John Roderick Ward Mansfield (born 29 May 1934) [1] is a British engineer and business executive, influencing British motorsport, and ultimately many British boy racers .
Mansfield belonged to the 750 Motor Club.
He created the Special Vehicle Engineering (SVE) department at the Dunton Technical Centre in Essex in 1980, [2] and ran it until 1990. It produced the more-powerful roadworthy versions of the Ford Sierra. [3]
Dieter Hahne took over the department in January 1991; he had been manager of the Medium Cars programme for Ford. [4]
Mansfield became Managing Director of Lotus Cars on 14 August 1995, when Lotus was owned by Bugatti, who had bought the company from General Motors in 1993. [5] He left Lotus in February 1996. [6] Group Lotus employed around 900 people at its Norfolk factory.
Mansfield lives in Little Burstead in Essex. He married Valerie Jones in 1958 in Surrey.
The Lotus Seven is a sports car produced by the British manufacturer Lotus Cars between 1957 and 1973. The Seven is an open-wheel car with two seats and an open top. It was designed by Lotus founder Colin Chapman and has been considered the embodiment of the Lotus philosophy of performance through low weight and simplicity. The original model was highly successful with more than 2,500 cars sold, due to its attraction as a road legal car that could be used for clubman racing.
Lotus Group is a British multinational automotive manufacturer of luxury sports cars and electric vehicles.
Anthony Colin Bruce Chapman was an English design engineer, inventor, and builder in the automotive industry, and founder of the sports car company Lotus Cars.
The automotive industry in the United Kingdom is now best known for premium and sports car marques including: Aston Martin, McLaren, Bentley, Rolls-Royce, Jaguar, Range Rover, Mini and Lotus. Specialised sports car companies include: Ariel, BAC, Morgan, Caterham, AC Cars, Gordan Murray, TVR, Noble, Radical, Ginetta, Ultima Sports, Westfield, Lister, Arash and David Brown. Volume car manufacturers with a major presence in the UK include: Nissan, Toyota, Mini and Vauxhall. Commercial vehicle manufacturers active in the UK include Alexander Dennis, Dennis Eagle, IBC Vehicles, Leyland Trucks, TEVVA and the London Electric Vehicle Company.
Donald Mitchell Healey CBE was a noted English car designer, rally driver and speed record holder.
Peter Hawthorn Ashdown is a former motor racing driver. He drove in a single Formula One World Championship Grand Prix, racing a Cooper.
‘’’Julian Terence Bailey’’’ is a British former Formula One driver from England, who raced for the Tyrrell and Lotus teams.
Stig Lennart Blomqvist is a retired Swedish rally driver. He made his international breakthrough in 1971. Driving an Audi Quattro for the Audi factory team, Blomqvist won the World Rally Championship drivers' title in 1984 and finished runner-up in 1985. He won his home event, the Swedish Rally, seven times.
Ginetta Cars Limited is a British specialist builder of racing and sports cars based in Garforth, Leeds, West Yorkshire.
Weslake & Co also known as Weslake Research and Development was founded by Harry Weslake, described as England's greatest expert on cylinder head design, with premises in Rye, East Sussex, England. Weslake is most famous for its work with Bentley, Austin, Jaguar and the Gulf-Wyer Ford GT40 Mk.I.
Robb Gravett (born 10 May 1956 is a British retired racing driver and team owner from London. He started his motorsport career on two wheels, racing Moto Cross at the age of 12. By 15, he was already British champion, but decided to switch to four-wheeled racing in his early 20s. Robb began racing cars in 1978, eventually entering the British Touring Car Championship in 1987.
Andrew Ernest Rouse is a British racing driver, most notably in the British Saloon Car Championship. He won the BSCC in 1975, 1983, 1984 and 1985.
Van Diemen International, Ltd. was a British race car manufacturer based in Snetterton, Norfolk, United Kingdom. The company had a reputation for high-volume production runs of its cars, the most well-known of which is its series of Formula Ford chassis, which have been at the forefront of that class of motorsport for over 20 years and led it to becoming the largest manufacturer of bespoke racing cars in the world.
André Ribeiro da Cunha Pereira was a Brazilian racing driver who raced in CART from 1995 through 1998, where he claimed three wins.
The Ford Escort RS Cosworth is a homologation special of the fifth generation European Ford Escort. It was designed to qualify as a Group A car for the World Rally Championship in which it competed between 1993 and 1998. It was available as a road car from 1992 until 1996. The powertrain was only fitted to this version of the Escort, a longitudinally mounted Cosworth YBT, a highly tunable turbocharged 2.0 L (1,993 cc) with a bore x stroke of 90.8 mm × 77 mm Inline-four engine which had an output of 227 PS in standard trim. Tuning companies have achieved power outputs in excess of 1,000 bhp.
Jeffery Macandrew-Uren, was a British engineer, racing driver, race team manager, tuner, customiser, and entrepreneur. He won the British Saloon Car Championship in its sophomore year. He was a driver and team manager for Ford Motor Company's rallying efforts, team manager with John Willment's racing division, and team manager for AC Cars' 1964 Le Mans team. He later created a series of performance-oriented engine-swapped custom Ford models.
Tony Southgate is an English engineer and former racing car designer. He designed many successful cars, including Jaguar's Le Mans-winning XJR-9, and cars for almost every type of circuit racing. He was responsible for the chassis design of Ford's RS200 Group B rally car. Southgate was employed as chief designer or technical director for many Formula One teams for over twenty years. These teams included BRM, Shadow and Arrows. Southgate retired after producing the Audi R8C, which was a major influence in the Bentley Speed 8, which won Le Mans in 2003. He continues to be a regular visitor to current and historic race meetings.
Paulo Carcasci is a Brazilian former racing driver. Carcasci won the 1985 European FF 1600 Championship , 1988 BBC FF2000 Championship, 1991 All-Japan Formula Three Championship and the Gold Cup in Formula 3000.
Michael Roy Pilbeam is a British motorsport designer and engineer known for his work with BRM, Lotus, Surtees and his own company, Pilbeam Racing Designs. An early design was the experimental four wheel drive Formula One BRM P67 of 1964. As of 2014, Pilbeam's company continued to produce hillclimb cars and sports prototype chassis for endurance racing.
John Norman Romney Barber was a British businessman who held senior director positions at Ford of Britain, AEI and at British Leyland.