Peter Elleray | |
---|---|
Born | 30 June 1958 |
Nationality | British |
Alma mater | Collingwood College, Durham [1] |
Occupation(s) | Chief designer at Racing Technology Norfolk. (1998-2003), currently Design and Development Consultant [2] |
Known for | 24 Hours of Le Mans and Formula One race car designer |
Website | http://uk.linkedin.com/pub/peter-elleray/34/254/205 |
Peter Elleray (born 30 June 1958) is an English engineer and race car designer particularly known for designing the Bentley Speed 8 race car. [3] [4] Elleray, who worked for Racing Technologies Norfolk (RTN), also designed the Audi R8C and the British Radical SR9. [5] On 14 September 2007, his involvement was announced in the design of the WF01-Zytek for Embassy Racing, [5] which had a best finish of 4th in its LMP2 category at the 1000 km of Nürburgring during the 2008 Le Mans Series season. [6]
Elleray attended Hutton Grammar School before earning a Bachelor of Science degree in applied mathematics from Durham University in 1979. [7] After spending several years in the aerospace field, Elleray took a job with Tyrrell Racing in 1982 analyzing ground effect tunnels. In 1983 and 1984, he was involved with amateur racing teams before being employed as a designer and race engineer by Arrows F1. In 1999, he became Chief Designer for Bentley's prototype program. [7]
According to Elleray, he had the basic ideas for the Bentley Speed 8 even before launching the design work in August 2001 with Gene Varnier, the assistant chief designer on the project. [8] By 2003, the vehicle had evolved to accommodate a change from Dunlop tires to Michelin tires and also to adapt the front diffuser to the doored- coupe design. [8] The Los Angeles Times praised Elleray's design as exhibiting a "kind of inexpressible British flair and beauty." [9] The car received the Autosport Racing Car of the Year Award for 2003, the first non-F1 car for 14 years to win the award, breaking Ferrari's streak. [10] [11]
The man behind the new Speed 8 — actually, all four generations of the car — is RTN chief designer Peter Elleray. A proper English engineer with a degree from the University of Durham, Elleray designed the first prototype Speed 8 in 2000.
{{
cite journal}}
: Cite journal requires |journal=
(
help)
I was employed as a design and race engineer.
...a British car, designed by RTN chief designer Peter Elleray, with a kind of inexpressible British flair and beauty.