George Harold Ryton (born 15 August 1948 in
Singapore
Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...
) is a British
engineer
Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...
best known for his involvement in
Formula One
Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...
auto racing.
Career
Ryton entered the world of F1 when he was hired to work in the
Haas Lola team's drawing office for . When the team was disbanded, he moved to
Reynard
Reynard the Fox is a list of literary cycles, literary cycle of medieval allegorical Folklore of the Low Countries, Dutch, English folklore, English, French folklore, French and German folklore, German fables. The first extant versions of the cy ...
to help design the company's first
Formula 3000
Formula 3000 (F3000) was a type of open wheel, single seater formula racing, occupying the tier immediately below Formula One and above Formula Three. It was so named because the cars were powered by 3.0 L engines.
Formula 3000 championship ...
chassis. Soon afterwards, he moved to the design centre of
John Barnard
John Edward Barnard, (born 4 May 1946) is an English engineer and racing car designer. Barnard is credited with the introduction of two new designs into Formula One: the carbon fibre composite chassis first seen in with McLaren, and the sem ...
, who was
Ferrari's Technical Director at the time.
At the end of , Ryton was offered the position of Technical Director of the new
EuroBrun
EuroBrun Racing was a Swiss-Italian Formula One constructor based in Senago, Milan, Italy. They participated in 46 Grands Prix between 1988 and 1990, with an Italian license, entering a total of 76 cars.
Background
The team was a combination o ...
team, which was never competitive and withdrew from F1 before the end of the season. Ryton then moved to become Chief Designer at
Tyrrell under
Harvey Postlethwaite from to , when he was dropped after the team lost its sponsorship deals.
Ryton returned to work for Barnard, who had briefly moved to work for
Benetton but was now back at Ferrari. On this occasion, Ryton's job was slightly different, as he was put in charge of the team's drawing office at its
Maranello
Maranello ( Modenese: ) is a city of Italy in the province of Modena, in the region of Emilia-Romagna, 18 km from Modena, with a population of 17,504 as of 2017. It is known worldwide as the home of Ferrari and the Formula One racing team, ...
base. He remained in this position until mid-, when he accepted the position of Technical Director at the small
Forti
Forti Corse, commonly known as Forti, was an Italian motor racing team chiefly known for its brief and unsuccessful involvement in Formula One in the mid-1990s. It was established in the late 1970s and competed in lower formulae for two decades. ...
team.
After working on the
FG03 chassis, Ryton was left without a job when the team folded mid-season. However, he was soon appointed Head of
Research and Development
Research and development (R&D or R+D), known in some countries as OKB, experiment and design, is the set of innovative activities undertaken by corporations or governments in developing new services or products. R&D constitutes the first stage ...
at the
Ligier
Ligier () is a French automobile and minibus maker created by former racing driver and rugby player Guy Ligier (1930–2015), specialized in the manufacturing of microcars.
Ligier is best known for its involvement in the Formula 1 World Cham ...
team, which was bought by former F1 champion
Alain Prost
Alain Marie Pascal Prost (; born 24 February 1955) is a French former racing driver and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from to . Nicknamed "the Professor", Prost won four Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles and†...
soon afterwards and took his name. In , the
Prost AP01's unreliable and heavy gearbox saw him fall from favour and he moved to
Minardi
Minardi was an Italian automobile racing team and constructor founded in Faenza in 1979 by Giancarlo Minardi. It competed in the Formula One World Championship from 1985 until 2005 with little success, nevertheless acquiring a loyal following ...
.
Ryton stayed at Minardi until the season-ending
Japanese Grand Prix
The Japanese Grand Prix () is a motor racing event in the calendar of the Formula One World Championship. Historically, Japan has been one of the last races of the season, and as such the Japanese Grand Prix has been the venue for many title-de ...
in , firstly as Chief Designer but latterly as a design consultant.
Having left F1, Ryton now works as an independent consultant in
Cornwall
Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...
.
References
External links
*
Living people
1948 births
Ferrari people
Formula One designers
British motorsport people
{{F1-bio-stub