Joe Tandy's passion for motorsport began at a very early age, anything that could be raced, would be raced, starting with his favourite toy - a scalextric set, then the family ride on lawn mower!
Joe also spent endless hours with his father in the workshop striving to learn all he could about the sport he loved, motorsport wasn't just an interest for Joe, it was an obsession.
At the age of eleven, after many years as a keen supporter of his father's racing, Joe's first racing car was purchased - a Short Oval Ministox. Joe soon proved that he was the one to beat on the short ovals and went on to win numerous trophies and titles, including the World Championship title in 1998.
At the age of sixteen, Joe moved into circuit racing with a Mini Se7en. Again proving that he was a strong competitor and winning many trophies in the UK and Europe.
At the age of twenty, Joe began working for Jonathan Palmer at Palmersport in Thurliegh Bedfordshire and quickly worked his way up to Chief Mechanic. Whilst working at at Palmersport, Joe decided he wanted to race in the 2005 Formula Palmer Audi Championship series. Having made this decision, Joe set about raising the £70,000 needed to compete in the championship. Raising the funds proved very difficult and after each round, Joe never knew if he would be able to find enough funds to race in the next round. Joe's dogged determination shone through and not only did he manage to find the funds to compete in every round, he went on to win the Championship Title.
Joe also broke the lap record at Palmersport's test venue in his first single seater test, which was previously held by Justin Wilson, F1 and Champ car driver - All this, in his very first year of single seater racing!
The following year, 2006, Joe tried very hard, but was unsuccessful in raising sponsorship to race in a single seater championship in America, for this, he needed to raise approximately £500,000. Later that year, Joe saw the opportunity to help his younger brother Nick, who was then racing for a well established Formula Ford Team. Nick was already 2/3rd of the way through the season and doing well in the Championship, but unfortunately ran out of money. Joe came up with the idea of buying a Formula Ford Car so that he himself could run Nick, meaning Nick could finish the Formula Ford season. As a family, we pooled our funds, bought the car and Nick was back in the Championship under a new manager- brother Joe. This all went extremely well. Under Joe's expert management, Nick won several more races, finished runner up in the Championship and also went on to win the prestigious Formula Ford Festival Title. In 2007, Joe set up his own Formula Ford race team and JTR (Joe Tandy Racing) was born. During 2007, Joe's drivers were brother Nick and Freddie Hunt (son of 1976 F1 Champion, James Hunt). The season saw JTR win many podiums and again went on to win the Formula Ford Festival title. Due to Joe's professionalism, team success and management skills, he was approached at the end of 2007 by a sponsor who wanted Joe to set up and run a Formula 3 team, and have his brother Nick running as the main driver. At the beginning of 2008, this was all put into place and JTR Formula 3 was born.
Joe was now running both a Formula Ford and a Formula 3 team under the JTR banner which, with his hand picked team of mechanics, engineers and data analysts, he managed very successfully and it was this success, at such an early age, that earned him great respect in the pit lane and the world of motorsport.
JTRA have a stand at this years Autosport show. Stand number 7340
http://www.autosport-international.com/
