Ian Polley A well known former Club member who was an MGB racer in the late sixties and seventies and later a competitor in a well restored Le Mans Healey Sprite. A person full of energy and initiative and a successful businessman too. Sadly he passed away last week. Obit: Victor Smith Photo: Goodwood Revival Posted: 130714 Back to homepage
	Ian Polley was an active competitor in his Iris Blue MGB Roadster in the late 1960s and went on to acquire 8 DBL from Charles Dawkins, the ex Anthony Bamford works MGB, which Ian restored in 1973 still in its JCB yellow livery. He raced the car in both Club and BRSCC Prodsports events. Later he sold it and bought a Le Mans Healey Sprite which he restored to a very high standard and raced it for several seasons including a two driver race at the Goodwood Revival with John Rhodes. He replaced his MGB Roadster with an MGBGTV8 which he ran for many years before being posted to Canada for a few years. Ian's energy and a sense of purpose were features which characterised his life. His energy was legendary - once an idea was on his radar screen the degree to which he could focus on something was extraordinary, some might say alarming! On one occasion Ian changed my MGB clutch on a Friday evening in the garage at his mother's house in Croydon and at around 1am I went to bed. At breakfast the following morning I asked his mother whether Ian was up whereupon she replied "Oh he's been up all night repainting the kitchen!" He was a successful electrical engineer and after gaining an MBA at Cranfield became managing director of Sonardyne, a specialist company providing location devices for the international oil drilling industry. That company thrived during his term there. An example of how he could focus on something he wanted to do came from a birthday present from his wife of a trial flight in a light aircraft. That might have simply amused many husbands as a fun day out - not so with Ian. Before he had landed the idea of learning to fly had become a firm aim and he was then soon working on his PPL. Several years later he gained his private pilot's licence and following his retirement he was regularly to be seen flying from White Waltham over the Home Counties and even to France. Before he had to stop flying he capped it by flying round the UK - including the north of Scotland - with a fellow pilot from White Waltham. Following retirement he and his wife Christine travelled widely including Norway, Canada, New Zealand, Antarctica and China. They also made an expedition to Kilimanjaro together with Ian chosing the more adventurous route up. His next major adventure was trekking to the Advance Base Camp below Everest to see that awe inspiring natural feature at close quarters. We were all left wondering what might follow! In 2010 he underwent a quadruple bypass followed by three further major related operations but his determination to regain his fitness enabled him to be Munro bagging with me in 2011. Later a blood condition was diagnosed for which he opted to have a bone marrow transplant at the Churchill Hospital in Oxford which initially appeared successful but his recovery was varied until sadly he passed away last week.
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