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Leonard E. Terry (11 February 1924 – 25 August 2014) was an English racing car designer and engineer, known for his work with
Lotus Lotus may refer to: Plants *Lotus (plant), various botanical taxa commonly known as lotus, particularly: ** ''Lotus'' (genus), a genus of terrestrial plants in the family Fabaceae **Lotus flower, a symbolically important aquatic Asian plant also ...
, BRM and
Eagle Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, j ...
. He also designed chassis for many other teams, including
ERA An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Com ...
and
Aston Martin Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings PLC is an English manufacturer of luxury sports cars and grand tourers. Its predecessor was founded in 1913 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford. Steered from 1947 by David Brown, it became associated ...
and produced his own car in which he competed.


Biography

Terry left school at 14, with few qualifications, but with ambitions to become a designer and worked for a theatrical agency as an office-boy. Quickly promoted, after his colleagues were called up for military service, he produced promotional material for his company's clients. In 1943, Terry enlisted in the RAF where he served as an instrument maker. After completing military service, Terry trained as a draughtsman and this led to him being employed by a contract design company who seconded him to
Aston Martin Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings PLC is an English manufacturer of luxury sports cars and grand tourers. Its predecessor was founded in 1913 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford. Steered from 1947 by David Brown, it became associated ...
, where he worked on the DB2/4. In 1955, he began to race a one-off special, the JVT and subsequently designed his own car, which he named the ''Terrier''. He worked briefly for
ERA An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Com ...
before joining
Lotus Lotus may refer to: Plants *Lotus (plant), various botanical taxa commonly known as lotus, particularly: ** ''Lotus'' (genus), a genus of terrestrial plants in the family Fabaceae **Lotus flower, a symbolically important aquatic Asian plant also ...
in 1958, where he worked on revisions to the 7, 11, 12, 15, 16, 17 and
Elite In political and sociological theory, the elite (french: élite, from la, eligere, to select or to sort out) are a small group of powerful people who hold a disproportionate amount of wealth, privilege, political power, or skill in a group. ...
models. His Terrier sports car was not successful, but he teamed up with future
Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship ...
engine builder,
Brian Hart Brian Roger Hart (7 September 1936 – 5 January 2014) was a British racing driver and engineer with a background in the aviation industry. He is best known as the founder of Brian Hart Limited, a company that developed and built engines for mot ...
for the MkII version. In 1959, Hart won 18 races, out of 21 entered, regularly beating the Lotus entries and creating a demand for customer cars. This led to Terry being sacked by Lotus. At this time, Terry also supplied drawings for the Moorland Special which was purchased by the Gemini team and formed the basis of their Mk1
Formula Junior Formula Junior is an open wheel formula racing class first adopted in October 1958 by the CSI (''International Sporting Commission'', the part of the FIA that then regulated motorsports). The class was intended to provide an entry level cla ...
car. Terry was then asked to design chassis for Gilby, initially for
sportscar racing Sports car racing is a form of motorsport road racing which utilises sports cars that have two seats and enclosed wheels. They may be purpose-built prototypes or grand tourers based on road-going models. Broadly speaking, sports car racing is ...
but subsequently for Formula One. Even though the car was tested by
Bruce McLaren Bruce Leslie McLaren (30 August 1937 – 2 June 1970) was a New Zealand racing car designer, driver, engineer, and inventor. His name lives on in the McLaren team which has been one of the most successful in Formula One championship history, ...
it was not raced by a top-line driver and the project ended when Gilby was taken over by a firm which was not involved in motorsport. At this point Terry's own part-time racing career came to an end after an accident. He was working on a freelance basis (including for Lotus) when
Colin Chapman Anthony Colin Bruce Chapman (19 May 1928 – 16 December 1982) was an English design engineer, inventor, and builder in the automotive industry, and founder of Lotus Cars. In 1952 he founded the sports car company Lotus Cars. Chapman in ...
asked him to return full-time to design a car to compete in the
Indianapolis 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly called the Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of India ...
. He produced the rear-engined Lotus 29 which, driven by
Jim Clark James Clark Jr. OBE (4 March 1936 – 7 April 1968) was a British Formula One racing driver from Scotland, who won two World Championships, in 1963 and 1965. A versatile driver, he competed in sports cars, touring cars and in the Indianapol ...
, finished a close second at the
1963 Indianapolis 500 The 47th International 500-Mile Sweepstakes was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana on Thursday, May 30, 1963. Rufus Parnell Jones, also known as " Parnelli," took his only Indy 500 win. This win was controversial because ...
and the Lotus 34 for
1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarc ...
which, although starting from
pole-position In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the rac ...
only completed 47 laps (out of 200) due to tyre and suspension problems. Terry later claimed that differences with Chapman meant the car had not been fully developed. He was also involved in the design of the
Lotus 33 The Lotus 33 was a Formula One car designed by Colin Chapman and Len Terry and built by Team Lotus. A development of the successful Lotus 25, in the hands of Jim Clark it won five World Championship Grands Prix in 1965, taking Clark to his s ...
F1 car with which Clark won the Drivers' World Championship. For the
1965 Indianapolis 500 The 49th International 500-Mile Sweepstakes was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana on Monday, May 31, 1965. The five-year-old "British Invasion" finally broke through as Jim Clark and Colin Chapman triumphed in dominatin ...
, Terry was given full control over the design of the Lotus 38, and the car finished first that year, and second in
1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo is ...
, each time with Clark driving. However, Terry left Lotus before the 1965 race, having already been recruited by
Dan Gurney Daniel Sexton Gurney (April 13, 1931 – January 14, 2018) was an American racing driver, race car constructor, and team owner who reached racing's highest levels starting in 1958. Gurney won races in the Formula One, Indy Car, NASCAR, Can-Am, ...
's AAR team to design a Formula One car. This led to the
Eagle Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, j ...
-
Weslake Weslake & Co also known as Weslake Research and Development was founded by Harry Weslake, described as England's greatest expert on cylinder head design, with premises in Rye, East Sussex, England. Weslake is most famous for its work with Bentley, ...
V12, which has been considered one of the most aesthetic Formula One designs. Terry was employed by
Carroll Shelby Carroll Hall Shelby (January 11, 1923 – May 10, 2012) was an American automotive designer, racing driver, and entrepreneur. Shelby is best known for his involvement with the AC Cobra and Mustang for Ford Motor Company, which he modified duri ...
to design a
Can-Am The Canadian-American Challenge Cup, or Can-Am, was an SCCA/ CASC sports car racing series from 1966 to 1987. History Can-Am started out as a race series for group 7 sports racers with two races in Canada (''Can'') and four races in the United ...
car for 1967, but the project did not come to fruition: Terry was still based in the UK and could not oversee the development. Subsequently, he was recruited by BRM to design a
Tasman Series The Tasman Series (formally the Tasman Championship for Drivers)Tasman Championship for Drivers, CAMS Manual of Motor Sport with National Competition Rules 1974, pages 80 to 83 was a motor racing competition held annually from 1964 to 1975 ove ...
car which became the
BRM P126 The BRM P126 was a Formula One racing car which raced in the 1968 and 1969 Formula One seasons. It was powered by a 3.0-litre V12 engine. Design was contracted out to former Lotus and Eagle designer Len Terry and the three examples built were cons ...
. Terry's next project was the BRM-engined Mirage M2 for
John Wyer John Wyer (11 December 1909 in Kidderminster, England – 8 April 1989 in Scottsdale, Arizona, United States), was an English automobile racing engineer and team manager. He is mainly associated with cars running in the light blue and orange ...
. It proved effective but its racing career was delayed by the continued success of Wyer's
Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...
GT40s. Terry's next design was a
Formula 5000 Formula 5000 (or F5000) was an open wheel, single seater auto-racing formula that ran in different series in various regions around the world from 1968 to 1982. It was originally intended as a low-cost series aimed at open-wheel racing cars tha ...
car; intended as a privateer project it was taken up by
Surtees The Surtees Racing Organisation was a race team that spent nine seasons (1970 to 1978) as a constructor in Formula One, Formula 2, and Formula 5000. History The team was formed by John Surtees, a four-time 500cc motorcycle champion and the ...
and used by David Hobbs to finish second in the 1969 US Championship. This chassis also formed the basis of the BMW 269 and BMW 270 Formula Two cars in 1969–70. There followed another F5000 design, (named ''Leda'') which was not successful, and the company formed to produce it passed into the hands of
Graham McRae Graham McRae (5 March 1940 – 4 August 2021) was a racing driver from New Zealand. He achieved considerable success in Formula 5000 racing, winning the Tasman Series each year from 1971 to 1973, and also the 1972 L&M Continental 5000 Champions ...
. Terry worked as a freelance designer on several projects, none of which were particularly successful before BRM asked him to design a Formula One chassis to accept their V12 engine. The result was the BRM P207 which competed in the World Championship in without scoring any points. This was Terry's last involvement with F1 design. He subsequently worked on several projects, within the industry, though away from motorsport, but did design the Viking
Formula Three Formula Three, also called Formula 3, abbreviated as F3, is a third-tier class of open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held in Europe, Australia, South America and Asia form an important step for many prospective Formula One dr ...
car.


Personal life

Terry had a mild stroke in 1993 and was largely retired thereafter. He was a keen
cyclist Cycling, also, when on a two-wheeled bicycle, called bicycling or biking, is the use of cycles for transport, recreation, exercise or sport. People engaged in cycling are referred to as "cyclists", "bicyclists", or "bikers". Apart from two ...
and
table tennis Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...
player and continued to assist Classic Team Lotus with restoration matters. Terry was married to Iris who died in 2008. He died in August 2014 aged 90, after a short illness.


References


External links


''Terrier Special''
at ''Motor Sport'' ''magazine archive'' * {{DEFAULTSORT:Terry, Len 1924 births 2014 deaths People from Hackney Central Formula One designers English motorsport people British motorsport designers Royal Air Force personnel of World War II Royal Air Force airmen