Researching Tony Marsh

Having begun his hillclimbing career in 1953 with a Cooper-JAP that had previously been driven by Peter Collins,he won three successive championships in the car from 1955 to 1957. In the 1960s, he drove an ex-Formula One BRM for a time before constructing his own Marsh car. Inspired by Peter Westbury's Ferguson P99, Marsh devised an unusual drivetrain which utilised four-wheel-drive while accelerating but rear-wheel-drive while cornering.

"Once again Tony Marsh established himself in 1965 as "King of the Hills" by scoring Best Time of the Day at eight of the nine first championship climbs he entered, and setting new course records at Shelsley Walsh, Bouley Bay and Longleat.

After winning another hat-trick of championships between 1965 and 1967, Marsh sold his car and left motorsport to concentrate on his engineering and farming interests, but in 1986 he returned at the wheel of the March-based Rovercraft. In 1993, his co-driver Simon Law was killed in the car during the Brighton Speed Trials, a tragedy which affected Marsh considerably. He returned with the ex-David Render Toleman TG191 Cosworth DFL, taking the Gurston Top Six title that year, aged 62. He continued to compete in hillclimbs well into his seventies, driving on until 2008.

Marsh competed in circuit racing in his earlier years, driving in four Grands Prix, the last being the 1961 German Grand Prix in which he drove the Lotus 18 he also campaigned in hillclimbs.He also drove in the 1960 Le Mans 24 Hours, sharing a Lotus Elite with John Wagstaff.

In 2007 Parley Books published his autobiography: Tony Marsh: The great all-rounder: In and out of motorsport.

Marsh was born in Stourbridge; he died aged 77 in May 2009 after having been admitted to hospital with breathing complications.

At the beginning of the 1990s, he played club rugby in Manurewa and Ardmore before playing National Provincial Championship rugby with Counties.

Marsh joined the Blues Super rugby team in 1996, winning the Super 12 in 97, before switching to the Crusaders with whom he won the title in 1998. He is one of the only players who won back-to-back Super Rugby titles with different teams.

Later that year he left New Zealand for France and signed for Top 12 club Montferrand, now known as Clermont, with whom he reached the final of the league on three occasions, in 1999, 2001 and 2007, won the European Challenge Cup twice in 1999 and in 2007, as well as the now-defunct French national cup in 2001.

After three years in France he became eligible to play for les Bleus and Bernard Laporte named him in the French squad in 2001. He went on to win 21 French caps between 2001 and 2004, scoring 7 tries and helping France win the Grand Slam in 2002.

Early in 2003 he was diagnosed with testicular cancer but overcame the disease after grueling months of chemotherapy sessions and rejoined the French team, reaching the semi-final stage of the 2003 Rugby World Cup.

Marsh played his last game for France in 2004 and his last game for Clermont came in the 2007 French Championship match against Stade Francais, Clermont lost the game narrowly, but they did end the season as European Challenge Cup winners.