MICHAEL 'CUSHTY' TALLENTIRE
All of us at Rollcentre were devastated to hear the news that Cushty had passed away suddenly just before Christmas 2013, leaving wife Emma and his two lads Alex and Freddie. Cushty was a huge part of Rollcentre during some of the most exciting years of the company, and had been working for Ginetta for the last three years. We are all stunned at his passing. He was the best race engineer I knew, totally passionate about his racing, and his family.
We worked together as competitors, at TVR, then together with the GT projects, and then I head hunted him from TVR to run our Rollcentre Racing Le Mans program, and then engineered the Mosler GT3 with Mosler Europe, and then Super GT projects, and not forgetting the fastest Mini in the world. We have a dedicated Cushty Facebook page for you to leave your pictures, thoughts and comments. The family are reading it regularly and finding it a great comfort.He was one of the nicest people I ever knew, and without doubt, was the most significant influence in our racing history.
If ever there was a problem, he would find a way of fixing it, and together, we made so many cars fast, and killed so many giants of motorsport.
Auction of Ginetta G55 GT3 V8 Coffee Table
for the Cushty Foundation
Ginetta were auctioning an original Team LNT G55 GT3 V8 glass coffee table, to raise money for the Michael 'Cushty' Tallentire Foundation, and it was a great success with Kosta Kanaroglou successfully bidding £2,000 for the Ginetta V8 Engine table, but in addition Ade Barwick messaged us and has added £1,000 to the fund as well, despite not getting the winning bid for the table. Both fantastic gestures, thank you so much.Thank you Ginetta staff and in particular Josh Harbour for this amazing gesture and piece of work.
Many tributes have been paid to this lovely unassuming man, here are just a few..
Thanks Cushty for being such a great husband, father and friend, and for looking after me at the race tracks for 5 years and for providing me with such fast and reliable machinery to race. My thoughts are with Emma and the boys. BVR
No words or tears can express how gutted I am. A true gent and one of life's good guys. GK xx
Alex and Freddie, We spent many long days and long nights with your dad at many race tracks around the world. He was a very good man and a good friend and you should be very proud of him. Look after each other and especially look after your Mum..lots of Love S,E, A & J xxx
Cushty, we will always remember everything that you brought to our racing, and that 'Cushty smile' ! CE
He was one of the best I worked with, such a passion and what a great person he was, very humble and tireless worker... We got along great when we raced together, many great years with Rollcentre Racing. Will be missed...My condolences to Emma and the boys. JB
Boys, your dad gently taught us all many things while we raced with him. For you his most important lesson is to find your dream, work as hard as you can at it and to look after your mum. Hope this helps in a small way with those things M & C
For Alex & Freddie. Your dad was a hugely talented, humble guy - and someone I'll miss a great deal. RB
Everything already said by better folk than I. Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. C
So many people from the motorsport community and beyond pulled together to donate to Cushty Fund. A HUGE thanks to all of you, including, at the Autosport show Ewan Baldry and Juno cars raised a staggering £1,126.00, offering a raffle at £5 per ticket to have a ride in their 2 seater 'F1' type race car at Silverstone. It has been an emotional time for all of us, but the support has been overwhelming. Thank you each and everyone who helped.
MEMORIAL FUND
With Emma's agreement, we formed THE CUSHTY MEMORIAL FUND with the purpose of raising funds for Cushty's boys Alex and Freddie, to help them in later life with University, Apprenticeship, College, First Car, or any other life event that their Dad would have helped with.
CUSHTY PRINTS: Rollcentre friend and Artist Andrew Kitsont turned round a stunning painting of this shot with just a few days notice. 'On the grid waiting for the start of Le Mans 24, 2007'. It was delivered from the depths of East Anglia to the Rollcentre workshop to make its way, with paint barely dry, to Barnard Castle for Emma and the boys. They are available as a print signed by Andrew who will give all the proceeds to the Cushty fund. Can't thank you enough Andrew. We are close to closing the Boys fund now, and we are in excess of £25k due to the fantastic contributions of so many people. We have some prints left if you would like to order one, please e mail me at rollcentre@gmail.com with your card details and address, they are £30 plus £5 post and packing. They are signed by Andrew Kitson and 60 cm wide by 44 deep.
Ginetta
Cushty left Rollcentre a few years ago to be nearer to his family and to get his teeth into new projects. Had things been different Cushty would have been trackside, at the 2014 Dubai 24hr with the Ginetta team. As it was, they were all there, Team Business as usual paying tribute to Cushty's work in developing the Ginetta G55.They paid their respects, in the racing way, with the car decked in pictures of Cushty, during a one minutes silence, and fighting their way through a fraught race. Seen here with the team led by Lawrence Tomlinson, are Rob Barff, and Stuart Hall ex Rollcentre Racers.
There are many more photos on our Facebook Cushty page, but here are just a few ...
The final Total raised. £30,000. Thank you all.
And our last Goodbye.... As so many of the team Cushty was working with on the day of his funeral over in Dubai, we had a Memorial Service at the BRDC Suite at Silverstone, where many family and friends joined together to celebrate Cushty's achievements and life with Emma and their boys. In a touching finale, the Rollcentre team fired up the Dallara and headed off with closest family and friends round the Silverstone to Copse Corner to scatter Cushty's ashes at one of his favourite circuits. It will now be for us forever Cushty's Corner.
