Racing car designer and manufacturer John Crosslé has died at the age of 83 following a brief illness. Crosslé was inspired to open his own shop, Crosslé Cars, after finding he couldn’t afford to go racing with one of Colin Chapman’s popular Lotus VI machines, and so decided to build his own Ford-powered special, the Crosslé Mk I (pictured, right). His subsequent Mk II and Mk III designs proved sufficiently successful that he became a constructor.
His cars featured innovation, high-quality construction and attention to detail, while offering good value for their cost, which earned them immense popularity. Crosslé Cars initially produced chassis for the Formula 1172, Junior, Formula A, Formula B, Formula C, and Sports Racing classes, and in 1968 Crosslé driver Roger Barr won the Formula B National Championship at the SCCA’s annual Runoffs.
With the birth of Formula Ford in 1969, Crosslé found a natural home and his FFs achieved exceptional results worldwide, although Dennis Firestone’s 1976 SCCA Runoffs victory with a Crosslé 30F produced the firm’s only U.S. National Championship. Crosslé FFs were, however, a staple of racing driver schools worldwide due to their simplicity and durability.
Upon Crosslé’s retirement in 1997, the company, headquartered in Holywood, County Down, Northern Ireland, was taken over by Arne Black, who subsequently sold it to Paul McMorran in 2012, and it continues today as the oldest customer racing car constructor in the UK.
Crosslé is survived by his wife Rosemary, sons Henry, daughter Caroline and grandson Sam, to whom Vintage Racecar extends its sincerest sympathies.
