Tyrrell Racing

Lower formulas (1958–1967)

Tyrrell Racing began in 1958 running Formula Three cars for Ken Tyrrell and local stars. After stepping down as a driver in 1959, Ken Tyrrell operated a Formula Junior team from a woodshed owned by the family business, Tyrrell Brothers. During the 1960s the team moved through lower formulas, giving single seater debuts to John Surtees and Jacky Ickx. Jackie Stewart first signed with the team in 1963.

Tyrrell ran the BRM Formula Two operation for 1965, 1966 and 1967 while Stewart drove for BRM's Formula One team. The team then agreed to run F2 cars built by Matra. Its first World Championship Grand Prix entry came at the 1966 German Grand Prix with F2-spec Matra MS5s for Ickx and Hubert Hahne; Hahne finished 9th as runner-up among F2 cars, while Ickx crashed on the first lap with John Taylor's Brabham, and Taylor later died from burns. At the 1967 German Grand Prix, Tyrrell entered an F2 Matra MS7 for Ickx, who qualified third fastest but started from the back of the grid per regulations; he ran as high as 5th before retiring with broken suspension.

Formula One (1968–1998)

With support from Elf and Ford, Tyrrell moved to Formula One in 1968 as team principal of Matra International, a joint venture between his privateer team and Matra. Stewart won three Grands Prix in the Tyrrell-run Matra MS10, whose aviation-inspired structural fuel tanks made the chassis about 15 kg lighter and stronger than rivals; the FIA banned the technology for 1970, requiring rubber bag-tanks. For 1969, the Matra works team withdrew from Formula One, leaving Matra International to build a new DFV-powered car with structural fuel tanks eligible for only one season.

Stewart won the 1969 title in the Cosworth-powered Matra MS80, the first championship won by a French car and the only one won by a car built in France and entered by a privateer. Stewart found the V12 inferior to the DFV, and because much of Tyrrell's budget came from Ford and Elf had an agreement with Renault that precluded supporting a Simca partner, Ken Tyrrell bought a March 701 chassis as an interim solution while developing his own car in secret.

The team name changed from Matra International to Tyrrell Racing Organisation at the start of 1970. Tyrrell retained Elf sponsorship and French blue racing colours for most of its existence. Tyrrell and Stewart ran the March-Fords through 1970 with mixed success, while Derek Gardner worked on the first in-house Tyrrell Grand Prix car at the woodshed in Ockham, Surrey.