Racecar Engineering – September 2019

BUSINESS – PEOPLE

GeorgSeileris toretireatthe

endofAugustafter 41 yearsat

theHockenheim-Ringcircuitin

Germany,wheresince 1991 he

hasbeenCEO.JornTeskeand

JochenNerpelwilltakeover

themanagementoftheGerman

GrandPrixvenue,asjointCEOs,in

September.Teskehasbeenhead

ofthemarketingdepartmentat

thetrackforover 13 yearswhile

NerpelhasledHockenheim’s

technologyandoperations

divisionsince2016.

NikolaiAttardhasjoined

motorsport,automotiveand

technologyPRagencyInfluence

Associatesasa seniormanager.

Hehaspreviouslyheldrolesinthe

media,includingworkingatthe

Pistonheadswebsite.

AstonMartinLagondapresident

andgroupCEODrAndyPalmer

hasreceivedanhonorary

doctoratefromCranfield

Universityinrecognitionof

his‘drive,determinationand

constantquestforinnovation’.

Christopher Foster has joined

motorsportand automotive

publicrelations concern Prova.

Foster,whotakes on the role of

chiefoperating officer, looked

afterABB’stitle sponsorship of

FormulaE while a director at

InfluenceAssociates, while he has

alsoworked at Honda F1, Ferrari

andZytek.He previously held the

positionofoperations director at

MarketEngineering.

KevinAldrich is stepping down as

businessdevelopment manager

atSpalAutomotive UK, which

is thesalesand warehousing

armofthewell-known Italian

highperformance axial fan and

centrifugalblower designer and

manufacturer. He is retiring after

sevenyearswith the company.

BrianWilson, the crew chief on

theNo.22Team Penske NASCAR

XfinitySeries car, was kicked out

oftheKentucky Speedway round

oftheseries after the Ford he

tendswasfound to be running

withanillegal body modification

atpre-raceinspection. Wilson was

suspendedfrom one round of the

series,therace at Kentucky, and

theteamwas fined $10,000.

IndyCarand IMSA team owner

BobbyRahal has received the

CameronR Argetsinger Award

forOutstanding Contributions

toMotorsports. Rahal, also a

successfuldriver in the past, was

honouredby the International

MotorRacing Research Center for

hiscommitment to the sport.

ChrisGabehart, crew chief

ontheNo.11 Joe Gibbs Racing

Toyotainthe NASCAR Cup, was

fined$10,000 for an improperly

affixedlugnut at the Chicagoland

Speedwayround of the series.

Meanwhile,Mike Shiplett, crew

chiefontheNo.00 Stewart-

HaasRacing Ford in the Xfinity

Series,wasfined $5000 for the

sameinfraction, which was also

discoveredat Chicagoland.

uMovingtoa greatnewjobinmotorsportandwanttheworldto

knowaboutit?Orhasyourmotorsportcompanyrecentlytaken

onanexcitingnewprospect?Thenemailwithyourinformationto

[email protected]

94 http://www.racecar-engineering.com SEPTEMBER 2019

RACE MOVES – continued

Aninquestjuryhasconcluded
that the death of Double R
Racing mechanic JJ Wilson at a
shakedown crash in February of
last year was accidental.
Wilson was driving one of the
team’s BRDC British F3 Tatuus chassis
when it hit a concrete lighting block
at Longcross Studios in Surrey, UK

• a popular automotive and media
  test venue. The 23-year old was
  pronounced dead at the scene.
  Accident analysis revealed that
  Wilson, who had had extensive
  karting experience, had reached
  137mph just before the crash,
  which is nearly twice the speed
  limit at Longcross. He was also not
  wearing racing overalls, although the
  court said this in no way contributed
  to his death. He was wearing an
  approved racing helmet.
  The three-day hearing at Woking
  Coroner’s Court heard that the car’s
  wishbone broke away from the
  chassis, causing a loss of control,
  leading to the fatal collision.

AccidentinvestigatorDavid

Price, who carried out an in-depth

examination of the Tatuus following

the crash, said: ‘Failure to tighten the

bolt to its correct torque would seem

the most probable cause.’.

In its concluding statement the

jury remarked: ‘During his final lap,

control of the car was lost. The car

skidded off the right-hand side of

the track, hitting the concrete

lighting block. He crashed into trees

and the car turned over.

‘His colleagues went to assist

and righted the car,’ the statement

continued. ‘The paramedics cut the

straps and took JJ out of the car.

CPR was performed but they were

unable to revive him due to his

head and neck injuries.’

Wilson, an extremely popular

team member at Double R, had

worked on the team’s F3 European

Championship effort before

switching to BRDC F3 in 2016, when

he tended the title-winning entry

driven by Matheus Leist.

JimCassidy, a veteran NASCAR executive,

hasjoined the board of directors of Parella

Motorsports Holdings (PMH), owner of the

Sportscar Vintage Racing Association (SVRA) and

majority owner of the Trans Am Series. Cassidy

is currently president of Cassidy Sports Advisory.

His most recent work at NASCAR involved

senior vice president roles, chiefly leading its

racing operations and its international business

development department.

Fry leaves McLaren; Lowe

Williams exit confirmed

It’s been widely reported that Pat
Fry has been placed on gardening
leave after deciding to leave the
McLaren Formula 1 team.
Fry rejoined McLaren on a short
term contract in September last year
after eight years away, with a brief to
help run the technical
effort as the team
awaited the arrival
of James Key, who
was himself then on
gardening leave after
parting company
with Toro Rosso.
Fry worked
alongside Andrea
Stella at McLaren and
contributed to the
much improved 2019
racecar, the MCL34. He has been
reporting to Key since the latter
joined the team earlier this season.
McLaren would not comment on
the situation, which is a company
policy when it comes to matters
concerning personnel.
It’s unlikely that Fry could have
much input into any team’s 2020

chassis, because of the gardening

leave he is now on, but he specialises

in engineering and development and

could be available for this sort of role

before the start of 2020 testing.

Fry began his career with

Benetton in 1987 and first worked

for McLaren in 1993.

He was at Ferrari until

the end of 2014 before

a brief spell at Manor,

thencamebackto

McLarenin2018.

Oneteamthat

hasbeenlinkedwith

Fryis Williams,which

is nowfreetopursue

a newtechnicalboss

followingtheofficial

confirmationofPaddy

Lowe’s departure. Lowe had been

on a ‘leave of absence’ since the

beginning of the season, citing

‘personal reasons’. This came in the

wake of a dismal testing display for

the FW42, which has since continued

to underperform. The former

Mercedes and McLaren technical

boss arrived at Williams in 2017.

Pat Fry’s second stint at

McLaren has now ended

XPB

NASCAR

F3 mechanic’s death was

accidental rules inquest