Steve O’Rourke – His Cars And His Motor Racing

Michael Cane is the only man who can truly acknowledge the contribution of Steve O’Rourke to endurance and historic racing. Michael produced the outline of this tribute for the Daily Telegraph, the national newspaper then publishing Steve’s obituary today (November 5). For our motor sport readership, Michael Cane added specific details, to more fully recognize the achievements of this fine man. We were determined to give you the chance to appreciate Steve O’Rourke before this weekend’s Le Mans event .You’ll see why.

The news of Steve’s sudden illness and the worst news of all a few days later came as a total and devastating shock. Only the weekend before, we had been in Monza enjoying another FIA GT race with Steve’s Porsche; he was in excellent form, revelling in the history of Monza and the performance of his car - which was yet again the fastest Porsche in the field. Steve had only stopped competitive driving himself at the end of 2002 and was now employing two professional drivers, one of whom,Tim Sugden, had driven with Steve for the past seven years. The entire EMKA Racing team was very much a family: they had formed a special bond together, all with Steve as the ‘guv’nor’ and ultimate enthusiast, who was loved by us all.

My own friendship with Steve began in 1977 and since that time we have shared countless motor racing adventures and other wonderful times, all characterised by Steve’s huge personality, enthusiasm and generosity. He was truly ‘larger than life’ and a most special friend. What follows below are merely the highlights of a very full racing life, which Steve was somehow able to mix with his busy career in the music industry.

Very soon after Steve started racing, his passion for the sport meant that he had to drive in the biggest race of all – the Le Mans 24 Hours. His first Le Mans was in 1979, when he arranged to drive a Ferrari BB512. Despite this being one of the wettest races on record the car finished a very creditable twelfth.

In typical Steve style, he then bought the Ferrari, painted it British Racing Green, and entered it for the 1980 Le Mans race. The race was memorable for Steve’s huge tyre blow out on the Mulsanne Straight (again in the rain) and the subsequent deal done in the pit lane to purchase the spare tail from a red Ferrari, which had retired earlier. The car went on to finish the race, having covered over half the 24 hours with a green front and a red back.

In 1981 Steve bought the ex-Niki Lauda BMW M-1. We converted it to full racing specification, signed up Derek Bell and received factory support from BMW for a full season of International races.

Steve’s typical generosity then let Derek out of his contract so that he could drive for Porsche at Le Mans, and for this race Steve shared the BMW with David Hobbs and Eddie Jordan. Derek won the race for Porsche but the engine in the BMW broke at midday on Sunday, having run like clockwork for 20 hours. A classic example of Steve’s style was demonstrated when he disappeared for the night of the race to return to London and oversee a Pink Floyd concert. He returned to the track on Sunday morning and promptly got in the car for a two hour stint!

In other races in 1981 Steve, Derek and David Hobbs won the class and came second overall at the Silverstone 6-hours and then again the car won its class at the Brands Hatch 6-hours, but this time Derek had to share with Chris Craft as Steve had walked into a plate glass door on the eve of practice – there was no lasting damage except to the door!

The BMW was entered again for Le Mans in 1982, with Steve’s friend (and Pink Floyd drummer) Nick Mason as one of the drivers. This time the engine lasted until 1pm on Sunday, and then broke with exactly the same problem as the year before.

For 1983 Steve commissioned the construction of his own racing car, which was to be called the EMKA – the car was designed by Len Bailey and used an Aston Martin engine provided by Tickford. It was largely born out of the frustration that developed whilst Steve was trying to get an agreement with the Aston Martin factory. He decided that if they were not going to help him he would do it himself! The car was ready in time for Le Mans and finished the race in 17th place, but still ahead of the factory supported Aston Martin Nimrod.

After a year off in 1984, we decided to do major redesign and development work on the EMKA for the 1985 Le Mans race. The redesign was undertaken by Richard Owen and the success of the work done was clearly demonstrated when in the hands of Tiff Needell the car led the race for five laps within the first hour – the first time an Aston Martin engined car had led Le Mans since 1959! The normally aspirated EMKA went on to finish eleventh, behind eight Porsches and two Lancias, which were all turbocharged. Steve’s enthusiasm and commitment had again paid off though, as his privateer Aston Martin powered car finished ahead of the factory supported Bob Tullius Jaguars.

During the 1980s and 1990s Steve assembled a wonderful collection of modern and historic racing cars, ranging from a Formula One Williams to cars from BRM, Lotus, Aston Martin, Jaguar, Porsche, Alfa Romeo, Maserati, Ferrari, Bentley, Cooper, Lister Jaguar, MG and others.

All of these cars were used to their full in races, or sometimes just trips to famous circuits where they were ‘tested’ – always with tremendous verve and enjoyment by Steve. It was always important to have a good time! Steve was also a staunch supporter of Goodwood and competed in all the Festival of Speeds and Revival meetings, and often let Tim Sugden share his historic cars, usually with much success and enjoyment for all concerned. In 1998 Tim won a race at the Coys Silverstone meeting with Steve’s Cooper Climax – the oldest car in the race. Steve reckoned the car’s value was much increased as a result and sold it shortly afterwards!

In 1991 Steve competed in the Pan America Challenge in Mexico, sharing a Jaguar C-Type with Dave Gilmour (another member of Pink Floyd) but their race ended with a dramatic accident on the third day. During 1992 Steve finished second in his Lister Jaguar in the support race to the French Grand Prix and then in 1993 he won the same support race, but this time in a Cooper.

For 1995 Steve competed in the British GT Championship with a Porsche 935 and then entered a season of European GT races in 1996 with another Porsche.

1997 saw Steve sharing his Porsche with new team mate Tim Sugden and they won the British GT championship outright. This driving partnership was to last for seven years and it is no secret that they formed a special friendship that went beyond merely race driving.

In late 1997 Steve decided he wanted a McLaren F1 GTR, so he bought one of the ex-Gulf Racing cars to campaign in 1998 with Tim Sugden as co-driver. This was a big, spectacular car, which matched Steve’s style and personality perfectly.

The McLaren was raced very successfully during 1998, and won the British GT1 Championship, but the highlight of the year came at Le Mans where Steve, Tim and Bill Auberlen finished in fourth place. This was an incredible achievement considering the might of several full works teams that were entered that year, including Mercedes, BMW, Porsche, Toyota and Nissan. Whenever Steve arrived in Le Mans his whole demeanor would change and a large grin would be accompanied by an ‘I love this place’. The 1998 race was a special treat for his boyish enthusiasm.

(Below is Steve in his beloved McLaren, on the grid and ready to race, just over 24 hours before his other finest Le Mans moment.)

The McLaren was used again in 1999 and the Steve / Tim Sugden partnership came second in the British GT Championship.

In 2000 Steve ordered a new Porsche GT3 race car and it was just delivered in time to compete in the Daytona 24 Hrs in Florida – for this race, long standing friend Derek Bell was reunited with Steve and shared the driving with the ‘guv’nor’ and Tim. After this the car competed in the FIA GT Championship in Europe and as with the McLaren years, the races were characterized by a ‘shortish’ stint from Steve followed by a fantastic ‘Sugden charge’. Steve was always very generous with the time he gave for Tim to drive and was always happy for him to do the lion’s share of the work!

2001 saw another season of very competitive FIA GTs with the Porsche and then it was back to the British GT Championship in 2002, where EMKA Racing won the Teams Championship outright – all of this with the by now famous pairing of Steve O’Rourke and Tim Sugden. There were nine pole positions and two wins, but Tim just missed out on the driver’s championship by a single point.

As mentioned earlier Steve decided to step down from driving at the start of 2003 and entrust his Porsche to Tim and another professional driver, and for the last six races this was the Porsche factory driver Emmanuel Collard. Porsche had been much impressed by the many modifications and improvements that the EMKA team had made to the 911 GT3-R and the car was undoubtedly the fastest Porsche racing in Europe. There were wins at Enna (Sicily) and Anderstorp (Sweden) during the year and Steve was loving his role as team owner, but the culmination of his continual commitment and reward for his years of successful racing was to be the offer from Porsche of proper factory assistance for the 2004 campaign. Steve would have been very proud, very happy – and very deserving.

The memories will last for always with those of us who were lucky enough to share these wonderful years of motor sport with this most special of men.

Michael Cane
5th November 2003

Images by Jeremy Jackson, Rick Wilson and David Stephens. We've now found an EMKA image, but the 1985 ACO annual (French language only) has a very, very good one - Tiff Needell leading the Porsches in 1985.

Michael Cane will be interviewed about the life of Steve O'Rourke on BBC Radio 5 on Sunday November 9, at 19.00 we believe, which will be just as the 1000 Km comes to a conclusion in France.

"Steve's funeral will be next Friday (14th) in Chichester Cathedral at 3pm, and afterwards at Goodwood circuit. All are welcome to the cathedral and the circuit." Thank you, Michael Cane.