Ian Titchmarsh: The Voice of Silverstone

After Ian Titchmarsh decided it was time to scale back his commentating career that began in the 1970s, we couldn't let the Voice of Silverstone go without due recognition. David Addison explains.

Anyone who has been to Silverstone from the mid 1970s onwards knows the voice, the knowledge and the drama that Ian Titchmarsh has conveyed to us all from the British Grand Prix to club meetings. 

Every Silverstone promoted meeting had Ian's voice as its soundtrack as did the Macau Grand Prix from 1981 onwards and Ian anchored Radio Le Mans from 1988 to 2003. Add in countless national meetings around the country, the F3 Masters at Zolder, the Monaco Historic Grand Prix, endurance races abroad and the long list I've missed, Ian has been there and talked about it. All this while working as a very successful solicitor, a life which inevitably included many a motor racing case. 

In the good old days of the television tower on the outside of Woodcote, Ian would occupy the main box on racedays although for qualifying day he would be based in the timekeepers room, peering over their shoulders. That, oddly, is now the main commentary position on the National Circuit.

"I was there when Keke Rosberg did his 160mph lap in 1985," Ian remembers. "There was no electronic timekeeping so you had to wait until they checked their figures." 

It was also at Silverstone that Ian enjoyed one of his favourite races. "The 1981 British Grand Prix which was won by John Watson was my favourite sort of race, a race where somebody is catching somebody." 

Heroes? Stirling Moss is a must. "Inevitably for someone of my time, I grew up in the era of Stirling Moss. I was at the Grand Prix at Aintree in 1957 when he won and he won more than half of the races he took part in. He was a unique individual." 

If you think a conversation with Ian on the merits of Sterling Moss might take some time, just wait until you mention Formula Junior... "I passionately believe that Formula Junior is one of the most important, if not the most important, single-seater category ever devised. It was just a wonderful formula." 

Although commentating no longer occupies as much of Ian's time as it did, he is still involved in using his encyclopaedic knowledge to interview drivers at historic events and looking after the British Racing Drivers' Club's young driver programmes (Rising Stars and SuperStars) having been a judge on the BRDC Young Driver of the Year Award since it began. He is a trustee of the Silverstone Museum and is a key part of the editorial board for the BRDC Bulletin magazine as well as one of the judged for the RAC Motoring Book of the Year Awards. 

As Stuart Pringle, Silverstone's Chief Executive says: "It's difficult to put into words the debt of gratitude that Silverstone owes Ian. His dedication to Silverstone has taken many forms and extends to some 50 years or so of commitment. Fans of motor sport over this period will be most familiar with his commentary at race meetings and his seemingly encyclopaedic knowledge of motor racing facts. He really does know quite a lot about everything in motor racing! In certain fields this extends to the extraordinary depth of knowledge where mid-way through calling a race he will point out that a car qualified third in the so and so Grand Prix 75 years earlier! A combination of genuine lifelong obsession with motor racing, coupled with probably the largest private motor racing library in the country and a photographic memory have served him very well in this regard! 

"Perhaps less well known are the contributions Ian has made to the governance and running of Silverstone over more than 25 years. It is no surprise, given his professional background in the law, that fellow BRDC members voted him onto their board in the early 2000s. Fiercely proud of his Liverpudlian roots, Ian's devotion to his home city has made him one of the greatest users of the M6, but if you are going to drive home from Brands Hatch or Silverstone at 9pm on a Sunday night before a week of work on Monday as a partner at a very busy and pressured law firm, an Alfa Romeo and opera must surely be the best combination to make that palatable!" 

A Silverstone event involving Ian meant that you were drawn to into the excitement of the race through his excited style and you learnt things at the same time. From British Grands Prix to Formula Ford races and everything in between, they were covered with enthusiasm, knowledge, and professionalism. 

Thank You, Ian.

Image Credit: ©Jakob Ebrey