With great regret we have to report of the death of Steve Thompson last Saturday 18 April after a five-year battle with dementia. Steve was first elected to Full Membership of the BRDC in 1972 after success in Formula 5000 and Formula 3 and subsequently became a Life Member.
A native of Walsall in the West Midlands, Steve started his racing career in karts before switching to cars towards the end of 1965. It was the era of the 1000 cc ‘screamers’ in Formula 3 although Steve’s car, an uncompetitive Lotus Type 31, screamed less than most. In his first full season the following year he achieved an encouraging fifth place in a round of the Les Leston F3 Championship at Mallory Park before acquiring from the Midland Racing Partnership a rather more effective Lola T60 which was used initially in Formula 3 before being equipped with a Lotus Ford twin cam engine to run in Formula 5000. A couple of sixth places, among the 5-litre monsters, at Zandvoort and Oulton Park, were the reward and the encouragement to obtain a Cosworth FVC-powered Chevron B17C for 1970. The immaculately prepared blue machine was one of the standout cars of the national racing scene in 1970, enabling Steve to achieve the success, and attract the attention, which his talents deserved.
A return to Formula 3, where the 1-litre screamers had been replaced for 1971 by 1600 cc engines, brought Steve back into the Formula 3 fold with a new Ensign LNF1 and rewarded him with an impressive fourth place in the ultra-competitive Monaco Formula 3 Prix Junior early in the season, to be followed by an overnight dash to Paris for the F3 Prix de Paris at Montlhery the next day which rewarded Steve with his first international victory. A few weeks later Steve won a round of the British F3 Championship at Mallory Park ahead of Roger Williamson, Colin Vandervell and Jody Scheckter to emphatically make his case for being one of the coming men among young British drivers. In the Championship Steve was classified ninth, one place behind James Hunt.
Instead of following the well-trodden path from Formula 3 to Formula 2 for 1972 Steve was offered the opportunity to race Alan Brodie’s Surtees TS8 in the European Formula 5000 Championship in something of a ‘keep it in the family” transaction since it was the car which Steve’s cousin Alan Rollinson had raced in 1971. While Gijs van Lennep, Brian Redman and Graham ‘Cassius’ McRae slugged it out for the title, Steve made the most of the Surtees, winning in the wet at Mallory Park and taking a third place at Silverstone to finish seventh in the Championship. Steve and Alan Rollinson then headed for the Tasman Series in which they both performed strongly, Steve winning, once again in wet conditions, at Warwick Farm and claiming podium positions in the New Zealand Grand Prix at Pukekohe and at Wigram and Adelaide to finish fourth in the series.
For the following year Brodie, with sponsorship from Servis Electrical Appliances, replaced the Surtees with the ex-Redman, first-off Chevron B24 which had first appeared mid-season in 1972. Brian had won with the Bolton bolide first time out at Oulton Park and it wasn’t too long before it was a winner for Steve when he was able to show his wet weather prowess at Brands Hatch. Other strong results, including a second place and several thirds, brought Steve fourth place in the 1973 standings despite a hefty accident while tyre-testing at Silverstone which effectively wrote-off the Chevron but from which he escaped unscathed. The cause of the accident was a puncture. For his final year in Formula 5000 in 1974 Steve switched to Ian Ward Racing to drive one of the Ron Tauranac-designed Trojan T102s but it was only a part-season and the Servis funds were no longer available so it was a disappointing year in which a fifth place at Oulton Park and a sixth at Mallory Park were the best results.
With no good opportunities remaining in single-seaters, Steve took the opportunity to move to touring cars for 1976 as team mate to Andy Rouse in the British Leyland British Saloon Car Championship Triumph Dolomite Sprints but the results in the early season races were disappointing and Steve did not continue after the first five races whilst awaiting the opportunity to race the Broadspeed-built Jaguar XJ12C in the European Touring Car Championship alongside Andy Rouse, an opportunity which never came to fruition. After the disappointment of the Jaguar, Steve focussed on his business interests in the motor trade before returning to the tracks in 1983 to share a Chevron B19 in Thundersports with cousin Alan Rollinson. On the two occasions when the car finished, Steve and Alan were classified fourth overall. Alan did not continue into a second year, but Steve was joined by Tony Lanfranch for 1984i to share the Group C Grid S1 with which they finished first at Donington Park and third at Brands Hatch in Thundersports races. For that year’s Brands Hatch 1000ks round of the World Sports Car Championship, Steve and Tony were joined by Divina Galica and could have been classified 12th overall but for being disqualified after Divina had tried to push the car back to the Pits. Steve had put the car on Group C Junior pole position to show what might have been.
Always a popular personality in his racing career, in retirement Steve continued to be a regular and very welcome visitor to the BRDC Clubhouse. Away from the circuit Steve ran his motor business Steve Thompson Cars Ltd in Walsall. To his wife Di, their children James and Kim and their grandchildren, the BRDC extends its deepest condolences for their loss. A funeral service will be held at 1.00pm on Friday 8 May at Streetly Crematorium, Little Hardwick Road, Aldridge, nr. Walsall WS9 0SG. There will be a gathering afterwards at Moor Hall Hotel, Moor Hall Drive, Sutton Coldfield B75 6LN. In lieu of flowers, donations in memory of Steve are welcome to Dementia UK via the funeral director’s website. Simply follow the link below and enter “Thompson” in the search bar to locate the donation site for “Mr Stephen George Thompson (Died: 18th April 2026)”