Tony Southgate
Tony Southgate (born May 25, 1940 in Coventry , Warwickshire ) is a British engineer , former racing car designer in Formula 1 and founding member of the Arrows team.
Career
Beginnings
Southgate gained his first experience in racing in 1962 at Lola , where he worked as a designer on vehicles for Formula 1, sports car races and the Indycar series. He joined Brabham for a year but returned to Lola to work with Eric Broadley on the sports car that won the CanAm title in its debut season with John Surtees at the wheel .
This success brought Dan Gurney's attention to Southgate and he hired him for his Eagle project. Southgate developed a car for the Formula 5000 and also the Eagle 68 Drake / Offenhauser , with which Bobby Unser won the Indianapolis 500 in 1968 , came from him.
BRM
In 1970 Southgate took over the post of chief designer in the BRM Formula 1 team. In the first season, Pedro Rodríguez in the P153 was able to get the team's first win in four years. In 1971 , Jo Siffert and Peter Gethin each decided a race for themselves in the P160 and the team finished the constructors' championship in second place behind Tyrrell . In 1972 , Jean-Pierre Beltoise took victory in Monaco .
Shadow
At the end of 1972 Southgate switched to Team Shadow , which was planning to enter Formula 1 for the 1973 season . Southgate constructed the Shadow DN1, which was immediately competitive with drivers George Follmer and Jackie Oliver . The Shadow DN2 for the CanAm series was able to achieve a double success in the championship this year. In 1974 Peter Revson died at the wheel of a Shadow DN3 test drive in Kyalami .
In late 1975, when it became apparent that the main sponsor would not renew the contract with Shadow, Southgate switched to Lotus , where he was involved in the development of the Lotus 77 and the Lotus 78 at the side of Peter Wright .
Arrows
Mid-1977 returned to South Gate Shadow back the team but left at the end of the year again to come up with Franco Ambrosio , Alan Rees , Jackie Oliver and Dave Wass the Arrows team, based in Milton Keynes to start. The name of the team was composed of the first letters of the last names of the founding members, the "S" stands for Southgate.
The new team's first Formula 1 car was so similar to the Shadow DN9 that it was declared illegal by the FIA after a copyright infringement lawsuit . Southgate developed the A2 and A3 cars for Arrows before leaving the team and freelancing until 1980.
Theodore Racing
At the end of 1980 Southgate returned to Formula 1 and designed the TY01 for Theodore Racing for the 1981 season .
Osella Squadra Corse
In 1983 , Southgate designed the Osella FA1E, its last Formula 1 racing car. Southgate had to make many compromises here. A complete redesign did not allow Osella's budget; Southgate therefore had to limit itself to revising the existing Osella cars, which had their roots in 1980, and adapting them to the Alfa Romeo engine that was now in use . The Osella FA1E only reached the target three times. Southgate's Austrian colleague Gustav Brunner considered the FA1E to be the worst car in the 1983 grid.
Sports car
After the Theodore team merged with Ensign in late 1982, Southgate co-founded Auto Racing Technology with John Thompson . The new company was involved in two major Ford projects, including the development of the Ford RS200 , but both projects were terminated before any success could be seen.
In 1984 Southgate went to Tom Walkinshaw Racing, where he was responsible for the design of the Jaguar XJR -9 and -12, which won the World Sports Car Championship three times and the Le Mans 24-hour race twice . He stayed at TWR until 1991 and then continued working as a developer of sports cars for Toyota ( Toyota TS010 ), Ferrari (Ferrari 333SP), Lister , Nissan ( Nissan R390 GT1 ) and Audi ( Audi R8 R and R8C).
literature
- Paul Parker, Tony Southgate: Jaguar at Le Mans: Every Race, Car and Driver, 1950-1995 . JH Haynes & Co Ltd, 2002, ISBN 1859606326 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Motorsport aktuell, issue 29/1984
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Southgate, Tony |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British engineer, racing car designer and founding member of the Arrows team |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 25, 1940 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Coventry , Warwickshire |