Obituary - Bryan Nash

Although not a member of SCC, Bryan had many friends in our club. Chris Powis of Croydon & District Motor Club has penned this obituary for the Windscreen.

Bryan Nash - 1939-1998

It is with great sorrow that we have to record the passing of Bryan Nash who died after a short illness in the afternoon of the 8th of April.

I first met him at one of the club nights just after I joined the club in 1971 and although I do not remember the exact occasion, we became more than just club members who met on a Wednesday evening. I navigated for him on road rallies when his regular partner at the time was unavailable and I found him to be one of a very rare breed, a patient driver. He never criticised when I occasionally got it wrong and even when we had wrong-slotted only swore at me quietly!

Bryan then moved onto stage rallies with a "Big-wing" Mexico when his regular co-driver became Davie Johnson, one of those unflappable, pipe-smoking gentleman rallyists that now seem to be part of a bygone age. They did several Welsh International Rallies, RAC Rallies of Great Britain and also went abroad to do some events in Germany that were part of the European Rally Championship.

The Mexico gave way to a beautifully build MkII and Philip Douce took over in the "hot seat" to do the Autosport National Championship, the predecessor of the current Mintex Series. An enormous accident on the Granite City put paid to that activity for a short time but in typical fashion, Bryan rebuilt the car to his own very exacting standard that would take an experienced eye to "find the join".

We teamed up again in 1983/84 for the "Peter Russek Manuals" Rallies in the forests around Port Talbot plus one or two selected events around the country and we had such a laugh, we decided to tackle the BTRDA Gold Star Championship the following year, 1985. The competition was a bit faster than Bryan's by now, rather tired Pinto engine with the likes of Vince Wetton and Pete Slights using ex-works Manta 400's, Bill Dobie (who won the championship that year) and many others having "Works spec" Gp4 Escorts, in competition with us but the most important fact was that we were enjoying the whole scene. That is what I remember most about Bryan; the fact that he never seemed to be in a bad mood even after some quite big accidents and some even bigger near misses. (You must have heard about the one that got away!)

Latterly his priorites changed with the advent of new responsibilities in the form of Alexander & Georgia but the enthusiasm never waned and the MkII was always ready to go. So, when approached to demonstrat the car at the Ford sponsored stage at the 1996 Goodwood Festival of Speed, he jumped at the chance to have another go. Similarly at last year's almost rained-off event, he wanted "just one more go". Sadly, it was just one more go and Bryan died before he had the chance to do any more.

I shall miss him very much; we had some great times and in spite of, but perhaps because of, his outspoken nature, he was very good company.