18 Facts About Len Terry

Leonard E Terry was an English racing car designer and engineer, known for his work with Lotus, BRM and Eagle.

Len Terry designed chassis for many other teams, including ERA and Aston Martin and produced his own car in which he competed.

In 1943, Len Terry enlisted in the RAF where he served as an instrument maker.

Len Terry worked briefly for ERA before joining Lotus in 1958, where he worked on revisions to the 7,11,12,15,16,17 and Elite models.

Len Terry was then asked to design chassis for Gilby, initially for sportscar racing but subsequently for Formula One.

Len Terry was working on a freelance basis when Colin Chapman asked him to return full-time to design a car to compete in the Indianapolis 500.

Len Terry produced the rear-engined Lotus 29 which, driven by Jim Clark, finished a close second at the 1963 Indianapolis 500 and the Lotus 34 for 1964 which, although starting from pole-position only completed 47 laps due to tyre and suspension problems.

Len Terry later claimed that differences with Chapman meant the car had not been fully developed.

Len Terry was involved in the design of the Lotus 33 F1 car with which Clark won the 1965 Drivers' World Championship.

However, Len Terry left Lotus before the 1965 race, having already been recruited by Dan Gurney's AAR team to design a Formula One car.

Len Terry was employed by Carroll Shelby to design a Can-Am car for 1967, but the project did not come to fruition: Len Terry was still based in the UK and could not oversee the development.

Len Terry was commissioned to design and build a lightweight full spaceframe Ford Escort Mk1 Special Saloon for Geoff Wood, this was chassis number 40.

Len Terry's next design was a Formula 5000 car; intended as a privateer project it was taken up by Surtees and used by David Hobbs to finish second in the 1969 US Championship.

Len 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.

Len Terry subsequently worked on several projects, within the industry, though away from motorsport, but did design the Viking Formula Three car.

Len Terry had a mild stroke in 1993 and was largely retired thereafter.

Len Terry was a keen cyclist and table tennis player and continued to assist Classic Team Lotus with restoration matters.

Len Terry died in August 2014 aged 90, after a short illness.