Ron Tauranac

Ronald Sidney "Ron" Tauranac^[1] AO (born 13 January 1925)^[2] is a retired Australian engineer and racing car designer, who with Formula One driver Jack Brabham founded the Brabham constructor and racing team in 1962. Following Brabham's retirement as a driver at the end of the 1970 season, Tauranac owned and managed the Brabham team until 1972, when he sold it to Bernie Ecclestone.^[3] He remained in England to assist with a redesign of a Politoys Formula One chassis for Frank Williams in 1973 and helped Trojan develop a Formula One version of their Formula 5000 car.

After a brief retirement in Australia, Tauranac returned to England to establish the Ralt marque (a name he and his brother Austin had used for some 'specials' in Australia in the 1950s, winning the NSW Hillclimb Championship in 1954 with the Ralt 500). The first "modern" Ralt was the Ralt RT1 chassis, to be raced in Formula Three, Formula Two and Formula Atlantic. The chassis proved successful, winning the European Formula Three championship in 1975 in the hands of Australian driver Larry Perkins. The 1978 season also proved successful for the RT1 chassis, winning the European F3 championship for Jan Lammers.

Tauranac designed the Theodore Racing F1 car for the 1978 season. Two new designs were created for the 1979 season: the RT2 for Formula Two and the RT3 for Formula Three. The RT3 chassis won the 1983 European F3 championship for Pierluigi Martini and five consecutive British F3 titles. A joint venture with Honda resulted in the RH6 chassis, which won the 1981, 1984 and 1985 titles. In October 1988, Tauranac sold the Ralt business to March Engineering for £1.25 million.

Tauranac has remained involved with various aspects of the sport since departing from Ralt, including racing-school cars for Honda, a Formula Renault car, consulting work for the Arrows Formula One team, and continuing his relationship with Honda that goes back to their early Formula Two days as engine supplier to Brabham in the 1960s. He has moved back to Australia but retains an interest in the sport. Tauranac can be seen each year as a design judge at the Formula SAE Australasia competition in Melbourne, Australia.

References

↑ "Ron Tauranac AO: The Official Website". Rontauranac.com.au. Retrieved 19 January 2012.
↑ Jenkins, Richard. "Where are they now?: World Championship team bosses (T)". OldRacingCars.com. Retrieved 19 January 2012.
↑ "People: Ron Tauranac". GrandPrix.com. Retrieved 19 January 2012.

External links

Official website

Motor Racing Developments

Founders: Jack Brabham; Ron Tauranac

Personnel: Bernie Ecclestone; Gordon Murray; Herbie Blash; Charlie Whiting

World Champions: Jack Brabham; Denny Hulme; Nelson Piquet

Other drivers: See category

Drivers' titles: 1966; 1967; 1981; 1983

Constructors' titles: 1966; 1967

Cars:

Formula One BT3 BT7 BT11 BT19 BT20 BT22 BT24 BT26 BT33 BT34 BT37 BT39 BT42 BT44/B BT45 BT46/B/C BT48 BT49/C/D BT50 BT51 BT52 BT53 BT54 BT55 BT56 BT58 BT59/Y BT60Y/B Indianapolis 500/USAC BT12 BT25 BT32 Formula Two BT10 BT16 BT18 BT23 BT23C BT30 BT36 BT38 BT40 Formula Atlantic BT23F/G BT29 BT35A/B BT38B BT40 Formula Three BT9 BT15 BT16A BT18A BT21 BT21B BT21X BT28 BT35C BT38C BT41 Formula Junior BT1 BT2 BT6 Other single seaters BT4 BT7A BT11A BT14 BT18B BT21A BT21C BT22 BT23A BT23B BT23D BT23E BT30X BT31 BT35X BT36X BT43 Sportscars BT5 BT8A BT17

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 6/25/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.