Toleman was born in South Africa but the family later settled in Suffolk. The original Toleman company had been formed by his grandfather Edward Toleman in 1926, who passed the reins to his son Albert and then, later, to Ted who became chairman.

In 1980, he launched Toleman Motorsport's entry into the F1 championship the following season. It was slow going at first - they only qualified for two races in 1981 - but things began to click into gear two years later as British driver Derek Warwick scored a run of points.

But 1984 brought the peak of the team's success, when Toleman convinced a young man named Ayrton Senna to ignore the advances of Bernie Ecclestone, who ran the rival Brabham team at the time, and sign for his squad.

Toleman evenutally settled in homes in Suffolk UK but also had homes in Australia and Manila.