Chef Farmer

Brise was born in Erith, Kent. His father, John Brise, was a pig farmer and racing driver who won the World Stock Car Championship on three occasions. Both Tony and his brother Tim showed an interest in go-karting from an early age, and John Brise gave up his own competitive hobby to support them fully.

Brise won his first UK championship in 1969 and switched to single-seater racing the following year, driving an Elden MK8 in Formula Ford. In 1971 he placed second in the BOC British FF1600 Championship. While completing a BSc in Business Administration at Aston University he moved into Formula 3 in 1972, driving a Brabham BT28 run by Bernie Ecclestone. After switching to a GRD 372 his pace increased steadily until he was among the leading drivers in the formula.

In 1973 Brise won two of the three British Formula 3 Championships — the Lombard North Central title, shared with Richard Robarts, and the John Player championship. At the end of the season he received a Grovewood Award for the second time, sharing it with Tom Pryce.

Brise had wished to move to Formula 2 for 1974 but was unable to fund the step. Instead he purchased a second-hand March 733, fitted it with a Holbay-tuned Ford engine, and entered the MCD Formula Atlantic series. He won the opening round of the British Championship unexpectedly before writing the car off in a crash at Snetterton. That performance was sufficient to attract the interest of Teddy Savory of Modus, who offered him a works drive. Although the Modus car was a modified F3 chassis, Brise drove well enough to earn a purpose-built car for 1975. He also drove a Modus M1 F3 in the Monaco Grand Prix Formula 3 support race, finishing second behind Tom Pryce in a March 743.

In 1975 Brise excelled in the new car, winning six consecutive races at Snetterton, Oulton Park, and twice each at Brands Hatch and Silverstone — sufficient to secure the MCD International Formula Atlantic Championship and bring him to the attention of Formula One teams.

Brise's achievement in Formula Atlantic prompted contact from Frank Williams in April 1975, leading to a Formula One debut standing in for Jacques Laffite. He made his Grand Prix debut on 27 April 1975 for Williams at the Spanish Grand Prix at Montjuic Park near Barcelona, finishing seventh despite a collision with Tom Pryce. The race itself was controversial, marred by driver strikes over safety concerns, a high number of accidents, and the deaths of four spectators.

Laffite returned for the Monaco Grand Prix, displacing Brise. However, Graham Hill's failure to qualify at Monaco prompted him to retire from driving, and Hill immediately signed Brise for Embassy Hill for the remainder of the season. Over the next races Brise demonstrated consistent speed, frequently posting faster qualifying times than team-mate Alan Jones and regularly outperforming him over race stints. Technical difficulties and misfortune prevented high finishes; he scored a single championship point across his ten starts. Nonetheless, Brise was by consensus considered an outstanding prospect, with 1976 widely anticipated as the season that would confirm his standing.

On 29 November 1975, Hill, Brise, team designer Andy Smallman, and three team mechanics were returning to London from southern France, where they had been testing the new Hill GH2 race car. The Embassy Hill aircraft, a twin-engine Piper Aztec piloted by Hill, attempted to land at Elstree Airfield at night in thick fog and crashed on Arkley golf course, killing all six people aboard. Tony Brise was 23 years old.

Brise's career represented one of the most consequential losses in British motorsport during the 1970s. In fewer than two full seasons of serious competition he won domestic championships in Formula Ford, Formula 3, and Formula Atlantic before establishing himself as a genuine Formula One talent. The Arkley crash, which also ended the Embassy Hill team, removed two significant figures from the sport simultaneously and left the question of what Brise might have achieved entirely unanswered.