Brian Hart

Racing career

Beginning in 1958 with a Lotus Seven in the 1172 championship, in 1959, Hart teamed up with Len Terry to drive his Terrier Mk2 in the championship and won the Chapman Trophy. In 1960, he drove Terry's front-engined Formula Junior Terrier Mk4 and developed a downdraught head for the Ford Anglia engine powering the car. At Oulton Park in October 1960, Hart had a bad crash with the car, which led to Terry designing the Mk4 series 2, which Hart drove in 1961. The rear-engined cars were now the state of the art and Hart had only limited success with the car. Hart enjoyed a successful career as a driver in various single-seater formulae. He competed in Formula Junior and Formula Three, then graduated to Formula Two with the works Lotus Formula Two team run by Ron Harris. He competed in a handful of non-championship Formula One races using Formula Two cars and in 1967, he qualified for the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring in a Protos-Cosworth.

As Hart's professional life took more of his time, he retired from racing in 1971.

Engineering career

It was towards the end of 1967 that Hart began working at the de Havilland aircraft company at Hatfield, England. The company provided training in the design and construction of airframes and aero engines. He then moved to the renowned engine builder Cosworth, but left in 1969 to form his own eponymous company to service Cosworth's Ford FVA engines. Brian Hart Limited was soon commissioned by Ford to work on new engine development, in a similar role to his former employer. Hart developed the Ford BDA, which would be used in Ford's rally programs throughout the 1970s.

The Hart-tuned Ford FVA and BDA engines were successful in Formula Two, with Ronnie Peterson winning the European title with an FVA in 1971 and Mike Hailwood taking the same title in 1972 with a BDA. The arrival in F2 of BMW and Renault left Ford reluctant to increase its involvement, so Hart chose to develop his own F2 engine – the 420R – which was first raced in a Chevron sportscar in 1976. This engine was a race winner in F2 in 1977 and 1978.

The off-season of 1978–79 brought the next step in the development of Brian Hart Limited, when the Toleman F2 team committed to providing finance for R&D. Toleman-Hart dominated the European F2 Championship in 1980, with Brian Henton and Derek Warwick finishing 1st and 2nd in the championship standings.