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.
In the footsteps of Colin Chapman, Hart started work at the de Havilland aircraft establishment before moving to Cosworth. Two years later, again, like many Cosworth employees, Hart began his own engine building company, subcontracting work from the Northamptonshire-based engine builders servicing Ford FVA and BDA Cosworth engines. His work soon bore fruit, with customers Ronnie Peterson and Mike Hailwood winning the European F2 title in 1971 and 1972, respectively.
Through his Ford and racing connections, Hart was soon in contact with Ted Toleman to produce and develop engines for his F2 Toleman outfit for the 1979-’80 seasons. The Toleman-Hart F2 cars took a stranglehold on the 1980 season with drivers Brian Henton and Derek Warwick finishing 1st and 2nd in the championship.
Hart moved with Toleman into F1, although initially it seemed a step too far. Hart’s turbocharged, four-cylinder engine powered Ayrton Senna to his first F1 podium placing at the controversial 1984 Monaco GP. This showed others that the Hart engine was a significant power plant in the right hands. Business grew and Hart engines were used by other F1 teams including RAM, Lola, Haas and Tyrrell.
On a shoestring budget, Brian Hart Engines Limited developed an F1 engine that was used by the fledgling Jordan team in the 1993 and ’94 seasons. Rubens Barrichello took 3rd at the 1994 Pacific GP and a surprise pole position at Spa. Unfortunately for Hart, the relationship with Jordan came to an end at the conclusion of that relatively successful 1994 season, when Jordan took works Peugeot engines—something Jordan’s technical director, Gary Anderson, said the team regretted in hindsight.
It was a bittersweet time in F1 for Hart’s small engine company from then on, including a legal action against the TWR Arrows team that went into insolvency in 2002. Brian Hart was one of motor racing’s good guys, a quiet man who simply got on with his work, one who had a sincere passion and big heart for the sport he loved. To his family and friends, Vintage Racecar offers sincere condolences.
by Mike Jiggle
