Peter Elleray (born 30 June 1958) is an English engineer and race car designer particularly known for designing the Bentley Speed 8

race car Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organi ...

. Elleray, who worked for Racing Technologies Norfolk (RTN), also designed the Audi R8C and the British

Radical SR9 The Radical SR9 is a sports prototype race car, designed, developed and produced by Radical Radical may refer to: Politics and ideology Politics *Radical politics, the political intent of fundamental societal change *Radicalism (historical), th ...

. On 14 September 2007, his involvement was announced in the design of the WF01-Zytek for Embassy Racing, which had a best finish of 4th in its LMP2 category at the 1000 km of Nürburgring during the

2008 Le Mans Series season The 2008 Le Mans Series was the fifth season of Automobile Club de l'Ouest, ACO's Le Mans Series. It was a series for Le Mans Prototype and Grand Touring style cars broken into 4 classes: LMP1, LMP2, GT1, and GT2. It ran from 6 April to 14 Septembe ...

Biography

Elleray attended

Hutton Grammar School Hutton Grammar School is a voluntary aided Church of England day school for boys, with a co-educational Sixth Form. It is located south west of Preston, Lancashire, in Hutton, England. It provides education for boys from the age of 11 to 1 ...

before earning a Bachelor of Science degree in applied mathematics from

Durham University , mottoeng = Her foundations are upon the holy hills (Psalm 87:1) , established = (university status) , type = Public , academic_staff = 1,830 (2020) , administrative_staff = 2,640 (2018/19) , chancellor = Sir Thomas Allen , vice_chan ...

in 1979. 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 Arrows Grand Prix International was a British Formula One team active from to . It was known as Footwork from 1991 to 1996. Origins The Arrows Grand Prix International team was founded in Milton Keynes, England in November 1977, by Italian ...

. In 1999, he became Chief Designer for

Bentley Bentley Motors Limited is a British designer, manufacturer and marketer of luxury cars and SUVs. Headquartered in Crewe, England, the company was founded as Bentley Motors Limited by W. O. Bentley (1888–1971) in 1919 in Cricklewood, North ...

's prototype program.

Designing the Bentley Speed 8

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. By 2003, the vehicle had evolved to accommodate a change from Dunlop tires to

Michelin Michelin (; ; full name: ) is a French multinational tyre manufacturing company based in Clermont-Ferrand in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes ''région'' of France. It is the second largest tyre manufacturer in the world behind Bridgestone and la ...

tires and also to adapt the front diffuser to the doored- coupe design. The ''Los Angeles Times'' praised Elleray's design as exhibiting a "kind of inexpressible British flair and beauty." 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 Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988) in 1939 from the Alfa Romeo racing division as ''Auto Avio Costruzioni'', the company built its first car in ...

's streak.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Elleray, Peter Living people English engineers 1958 births People educated at Hutton Grammar School Formula One engineers Alumni of Collingwood College, Durham