Pilbeam Racing Designs is a British company which designs and constructs

racing cars 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 organis ...

, based in the

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershir ...

town of Bourne. The company was founded in 1975 by Mike Pilbeam.

Early career

Previously Pilbeam worked in

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 ...

for several teams, having latterly been Chief Designer for BRM (also based in Bourne), producing the P201. An early project was the BRM P67 from 1964. Pilbeam also worked on the

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 ...

7X Clubman's car.See

/ref> He designed the LEC Refrigeration Racing, LEC Formula One car for David Purley to race in 1977.

Hillclimb cars

Pilbeam cars have been exceptionally successful in

hillclimbing Hillclimbing, also known as hill climbing, speed hillclimbing, or speed hill climbing, is a branch of motorsport in which drivers compete against the clock to complete an uphill course. It is one of the oldest forms of motorsport, since the firs ...

, dominating the 1980s and early 1990s; they were the choice of 17

British Hill Climb Championship The British Hill Climb Championship (BHCC) is the most prestigious Hillclimbing championship in Great Britain. Hillclimbing in the British Isles has a rich history, for example, the hillclimb held at Shelsley Walsh, in Worcestershire, England is ...

winners between 1977 and 1997, powering such drivers as

Andy Priaulx Andrew Graham Priaulx, MBE ( born 8 August 1974) is a British professional racing driver from Guernsey. In 2019 he raced for Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK in the FIA World Endurance Championship, and Cyan Racing Lynk & Co in the FIA World Tour ...

and Roy Lane.

Sports cars

The company has also produced

sportscar A sports car is a car designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving and racing capability. Sports cars originated in Europe in the early 1900s and are currently produced by m ...

s, initially working on the

Pacific Racing Pacific Racing (later known as Pacific Grand Prix, and finally as Pacific Team Lotus) was a motor racing team from the United Kingdom. Following success in lower formulae, the team took part in two full seasons of Formula One, in and , enteri ...

BRM P301 British Racing Motors (BRM) was a British Formula One motor racing team. Founded in 1945 and based in the market town of Bourne in Lincolnshire, it participated from 1951 to 1977, competing in 197 grands prix and winning seventeen. BRM won ...

project in 1997, then entering

Le Mans Le Mans (, ) is a city in northwestern France on the Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le ...

in 2001 with a car of their own design; and has designed a number of

touring car Touring car and tourer are both terms for open cars (i.e. cars without a fixed roof). "Touring car" is a style of open car built in the United States which seats four or more people. The style was popular from the early 1900s to the 1930s. Th ...

s for manufacturers such as

Vauxhall Vauxhall ( ) is a district in South West London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. Vauxhall was part of Surrey until 1889 when the County of London was created. Named after a medieval manor, "Fox Hall", it became well known for ...

and

Honda is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a producti ...

. Pilbeam's main market these days is in LMP2 prototype racing. The only team that ran the MP93 LMP2, is Pierre Bruneau which took their MP93, with a Judd XV675 powerplant, to three podiums in the Le Mans Series in 2006. On 19 October 2006 an announcement was made stating that Pilbeam would be building a new MP93 for Embassy Racing. Pilbeam also aided in the design of the Lotus Sport Exige, and currently builds cars for the VdeV Championship.

Development of engineers

Mike Pilbeam is actively involved with the MSc Motorsport Engineering and Management at Cranfield University where he supports thesis projects and serves on the advisory panel for the Motorsport Masters.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Pilbeam Racing Designs
British racecar constructors Companies based in Lincolnshire Hillclimbing South Kesteven District 1975 establishments in England British companies established in 1975 Motor vehicle manufacturers of England