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Malcolm Wilson (motorsport)
British rally driver and motorsport executive (born 1956) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Malcolm Irving Wilson, OBE (born 17 February 1956) is a British former rally driver, founder of M-Sport, and incumbent Deputy President for Sport at the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). He is the father of former World Rally Championship driver Matthew Wilson and is married to Elaine Wilson, whom he met in 1979.[1][2][3]
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Biography
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Early life
Wilson was raised in Workington, Cumbria, where he spent time at his parents' car breaking business. He acknowledges that meeting customers who were rally drivers introduced him to the sport. His father Ken Wilson has also a rally driving career, the earliest recorded starts being in 1973, one year before Malcolm's first start at age 18 in 1974.[4] In 1979, whilst buying a rally car Wilson met his future wife, Elaine, who was the seller's daughter.[3]
Rally driver career
Wilson's career began in 1974 driving Ford Escorts in events mainly located in the north of England.[5] In 1976, rallies in the significant British championships were being contested before in 1978, he won the Castrol/Autosport UK National Championship, a series seen as one level below the RAC British Open Championship and being restricted to British nationals only.[6] Wilson repeated the title feat in 1979, winning 5 of the 8 events on the calendar.[7]
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 he recovered in time for the RAC Rally at the end of the year.
In the 1980s, Wilson gained more experience on international rallies outside the United Kingdom and using the four-wheel drive Audi Quattro cars within, driving for Audi Sport UK on some events whilst remaining loyal to Ford on others. In 1986, he drove for Austin Rover WRT, in whose Group B MG Metro 6R4 he shared driving duties with fellow Briton, Tony Pond. He only finished two of the six World Rally Championship rounds started, and MG finished 8th in the manufacturer's championship.[8] The banning of Group B in the WRC after that year led to the withdrawal of Austin Rover and other manufacturers, and Wilson's rallies remained in the UK for some years after.
In 1989, Wilson drove for Vauxhall/General Motors in the UK and selected WRC rounds. He finished third at that years Rally of New Zealand, one of his best result in the series matched only by another third in 1993 RAC Rally of Great Britain.
In 1990, he began to drive Sierra Cosworths for a Ford team with Nicky Grist co-driving, mostly at British events then as part of a wider WRC programme in 1991. He won the British Rally Championship in 1994 at the wheel of Ford Escorts. In the years after, Wilson has driven occasionally at selected events. In September 2008, Wilson took part in the Colin McRae Forest Stages Rally 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 ran in memory of McRae, who died in 2007.
Aside from rallying competition, he was also Ford's chief test driver, developing new rally cars including the short lived RS1700T and RS200 models.[9]
M-Sport
Wilson formed Malcolm Wilson Motorsport in 1979, primarily to facilitate his own rallying career and offering motorsport services to customers such as rally car preparation. Reflecting his driving career, the company grew steadily through the 1980s and 90s until in 1996, the company was contracted by Ford to run the Ford World Rally Team from the 1997 season. The company became known as M-Sport in 1998. Following the withdrawal of Ford from rallying in 2012, M-Sport have continued to enter the World Rally Championship independently and are the manufacturer of Ford's Groups Rally cars. Other business for the company has included the Ford Raptor Rally-Raid car, Bentley Continental GT3 car preparation and engines for BTCC.[9][10][11]
Ford World Rally Team
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.[12]
Their work culminated in 2006 when Wilson led Ford to the World Rally Championship Manufacturers' title for the first time in 25 years; the team repeated this achievement in 2007.[13]
Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile
In June 2025, Wilson was confirmed as the Deputy President for Sport at the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA).[14]
Honours
Wilson was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2009 Birthday Honours.[15][16] 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.[17]
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Complete WRC results
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See also
References
External links
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