Reynard Motorsport
Reynard Motorsport is the former world's largest manufacturer of racing cars. Originally based in Bicester and later in Reynard Park, Brackley , England , the company manufactured vehicles for the Formula Ford , Formula Opel , Formula 3 , Formula 3000 and Champ Car series. It is remarkable that Reynard's vehicles won the first race in all of the motorsport series in which they competed.
history
The beginnings: Saber Automotive
Reynard Motorsport has its roots in Saber Automotive Ltd. , which Adrian Reynard founded in 1973. While Reynard himself, who drove successfully in Formula Ford at the end of the 1970s, was responsible for the development of the vehicles, his driver colleague Rick Gorne took over the business part. Gorne was one of the first to start selling racing cars as a commercial venture. At the beginning of the 1980s the company grew strongly. In 1984 Reynard manufactured over 170 vehicles, mainly for Formula Ford; a total of 661 Reynard chassis were created for this motorsport class.
Formulas 3 and 3000
In 1984, Reynard hired Paul Owens, an engineer who had Formula 1 experience from a previous engagement at ATS ; in addition, there was the Australian engineer Malcolm Oastler . Both brought along knowledge of dealing with carbon fiber materials. They led Reynard to offer vehicles with carbon chassis for Formula 3 from 1985. Andy Wallace won the first Formula 3 race in a Reynard vehicle in 1985. By 1993 Reynard had built 360 Formula 3 racing cars.
Johnny Herbert , who started for Eddie Jordan Racing , gave Reynard a successful entry into Formula 3000 in 1988 : He won Reynard's first race in this series, which was held at the Circuito de Jerez . In the following years Reynard ousted the rival manufacturers March , Lola and Ralt from the Formula 3000. In 1991 , 13 of 20 teams used Reynard chassis, and Reynard drivers won nine out of ten races of the year. The following year , 13 of 16 teams drove Reynard cars, and all of the year's victories were with these cars. In 1993 the entire starting field consisted of Reynard pilots. Reynard's Formula 3000 commitment ended at the end of the 1995 season . From the following year , the series was advertised as a unit formula; the contract to manufacture standardized chassis had been awarded to Lola. From 1988 to 1995 Reynard sold 220 racing cars for Formula 3000.
Champ Cars
After Reynard's attempt to enter Formula 1 at the factory failed in 1992, the company ran into economic difficulties. Reynard reoriented himself and chose the Champ Car series as a new focus of activity. In 1994 Michael Andretti won the first Reynard race in this motorsport class. As before in Formula 3000, Reynard pushed March and Lola out of the Champ Car series.
The use in the Champ Car series was very profitable and Reynard Motorsport bought the companies Gemini Transmissions and Riley & Scott and opened a development center in Indianapolis , the Auto Research Center , with which Adrian Reynard is still connected to this day.
Reynard and Formula 1
Adrian Reynard had been busy with his company's entry into Formula 1 since the late 1980s. In 1988 Reynard had the opportunity to take over competitor March, who had created his own Formula 1 project a year earlier after a long break . However, doubts about the economic situation of the traditional British company caused Adrian Reynard to refrain from taking this step.
An own project
Instead, Reynard started his own Formula 1 project in 1989, which was to debut in 1992. Reynard recruited engineers like Rory Byrne from Benetton . However, Reynard was unable to complete the project. It failed because the company could not win an exclusive engine supplier. At the end of 1991 Adrian Reynard, who had invested a large part of his private assets in the project, gave up Formula 1. The Enstone plant was sold to Benetton, the development data to Ligier . Vehicle components, mainly from Formula 3000, went to the Pacific Racing team .
British American Racing
From 1998 Reynard was involved in British American Racing , which had taken over the starting position of the Tyrrell team. Adrian Reynard held a minority stake in the racing team, which debuted in Formula 1 in 1999 . Formula 1 was the first racing series in which a Reynard car could not win the debut race. Jacques Villeneuve , Ricardo Zonta and Mika Salo dropped out 24 times from 32 starts, the team did not reach a world championship point and at the end of the season was still behind Minardi in last place in the constructors' championship. Adrian Reynard described the BAR appearance retrospectively as a "public disaster" and gave Villeneuve's manager Craig Pollock , who was also involved in the racing team, the major blame for the failure. Adrian Reynard remained a shareholder in BAR until 2003, but had largely withdrawn from operational business by the turn of the millennium. The team was acquired by Honda in 2005 , who sold it to Ross Brawn in 2009 , who in turn ran it as the Brawn GP for a year before becoming the Mercedes Grand Prix in 2010 .
Others
Reynard Motorsport has also been involved in the development of racing cars such as the Panoz Esperante, the Dodge Stratus touring car , the Dodge Viper GTS-R GT car, and a never-racing, gas- turbine prototype for Chrysler .
In the 1990s, Reynard worked alongside his motorsport assignments for Richard Branson's airline Virgin Atlantic as a manufacturer of aircraft seats made of carbon fiber reinforced plastic .
insolvency
After a failed IPO on the New York Stock Exchange and the financial burdens from the purchase of Riley & Scott , Reynard Motorsport was insolvent in 2001. Adrian Reynard, on the other hand, attributes the bankruptcy of his company to the effects of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 : contrary to expectations, American customers would not have accepted already completed racing cars. BAR took over the Brackley plant, International Racing Management took over Formula Nippon - and the sports car division and the rights to the Champ Car car went to Team Australia .
Awards
Reynard Motorsport was honored with the Queen's Awards for Export Achievement in 1990 and 1996 for economic success .
literature
- Mike Lawrence: The Reynard Story: From Formula Ford to Indycar Champions . Patrick Stephens Ltd, 1997, ISBN 1-85260-576-6 .
- Simon Taylor: Lunch with Adrian Reynard . Motor Sport, issue 3/2013, p. 98 ff.
Web links
- Official website of Adrain Reynard (English)
- Auto Research Center (English)
- Riley & Scott (English)