Who do you think was the most influential .........

[Slowcoach]

Today I read in the obituaries column of The Daily Telegraph , sadly , of the death of Owen Maddock , Chief Designer of The Cooper Car Company (in the 1950's and 60's) at the age of 75 . He revolutionised the shape of motor racing cars by mounting the engine behind the driver . This Maddock designed Cooper won its first GP in 1958 with Stirling Moss and went on to capture the Drivers title with Jack Brabham in 1959 and 1960 (and I believe the Constructors title)
"Who do you think was the most influential" designer/engineer? , or at least very important , and what was their invention/solution/innovation..........a subject about which I know so little.....so come on enlighten me ! (and there's no Franklin to insult you !)

[Slowcoach]

Cripes !! I didnt think - I hope this hasn't been done before .......

[angst]

It would have to be Colin Chapman. Monocoque (okay Gabriel Voisin), ground effect, chisel noses etc etc. Always seemed to be at least one step ahead of the rest, and sometimes one step ahead of himself (Lotus 80). You only have to look at the designs he has been responsible for.
Vanwall
Lotus 25
1968 - commercial sponsorship (OK slighty off topic)
Lotus 72
Lotus 56
Lotus 76
Lotus 77
Lotus 78/79
Lotus 86/88 - unfortunately not allowed by the FIA
And I'm sure there was some active suspension development instigated by him just before his death on the Lotus 93T. I admit that some of the ideas were dead ends(at the time at least), but always innovating.

[Peter Mallett]

Without getting too deep. Jim Hall (Chapperal) developed ground effects years before Chapman. However Chapman made it work without fans.

Will think a little more about this. Good topic.

[angst]

Oooops. I did mean to mention the Jim Hall thing, as with Voisin, but somehow missed it out. Quite agree, but as you say, he made it work without fans.

[angst]

Following the thread a little her, Porsche had the engine behind the driver with the Auto-Unions before the war, and Benz before that (and independent rear suspension). Who was involved in the design of the Benz?

[enzo]

If my memory isn't all messed up, Chapparell also had a ground effects Indy car before the Lotus, though not really what we now think of as 'ground effects'. It had the entire tail end of the car formed as a box below the wing, with the hopes of creating a very large area of low pressure. It was only partially successful.

I think also that it's Roger Penske that can be credited with commercial sponsorship - he sold advertising space to Zerex Anti-freeze, on an air-cooled Porsche, no less !

[Peter Mallett]

Not so much an innovator but what about Carroll Shelby?

[Slowcoach]

Oh yes , wasnt he the guy who put enormous engines in tiny cars ?
Going back to Maddock , he also came up with an original composite design , featuring aeronautical honeycomb sandwiched between an aluminium outer skin and a moulded glass fibre inner skin . It was made but never raced .....until 16 years later , when Williams used just such a honeycomb chassis to win the world championship !!

[XAutoRacer]

Colin Chapman: "Simplify and add lightness."

[Ray Bell]

The honeycomb may have taken a while to be used, but a bloke named Robin Herd used a sandwich material called Mallite in an early McLaren, probably the 1966 destroked Ford-powered F1 cars, I think.

Penske's foray with Zerex was far from the first sponsorship deal, too, and this was used on the Zerex Special... a Cooper F1 car with an outrigger seat to one side under a sports car body (1963?).