Ian Phillips grew up in the small Oxfordshire town of Burford (not far from our Clubhouse!) but ran away to London when he turned 18 to work as a messenger boy for Autosport magazine. Within three years he became appointed Editor at a golden time for motor sport in Britain.
After three years at the helm, Ian left the magazine to be the first Circuit Manager of the new Donington Park circuit, later returning to London as a freelance in PR, commentary and journalism including weekly work at Autosport as Racing News Editor.
In early 1987 another opportunity for a career change presented itself – starting and running a Formula 1 team from scratch. Leyton House Racing was largely a rebranding of March Engineering but the pioneering little team based in Bicester were the only naturally aspirated team to lead a turbo race.
When the funding from Japan started to dry up, Ian was lured to the new Jordan Grand Prix team at Silverstone as Eddie Jordan’s right-hand man. There followed 15 great years and four not so good ones under three different owners!
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Photo by Stuart Seeger