Brian
Hart

Brian Hart was born in Enfield on 7 September 1936. He began racing in 1958 with a Lotus Seven in the 1172 championship, and in 1959 he won the Chapman Trophy in Len Terry's Terrier Mk2. He went on to compete in Formula Junior and Formula Three before moving up to Formula Two with the works Lotus team run by Ron Harris. He also took part in a few non-championship Formula One races in Formula Two cars.

In 1967 Hart qualified a Protos-Cosworth for the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring. It was his only start in the Formula One World Championship. He retired from driving in 1971.

Towards the end of 1967 he had started work at the aircraft maker de Havilland, and he then moved to Cosworth. In 1969 he founded Brian Hart Limited, which first serviced Ford FVA engines and went on to develop the BDA. Ronnie Peterson won the 1971 European Formula Two title and Mike Hailwood the 1972 title with Hart-tuned engines. Hart later built his own Formula Two engine, the 420R, and in 1980 Brian Henton and Derek Warwick finished first and second in the championship with Toleman-Hart.

When Toleman entered Formula One in 1981, Hart developed a turbocharged version of the 420R. He later supplied engines to teams including RAM, Haas Lola, Tyrrell, Jordan and Arrows. Rubens Barrichello finished third for Jordan in the 1994 Pacific Grand Prix at Aida. Hart died on 5 January 2014.

Source: Wikipedia, “Brian Hart”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.