Len Terry

Leonard E. Terry (11 February 1924 – 25 August 2014) was an English racing car designer and engineer, known for his work with Lotus, BRM and Eagle. He also designed chassis for many other teams, including ERA and Aston Martin and produced his own car in which he competed.

Biography Terry left school at 14, with few qualifications, but with ambitions to become a designer and worked for a theatrical agency as an office-boy. Quickly promoted, after his colleagues were called up for military service, he produced promotional material for his company's clients. In 1943, Terry enlisted in the RAF where he served as an instrument maker.

Terry was then asked to design chassis for Gilby, initially for sportscar racing but subsequently for Formula One. Even though the car was tested by Bruce McLaren it was not raced by a top-line driver and the project ended when Gilby was taken over by a firm which was not involved in motorsport.

Terry was employed by Carroll Shelby to design a Can-Am car for 1967, but the project did not come to fruition: Terry was still based in the UK and could not oversee the development. There followed another F5000 design, (named Leda) which was not successful, and the company formed to produce it passed into the hands of Graham McRae.

Terry worked as a freelance designer on several projects, none of which were particularly successful before BRM asked him to design a Formula One chassis to accept their V12 engine. The result was the BRM P207 which competed in the World Championship in without scoring any points. This was Terry's last involvement with F1 design.

Terry was married to Iris who died in 2008. He died in August 2014 aged 90, after a short illness.