of his original Datsun in historic rallies with Yvonne Mehta, was in Africa on “holiday,” helping with the organization of an event he loved, and which had been the scene of many of his triumphs.
