GORDON CRUICKSHANK 1955-2024

A fine writer, a cultured enthusiast and a keen competitor in classic car rallies, Gordon Cruickshank was a much-respected figure in motoring journalism for more than 40 years.

The long-time deputy editor of Motor Sport joined the title in 1982 and remained on the staff right up to his death, aged 69, on December 9. “I actually applied for a job on Motoring News, but I was hijacked by the Proprietor, Mr Tee, as Motor Sport‘s previous Assistant Ed was desperate to escape,” he wrote, with characteristic dry wit. “With neither journalistic nor magazine experience behind me, and no proof that I could drive fast cars, I was the perfect candidate – because I was available.”

His proudest sporting claim to fame was co-driving Henry Pearman’s Jaguar E-type to victory in the second Pirelli Classic Marathon in 1989, narrowly beating Stirling Moss in an MGB. But that same year Cruickshank’s life changed profoundly, when he was injured as a passenger during a Mercedes road test in Germany. He’d spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair as a tetraplegic.

Refusing to be neither defined nor held back by his disability, Cruickshank ran an adapted 3.4-litre Jaguar Mk2 for competition and recently added a BMW 635CSI for the road to his small but precisely curated fleet. His passing breaks the final direct link to Motor Sport’s era of Bill Boddy and Denis Jenkinson.

- Damien Smith

HERO-ERA are saddened at the loss of such an influential and genuine journalist who was so motivated by classic car rallying, and indeed as Damien wrote, his proudest performance was the brilliant win on the HERO-ERA Classic Marathon navigating for Henry Pearman in the E-Type Jaguar. That Gordon managed to keep his motivation and high work rate following his accident was a credit to his great all-round character.

He will be sadly missed, we salute Gordon Cruickshank.