Peter Ashcroft

Peter Ashcroft 1982

Peter Sanderson Ashcroft (born May 9, 1928 in Penwortham , Lancashire ; † January 27, 2008 on Pawleys Island , South Carolina ) was a British and Ford Motorsport Director for many years, making him responsible for many successful Ford Factory outings in the World Rally Championship .

Ashcroft took an early interest in motorsport and worked as a young mechanic for a private Formula 1 team . After the team was dissolved, he moved to Ford of Britain , where he initially worked as a rally mechanic and later as a racing technician. Ashcroft made a good name for himself as an engine tuner and problem solver at Ford over the years and was subsequently the main person responsible for bringing Hannu Mikkola and his co-driver Gunnar Palm ( Ford Escort Mk1 ) to the London to Mexico World for the Ford factory rally team Cup Rally 1970 . With a distance of almost 26,000 kilometers, it was the longest marathon rally in the history of motorsport, held in the run-up to the 1970 World Cup .

In 1972 Peter Ashcroft was appointed the new Competitions Manager to lead the entire Ford Motorsport works team. He was later promoted to Ford Motorsport Director as the successor to Stuart Turner , a position he held until 1991. Under his leadership, countless rally and racing successes were achieved worldwide in the 1970s and 1980s, including 22 overall victories in championship races for the World Rally Championship as well as wins in the 1979 World Rally Championship (by Björn Waldegård on a Ford Escort RS1800 ) and the World Rally Championship 1981 (by Ari Vatanen on a Ford Escort RS1800).

After his retirement, Ashcroft moved to South Carolina in the United States , where he spent his old age. There he died at the age of 79, leaving behind his wife Jean, a son and a daughter and a stepdaughter.