GALPOT regulars may remember me posting a blog on the Ferrari 360 Spider last year, I have revisited this model, built in 2000, in honour of the original owner of this car, Ross Brawn team principle of Mercedes AMG Formula One team who’s driver Nico Rosberg won his and the teams first victory in China last weekend.
Ross, from Manchester England, became interested in engineering at the Belle Vue Stadium, Britain’s first oval track dating back to 1926, where he attended a variety of short track events.
After a spell with the Atomic Energy Research Establishment in Harwell Oxfordshire where he studied instrumentation, Ross joined the race car manufacturer March Engineering where he worked as a milling machine operator and later as a race mechanic.
In 1978 Ross joined Williams as a machinist progressing through the Williams R&D and aerodynamics departments.
After spells with the Haas Lola and Arrow’s Grand Prix teams Ross moved to the Jaguar Sports Car team and was credited as the lead designer of the Jaguar XJR 14 which won the 1991 World Sports Car Championship.
Later in 1991 Ross became technical director at Benetton where he was joined by rising star Micheal Schumacher with whom he designed strategies to win the 1994 & 1995 World Drivers Championship and 1995 World Constructors Championships.
Towards the end of 1996 Ross joined Micheal at Ferrari, along with Benetton’s designer Rory Bryne to form a ‘Dream Team’ that won World Constructors Championships from 1999 to 2005 and the World Drivers Championships for Micheal Schumacher from 2000 – 2004.
After taking a sabbatical in 2007 Ross Brawn joined the under performing Honda team and spent the 2008 season developing the teams 2009 challenger only for Honda to withdraw from Grand Prix racing at the end of 2008 amidst global economic chaos.
Incredibly Ross managed to put together a deal to save the Honda team with a management buyout and secured a deal to use Mercedes engines for his newly rebranded Brawn GP team. The new car was a cracker right out of the box winning no less than six of it’s first seven races in the hands of Jenson Button who won the 2009 World Drivers title and with two additional wins from Rubens Barrichello Brawn secured the 2009 constructors title.
The following year Daimler Benz bought into Brawn GP and the team was rebranded again to Mercedes GP. The team, with Ross Brawn remaining as team principle, managed to tempt Micheal Schumacher out of a three years of retirement to join Nico Rosberg. After two years of relative under performance Mercedes finally won it’s first race the Chinese Grand Prix last weekend.
The victory was the first for a Mercedes vehicle since the 1955 Italian GP won by Juan Manuel Fangio.
Ross Brawn’s Ferrari 360 Spider can be seen at the Haynes International Motor Museum.
Thanks for joining me on this ‘Company Car’ edition of ‘Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres’, I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !
