Tim Densham (born 31 March 1955) is a former British

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 ...

engineer. He was most recently the chief designer at the

Renault Renault S.A., commonly referred to as Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English), is a French Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company curr ...

team.

Biography

Densham started his career in motorsport with

Team Lotus Team Lotus was the motorsport sister company of English sports car manufacturer Lotus Cars. The team ran cars in many motorsport categories including Formula One, Formula Two, Formula Ford, Formula Junior, American Championship Car Racing, Ind ...

– the top team at the time – and started working at Ketteringham Hall under

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 the sports car company Lotus Cars. Chapman founded Lotus in 1952 and initia ...

. Densham soon was promoted to the position of race engineer, where he worked with

Elio de Angelis Elio de Angelis (26 March 1958 – 15 May 1986) was an Italian racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to . De Angelis won two Formula One Grands Prix across eight seasons. De Angelis competed in Formula One for Shadow, Lotus and Br ...

in 1984 and

Johnny Dumfries John Colum Crichton-Stuart, 7th Marquess of Bute (26 April 1958 – 22 March 2021), was a Scottish peer and racing driver, best known for winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1988. He was known as Johnny Dumfries, or, after he succeeded his f ...

the following year. He went on to work with

Satoru Nakajima is a Japanese former racing driver and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from to . Born and raised in Okazaki, Aichi, Nakajima began his racing career at the Suzuka Circuit in 1973. He progressed to Japanese Formula Two in ...

when the team landed Honda engines in 1986. Away from the race tracks, he did a lot of testing work with

Ayrton Senna Ayrton Senna da Silva (; 21 March 1960 – 1 May 1994) was a Brazilian racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to . Senna won three Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles with McLaren, and—at the time of his death—held ...

and

Nelson Piquet Nelson Piquet Souto Maior (, born 17 August 1952) is a Brazilian former racing driver and businessman, who competed in Formula One from to . Piquet won three Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles, which he won in , , and , and won 23 ...

and eventually became assistant chief engineer in charge of Team Lotus research and development department. Team Lotus, however, was plagued with financial issues, so in 1990 Densham decided to move on and found a job with

Brabham Motor Racing Developments Ltd., commonly known as Brabham ( ), was a British race car, racing car manufacturer and Formula One racing team. It was founded in 1960 by the Australian driver Jack Brabham and the British-Australian designer Ron Ta ...

. He worked as a designer once again and was the race engineer for

Stefano Modena Stefano Modena (born 12 May 1963) is an Italian former racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to . Born and raised in Modena, Modena began his career in kart racing. After winning the junior direct-drive Karting World Cup in 1978, ...

in 1990 and

Mark Blundell Mark Blundell (born 8 April 1966) is a British former racing driver and sports broadcasting, broadcaster, who competed in Formula One from to , and Championship Auto Racing Teams, IndyCar from 1996 PPG Indy Car World Series, 1996 to 2000 CAR ...

in 1991. When Sergio Rinland left the team at the end of 1991 Densham was named chief designer for the BT61 project but the team went bankrupt so it closed down in the middle of the season with the new car never having been built. In late 1992 Densham joined Tyrrell as a design engineer. He was soon back on the racing team as race engineer to

Andrea de Cesaris Andrea de Cesaris (; 31 May 1959 – 5 October 2014) was an Italian racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to . De Cesaris started 208 Formula One Grands Prix without victory, holding the record for the most races without a win fr ...

(again) and

Ukyo Katayama is a Japanese former racing driver and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from to . Katayama participated in 97 Grands Prix, debuting at the 1992 South African Grand Prix, making him the sport's most experienced Japanese driv ...

, who he engineered in 1995 and 1996. At the start of 1998, however, Densham decided that he no longer wanted to attend races as he had in the past and moved to the test team. In the mid-season he quietly left Tyrrell and soon afterwards began working at a secret design center in Leatherhead, Surrey, on the

Honda commonly known as just Honda, is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate automotive manufacturer headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in October 1946 by Soichiro Honda, Honda has bee ...

F1 car. This was built by Dallara in Italy and ran for the first time in December with

Jos Verstappen Johannes Franciscus "Jos" Verstappen (; born 4 March 1972) is a Dutch racing and rally driver, who competes in the European Rally Championship as a privateer. Verstappen competed in Formula One between and . Born and raised in Dutch Limburg, ...

at the wheel. The death of

Harvey Postlethwaite Harvey Ernest Postlethwaite (4 March 194415 April 1999) was a British engineer and Technical Director of several Formula One teams during the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. He died of a heart attack in Spain while supervising the testing of the aborte ...

in 1999 resulted in Honda canceling the program and Densham was recruited to be chief designer at Benetton. He led the engineering department which designed the Benetton-Playlife B200 and remained with the team after it was taken over by Renault Sport. With Renault, Densham designed cars won back to back drivers' and constructors' titles in 2005 and 2006 and were one of the most competitive teams in the mid to late 2000s. In 2011 Densham left Renault and retired from Formula One.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Densham, Tim Living people Formula One designers British motorsport designers 21st-century British engineers 1955 births Tyrrell Racing Renault in Formula One Benetton Formula