Webb, who ran the track as its chief executive from 1964 to 1989, was a leading visionary in British motorsport whose entrepreneurial skills moulded its structure over nearly four decades.
He was born on 10 February 1931 in Caversham, just outside Reading, the son of an accountant. Born with dislocated hips, he walked with a distinctive rolling gait, having been told that nothing could be done and that he might even be in a wheelchair by the age of 25.
The young Webb, who was “nuts about aeroplanes and railway engines”, but not about road cars,
was sent to a private school where he showed an aptitude for mathematics and history. His father wanted him to join a bank “because you get a pension”, but instead he left at the age of 16 to pursue a career in press and publicity work for the aircraft industry.
His first job was at Miles Aircraft, an aeroplane manufacturer based at Woodley in Berkshire. He immediately showed a flair for publicity and also became a freelance aviation journalist. When the company went broke, Webb worked for the Royal Aero Club before becoming assistant press officer for the Farnborough Air Show. He then took over press work for Silver City Airways, which was the first company to fly cars across the English Channel commercially.
To the young Webb, generating publicity about such a glamorous subject came easy, and in September 1953 he formed his own press and PR company. One of his first new clients was Brands Hatch, which at the time was managed by John Hall, an accountant appointed by the shareholders in order to safeguard their investment.
Webb’s first impression of the place wasn’t exactly favourable, and he described it as having poor amenities, but he pressed ahead with writing and sending out press releases detailing forthcoming meetings. One of his first specific jobs, in February 1954, was to announce the opening of the Druids loop extension to the track.
Up until this point, Webb’s interest had been almost exclusively in aircraft. But as a result of the Brands involvement, he also acquired the account for the Connaught Formula 1 team and began to take more of an interest in motor racing, acquiring a Jenson 541 that he entered in various races, sprints and hillclimbs with a degree of success, at one time holding the Brands Hatch saloon car lap record.
Source: Autosport