John Greasley, who passed away on Sunday after a long illness, was a powerhouse of GT racing in the UK, and later in Europe and beyond, in a decade where the modern shape of the sport was emerging.
He and his G-Force Racing squad took multiple race and class wins, and multiple British GT class Championships in a bewildering array of Porsche machinery, ranging from bespoke race cars and road car conversions, always keeping abreast of the rulebook and providing beautifully presented cars for himself and his band of hugely loyal (and successful) customers.
In the early days of the then BRDC-operated Championship his team provided multiple entries, arguably allowing the then embryonic Championship the opportunity to gain a foothold.
For many bystanders, of which this writer was one, the visual impact of the team’s cars stood out as GT racing emerged from a ‘stickered-up road car’ past, to a highly professional present.
In that regard G-Force were pioneers, not least with the help of some of their sponsors, a long relationship with Quaker State’s Blue Coral car preparation brand via their marketing man John Kegg saw the cars presented beautifully in the now iconic blue and yellow livery, with other company products, including the yellow and black of Pennzoil (another Quaker State brand) also featuring.
Long-time customer and friend Geoff Lister agrees: “he took boys playing with supercars to a whole new level. He knew what he wanted to achieve and built a business and a team around doing it.”
That saw the enterprise through multiple rapid-fire eras of British GT racing from early days with the now iconic Porsche 935s, through a variety of 993 turbos up to and including the mighty GT2 and GT1 versions of the air-cooled beasties and onto a golden era in the British Championship which saw the Aylesbury-based team campaign first a single, and later a pair of mighty Porsche 911 GT1s against McLarens, Lister Storm, and pretty much everything else that the era could summon up!
There were class titles for G-Force in 1993 (Class B for Nigel Barrett and Class C for John himself), 1994 (Class A for Ross Hyett and Class C for Nigel Barrett) and 1997 with the 911 GT1 for John and his close friend John Morrison.
“John was a fierce competitor and a very loyal friend,” John Morrison told DSC yesterday. “When we went racing it was always to win, but he never forgot that this was a sport that we all enjoyed. His competitive spirit never dimmed. The cars needed to be prepared faultlessly, presented well and raced well too. It was a privilege to race with him.”
Double British GT Champion Nigel Barrett (pictured below right with John and John Morrison in a pair of shorts now rendered illegal under the Geneva Convention) agreed: “Honestly it was an honour to be a part of it. There were days I had to pinch myself that I was allowed to do it!
“John was always super competitive , a BIG Porsche fan (but did have other non-Porsche road cars), generous , very supportive , loyal, but also hard nosed when he needed to be. A great leader of the team.
“On the subject of being generous, he knew I was a huge fan of 935’s – so entered one of the cars for the British Empire Trophy at the first Festival – he did about 35 mins and let me do the balance of the 2 hours. One of the happiest days of my life!!!
“And then a run in the GT1 with John Morrison at Spa in British GT at Spa (The pair, with Nigel looking VERY pleased to be there, pictured above). It was the stuff of dreams, and John made it happen. He didn’t have to do that, but he did it!”
“Most of all though John was an absolute gentleman. I had a massive off at Croft and badly damaged the car and when I went to the workshop a few days later he just couldn’t have been nicer about it. It took a little persuasion to get him to allow me to contribute to the cost!”
John started though in Rallycross – again with Porsches, with crowd-pleasing success and backing from the (twice) family-owned Dage Electronics concern against the emerging Group B and Group S-based monsters of the time.
Amongst John’s employees at Dage was Dot Masarati, wife of John’s fellow GT contender Jamie and mother of 2005 GT3 Champion Piers Masarati:
“John was just a lovely person to work for, and Dage, run by John and his sister, was the best workplace I ever had,” Dot told DSC. “It sounds strange but it was absolutely true to say that you actually looked forward to going back to work after a holiday.”
Husband Jamie meanwhile relates another remarkable instance of Greasley sportsmanship and generosity: “I had a turbo let go big time and John knew that was effectively my season over. He offered to fix the engine for free and got me back on track. He was a total pro, a proper sportsman and just a lovely guy.”
Alongside the British GT campaigns there were regular outings in the International GT races that visited the UK, and later further afield with FIA GT Championship race outings in the USA and Europe with the 911 GT1 and an international 3 Hour GT race victory at the then very new Zhuhai circuit in China.
“Very many of those overseas adventures were driven by John just wanting the cars out and competing as much as possible,” said Geoff Lister. “Magnus (Wallinder) and I did several rounds of the French Championship and it was a matter of John, and others, pulling together strands to make it happen. He always, ALWAYS, gave us a car we could race well with.”
After a one-off season in FIA GT with a pair of N-GT Porsche 911 GT3Rs that yielded a race win at Monza and third place in the class Championship, the long-time backing from Quaker State and their brands evaporated and it was effectively game-over for the G-Force team at the level at which it had competed for a decade
John continued to compete from time to time with a one-off in Hector Lester’s Ferrari in British GT in 2003 and a season in FIA GT3 with a JMB Ferrari in 2007 before hanging up his helmet
It’s notable that in researching this item those customers, and many that worked for John too, universally describe themselves as friends, and that those friendships carried on long after the racing links stopped. His core crew too was with him for the whole journey.
All at DSC, and in particular our founding Editor Malcolm Cracknell, pass on our deepest condolences to John’s wife Susanne, his family and friends in motorsport and way beyond.
Pics include thanks to John Morrison and Nigel Barrett
