Michael Roy Pilbeam was born on March 1937 and is a British motorsport designer and engineer known for his work with BRM, Lotus, Surtees and his own company, Pilbeam Racing Designs.
15 Facts About Mike Pilbeam
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Mike Pilbeam spent much of his early life in West London, and had little interest in competition cars until he attended the 1958 British Grand Prix, whilst at Bristol University.
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Mike Pilbeam assisted in the construction and design of the P67 whilst still an apprentice and the actual design is usually credited to Tony Rudd.
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Mike Pilbeam moved to Ford at Dunton, Essex in 1966, where he worked in the advanced chassis department.
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Mike Pilbeam moved to Lotus in 1969, where he worked on the four-wheel-drive Lotus 63, alongside Maurice Philippe, and on the Lotus 49B and 72 models.
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Mike Pilbeam left Lotus in 1972, moving to Surtees where he worked on the Surtees TS9, but in 1973 returned to BRM.
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Chief designer Tony Southgate had left BRM towards the end of the 1972 season and Mike Pilbeam accepted a job as manager of the design office.
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Mike Pilbeam left BRM in late 1974, after Louis Stanley took control of the company, and in 1975 established Mike Pilbeam Racing Designs, initially working from home.
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Mike Pilbeam's first design was a Formula Atlantic chassis for Tom Wheatcroft which was adapted to Formula Two, where it was driven by Brian Henton.
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Mike Pilbeam cars won the British Hill Climb Championship 17 times between 1977 and 1997.
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Mike Pilbeam was involved in the design of the Penske PC3, as well as engineering the RAM Racing Brabham BT44s in 1976.
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Mike Pilbeam designed the LEC CRP1 F1 car for David Purley, which competed in the 1977 Formula One season.
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Mike Pilbeam has a reputation for the structural integrity of his designs and it has been considered that this was crucial to the driver's survival.
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Mike Pilbeam moved into his own premises, in a former part of BRM's operation at Bourne, Lincolnshire in 1981 and produced uncompetitive designs for Formula Ford 2000 and Formula Three in 1982 and 1983, although the hillclimb designs continued to be successful.
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Mike Pilbeam Racing Designs was involved in the development of the BRM P301 sportscar in the mid-1990s before subsequently producing their own chassis to compete in the Le Mans 24 hour race and in the World Endurance Championship in the LMP2 class, between 2001 and 2007 and in 2014, produced the MP100 intended as a customer car for LMP2 and the Le Mans race itself.