Engine builder and designer Brian Hart, aged 77, passed away in the first few days of the New Year. Like many of his era, Hart started his career in the aviation business before moving to engine building in the motorsport industry. His passion for motor racing began following a trip to the British GP as a youngster. By his late teens he’d begun racing with a Lotus VI, then on to Formula Junior driving Len Terry’s Terriers. First, with the Mk2, he won the Chapman Trophy in 1959, then in the front-engined Mk4 series 1, which he destroyed in an accident at Oulton Park in 1960.
Brian had by then, however, already made his engine developer’s mark on the Ford Anglia-engined Terrier, for which he had designed a downdraft head—the only one in FJ at that time. He became quite successful as a driver, and climbed the ladder to F2 with the Ron Harris works Lotus F2 Team. He then ran at the top end of the sport in a number of non-championship F1 races followed by his only appearance on the Grand Prix stage on the dual F1 and F2 grid of the 1967 German GP at the Nürburgring. He drove the Harris-entered, Frank Costin-designed, Protos-Cosworth 4 F2, finishing 12th overall and 4th in the F2 class.
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