Frank Dernie
Frank Dernie (born April 3, 1950 in Lancashire ) is an English engineer and former racing car designer in Formula 1 .
Career
Dernie got a place at the prestigious Imperial College London , where he studied mechanical engineering. After graduating, he first worked in gear development at David Brown Industries , then designed record players for the Garrards Company .
The end of 1976 he moved to the Formula 1 team Hesketh Racing and was involved in the development of the 308 E involved. After the end of the team two years later, Dernie accepted an offer from the newly formed Williams team, where he became the aerodynamics assistant to chief designer Patrick Head . With his work in the wind tunnel of Imperial College, he helped Head and Neil Oatley build the FW07 . The car was successful and Dernie remained Williams' aerodynamicist until the mid-1980s. He was responsible for setting up the team's own wind tunnel and was instrumental in developing the active wheel suspension . During his time at Williams, Alan Jones ( 1980 ), Keke Rosberg ( 1982 ) and Nelson Piquet ( 1987 ) won the world championship.
In 1989 Dernie accepted an offer from Lotus and succeeded Gérard Ducarouge as the team's technical manager. After Lotus ended in Formula 1 at the end of 1990, he moved to the same post at Ligier . When Guy Ligier sold the team to Cyril de Rouvre two years later, Dernie went back to England and worked with Ross Brawn , who had been his deputy at Williams. He was in 1993 at Benetton for a short time race engineer of Michael Schumacher , but was then returned to Ligier after the team Benetton team boss Flavio Briatore had been bought up.
Tom Walkinshaw initially took over the post of team boss, but bought the Arrows team in April 1996 and took Dernie there. A year later, however, Walkinshaw brought John Barnard as technical director, whereupon Dernie switched to Lola to help rebuild the team after a failed foray into Formula 1. In 2002 Dernie left Lola for Williams, where he worked as a technical consultant. In 2007, his contract was not renewed after his area of responsibility was taken over by a full-time team as part of an increase in staff. In August of the same year, he accepted a position as a consultant on chassis issues with Toyota's Formula 1 team.
Overview: Formula 1 cars designed by Frank Dernie
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Dernie, Frank |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British engineer and racing car designer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 3, 1950 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Lancashire |