Rory Byrne was born on 10 January 1944 and is a South African semi-retired engineer and car designer, most famous for being the chief designer at the Benetton and Scuderia Ferrari teams of Formula One.
11 Facts About Rory Byrne
2.
The new owner needed an engineer to replace King, who had been the cars' designer, and offered the job to Rory Byrne, who spent the next four years designing a variety of cars for Royale and its customers.
3.
The first Rory Byrne-designed car to appear at a grand prix was the Hart-powered TG181.
4.
Rory Byrne's B193 car was a substantial technical advancement on the previous season's car, incorporating a semi-automatic gearbox, four-wheel steering, active suspension and traction control.
5.
Rory Byrne's car had won the Formula One constructors' crown.
6.
Benetton technical director Ross Brawn was hired and Ferrari approached Rory Byrne to replace the team's existing chief designer John Barnard who refused to re-locate to Italy.
7.
In 2004 Rory Byrne announced that he would be retiring from Formula One at the end of the 2006 season, handing over the role of chief designer to Aldo Costa, his assistant since 1998.
8.
On 19 September 2006, it was announced that Rory Byrne had extended his stay, as a consultant, at Ferrari for another two years which led him until early 2009.
9.
In 2012, Rory Byrne was called in to look at the Ferrari F2012 F1 car after it had a troubled start to its life.
10.
Maurizio Arrivabene revealed that Rory Byrne is working as mentor in Ferrari helping the chief designer Simone Resta.
11.
Rory Byrne is a Special Engineering Advisor to Discovery Insure in South Africa in which he assists the company in improving the driving behaviour of South Africans and making the roads safer for all to use.