Tony case

Opel Ascona 400

Richard Anthony "Tony" Fall (born March 23, 1940 in Bradford , West Yorkshire , † December 1, 2007 in Tanzania ) was a British rally driver , founder of the British dealer Opel team and between 1978 and 1990 the team boss of Opel Motorsport in Rüsselsheim .

Rally career

Fall began his first rallies in a Mini Cooper S in the mid-1960s and also rallycross races in 1967 . His first major international success was overall victory at the Circuit of Ireland Rally in 1966, with co-driver Henry Liddon. In addition, he also made a BMC -Werksauto type Austin 1800 (nicknamed "the Landcrab" , dt. "Land crab") attention. His compatriot and friend John Davenport, also known as motor sport - journalist had already gained international recognition, was If co-pilot and made sure that this work inserts for Lancia (on Lancia Fulvia ), Datsun ( Datsun 240Z and Datsun 1800SSS), BMW ( BMW 2002 ti ), Peugeot ( Peugeot 504 and Peugeot 304 S ) and Volkswagen ( VW 1302 S and VW 1303 S ).

Opel Motorsport Management

In 1974, Fall founded the British dealer Opel Team after having worked with General Motors subsidiary Vauxhall . In 1978, the Brit moved to the Opel factory in Rüsselsheim, where he took over the position of motorsport director from Helle Bein . Under Fall's direction, the Opel Ascona 400 model was developed into a competitive rally vehicle with which Walter Röhrl was able to become world rally champion in 1982 .

At the end of the 1980s, Case, which Opel had been given a free hand in almost all of its decisions, fell into the mills of bureaucrats and lawyers during the so-called controller era . Due to various opaque contracts, legal action was sought against the Englishman, who then spent nine months in custody and was deported to his home country after the end of the trial.

1990-2007

In 1990 Tony Fall returned to England and was made managing director of the British Matter subsidiary Safety Devices by " roll cage guru" Winfried Matter . At the end of the 1990s, Fall bought the company from the German and was its director until his death.

Fall died in his Tanzanian hotel room on December 1, 2007 as an organizer of the East African Safari Classic Rally after suffering a heart attack that night . He left behind his wife Pat Fall (née Lyons; a daughter of Jaguar Cars founder Sir William Lyons ) and two sons from a previous marriage.

statistics

Individual results in the sports car world championship

season	team	race car	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10
1968	JCB	MGB	DAY	SEB	BRH	MON	TAR	ONLY	SPA	WAT	ZEL	LEM
							24	39
1969	Jolly Club	Lancia Fulvia	DAY	SEB	BRH	MON	TAR	SPA	ONLY	LEM	WAT	ZEL
							18th

Web links

Commons : Tony Fall  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

• Tony Fall at Racing Sports Cars

Individual evidence

1. ↑ MOTORSPORT aktuell , issue 50/2007, p. 23, Tony Fall †