Malcolm Wilson (rally driver)

Malcolm Irving Wilson, OBE (born 17 February 1956) is a British former rally driver and current owner of team and constructor M-Sport. He is the father of former World Rally Championship driver Matthew Wilson. He has been married to Elaine Wilson since 1982.^[1][2][3]

Malcolm Wilson

Personal information
Nationality	British
Born	(1956-02-17) 17 February 1956 (age 67)
World Rally Championship record
Active years	1977–1995
Co-driver	Bryan Thomas Nicky Grist Ian Grindrod Nigel Harris Terry Harryman
Teams	Ford, MG Rover, Vauxhall
Rallies	42
Championships	0
Rally wins	0
Podiums	2
Stage wins	29
Total points	59
First rally	1977 RAC Rally
Last rally	1995 RAC Rally

Biography

 

Wilson on a stage rally in Scotland

He has over 20 years experience of rallying at world championship level, much of it with Ford. He drove for three factory teams in the world championship, including MG, in whose Group B Metro 6R4, he shared driving duties with fellow Briton, Tony Pond. He spent several years as Ford's chief test driver, developing new rally cars, including the short lived RS1700T and RS200 models.

As a driver, he won two British national titles in the late 1970s and achieved a long-held ambition by winning the British Rally Championship in 1994, all at the wheel of Ford Escorts.

He crashed during the 1980 Scottish Rally whilst chasing Hannu Mikkola and Ari Vatanen for the lead, breaking both his ankles and almost ending his career, but amazingly he recovered in time for the RAC Rally at the end of the year.

After his driving career, he went on to manage and run the Ford World Rally Team with his M-Sport operation, based at Dovenby Hall near Cockermouth in Cumbria, England.

Under his guidance, M-Sport (formerly Malcolm Wilson Motorsport) has become one of the world's leading rallying private teams, with a string of international titles and wins to its credit. The company now employs over 170 people.

Their work culminated in 2006 when Wilson led Ford to the World Rally Championship Constructors' title for the first time in 25 years; the team repeated this achievement in 2007.

In September 2008, Wilson took part in the Colin McRae Forest Stages Rally, a round of the Scottish Rally Championship centred in Perth in Scotland. He entered the event in a VK Vodka Kick sponsored Ford Escort RS1800 with co-driver Peter Martin. He was one of a number of ex-world and British champions to take part in the event in memory of McRae, who died in 2007.

Wilson was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2009 Birthday Honours.^[4][5] In 2018 he was awarded with the V Class Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana for his services to Estonian motorsport, with his role in the successes of Markko Märtin and Ott Tänak cited.^[6]

Complete WRC results

Year	Entrant	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	WDC	Points
1977	Malcolm Wilson	Ford Escort RS 2000	MON	SWE	POR	KEN	NZL	GRE	FIN	CAN	ITA	FRA	GBR 12				–	0
1978	Malcolm Wilson	Ford Escort RS 1800	MON	SWE	KEN	POR	GRE	FIN	CAN	ITA	CIV	FRA	GBR Ret				–	0
1979	Total Oil	Ford Escort RS 1800	MON	SWE	POR	KEN	GRE	NZL	FIN	CAN	ITA	FRA	GBR 15	CIV			–	0
1980	Total Oil	Ford Escort RS 1800	MON	SWE	POR	KEN	GRE	ARG	FIN	NZL	ITA	FRA	GBR Ret	CIV			–	0
1981	Rothmans Rally Team	Ford Escort RS 1800	MON	SWE	POR Ret	KEN	FRA	GRE Ret	ARG	BRA	FIN	ITA	CIV	GBR Ret			–	0
1982	Malcolm Wilson	Ford Escort RS 1800	MON	SWE	POR Ret	KEN	FRA	GRE	NZL	BRA	FIN	ITA	CIV				66th	1
	Audi Sport UK	Audi Quattro												GBR 10
1983	British Junior Rally Team	Ford Escort RS1600i	MON	SWE	POR	KEN	FRA	GRE	NZL	ARG	FIN	ITA	CIV	GBR 13			–	0
1984	Top Gear	Audi Quattro A1	MON	SWE	POR	KEN	FRA	GRE	NZL	ARG	FIN	ITA	CIV	GBR Ret			–	0
1985	Malcolm Wilson	Audi Quattro A1	MON	SWE Ret	POR	KEN	FRA	GRE	NZL	ARG	FIN	ITA	CIV				–	0
	Austin Rallying	MG Metro 6R4												GBR Ret
1986	Austin Rover World Rally Team	MG Metro 6R4	MON Ret	SWE Ret	POR Ret	KEN	FRA Ret	GRE	NZL	ARG	FIN 10	CIV	ITA	GBR 17	USA		70th	1
1987	GM Dealer Sport	Opel Kadett GSI	MON	SWE	POR	KEN	FRA	GRE	USA	NZL	ARG	FIN	CIV	ITA	GBR Ret		–	0
1988	Malcolm Wilson	Opel Kadett GSI	MON	SWE 8	POR	KEN	FRA										–	0
	GM Euro Sport	Vauxhall Astra GTE						GRE Ret	USA	NZL	ARG	FIN	CIV	ITA	GBR Ret
1989	Malcolm Wilson	Vauxhall Astra GTE	SWE 13	MON	POR	KEN	FRA	GRE									18th	19
	GM Euro Sport								NZL 3	ARG	FIN	AUS 6	ITA	CIV
	Vauxhall Dealer Sport														GBR 10
1990	Q8 Team Ford	Ford Sierra RS Cosworth 4x4	MON	POR	KEN	FRA	GRE	NZL	ARG	FIN Ret	AUS	ITA Ret	CIV	GBR Ret			–	0
1991	Q8 Team Ford	Ford Sierra RS Cosworth 4x4	MON 7	SWE	POR Ret	KEN	FRA 5	GRE Ret	NZL	ARG	FIN	AUS	ITA 10	CIV	ESP	GBR Ret	18th	13
1992	Ford Motor Co Ltd	Ford Sierra RS Cosworth 4x4	MON	SWE	POR	KEN	FRA	GRE	NZL	ARG	FIN	AUS	ITA	CIV	ESP	GBR 9	58th	2
1993	Ford Motor Co Ltd	Ford Escort RS Cosworth	MON	SWE Ret	POR	KEN	FRA	GRE	ARG	NZL							19th	12
	Malcolm Wilson										FIN Ret	AUS	ITA	ESP
	Michelin Pilot Team Ford														GBR 3
1994	Ford Motor Co Ltd	Ford Escort RS Cosworth	MON	POR	KEN	FRA	GRE 6	ARG	NZL	FIN		GBR Ret					23rd	8
	Jolly Club										ITA 9
1995	R.A.S. Ford	Ford Escort RS Cosworth	MON	SWE	POR	FRA	NZL	AUS	ESP	GBR Ret							–	0

See also

• M-Sport

References

1. "Lunch with Malcolm Wilson". Motorsport Magazine. Motorsport Magazine. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
2. "- YouTube". YouTube.
3. "The 1982 Scottish Rally". YouTube.
4. Evans, David (13 June 2009). "Malcolm Wilson awarded OBE". Autosport. Retrieved 15 June 2009.
5. "No. 59090". The London Gazette (Supplement). 13 June 2009. p. 13.
6. Kalvet, Madis (27 March 2018). "President Kersti Kaljulaid andis Malcolm Wilsonile üle teenetemärgi". Delfi. Retrieved 2 January 2023.

External links

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Malcolm Wilson.

• M-Sport official website
• Rallybase stats page
• WRC Archive stats page

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Louise Aitken-Walker	Autosport National Rally Driver of the Year 1988	Succeeded by David Llewellin
Preceded by Richard Burns	Autosport National Rally Driver of the Year 1994	Succeeded by Alister McRae