Peter Warr RIP

[Galahad]

Long-time Lotus team manager and latterly principal Peter Warr has died.

http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/ ... 11342.html

Warr was the perfect complement to team founder Colin Chapman and played a pivotal role in translating Chapman's genius for design into victories on the track. In the difficult years after Chapman's death in 1982 he took over as team principal and was able to keep the team operating at a decent level of competitiveness despite many difficulties.

His successful pursuit of Ayrton Senna for 1985 allowed the team to challenge for championships once more, though his desperation to hang onto the Brazilian placed considerable strain on the team's limited financial resources. After leaving the team in 1989 he served as an FIA steward for a short time before retiring to spend more time with his family.

 

[Brogan]

Not a name I was familiar with so thanks for the post G.

I'm sure c_a_t will have plenty to say when he sees this thread.

 

[sportsman]

RIP Peter.

I best remember him when he took on team principal role for Lotus after Colin Chapmans death.He fought too and nail with John Player to sign Aryton Senna who wanted to keep Nigel Mansell.
He was not a great fan of Mansell. Indeed he is famous for saying this about Mansell "he'll never win a Grand Prix as long as I have a hole in my arse".

 

[Grizzly]

Indeed he is famous for saying this about Mansell "he'll never win a Grand Prix as long as I have a hole in my arse".

i guess even those at the top of their game don't know everything...

RIP

 

[cider_and_toast]

This is very sad news.

Peter Warr was Colin Chapmans right hand man through the glory years of the team and worked as hard as any one to keep it alive after ACBC's death.

It's a measure of the respect that Chapman and Warr had for each other that when Warr deceided he needed a break from Lotus he struck a gentlemans agreement with Chapman that he would leave for a couple of years and then come back to the team. Both of them stuck to that agreeement. (Warr moved to Wolf for a couple of seasons).

There is a fantastic moment on the "If you're not winnning...." DVD where Team Lotus score their 50th GP victory becoming the first GP Team to do so. Chapman and Warr are walking down the pitlane with their arms round each others shoulders and the conversation goes something like "We did it didn't we....." "Yeah, we beat Ferrari to 50" "We've done it, bloody marvellous"

The Picture of Warr chearing the return of Ayrton Senna to the pits in the pooring rain of Estoril to take his first win tells another story. At the Autosport Motorshow a few years ago on the Classic Team Lotus stand they played a montage of great moments from the history of the team and they closed on a tribute to Aytron. That moment as he crossed the line in Portugal closed the film with Warr on the radio to Aytron saying "Well done Aytron that was beautiful" Warr was in tears.

R.I.P Peter Warr.

 

[ATL11]

RIP, I grew up loving the Lotus and the synonymous JPS design, I must admit it's the first car I reconised as a child.

Love the picture, is that Senna's first win @ Portugal in 85 in a 97T?

I have the 97T replica model here in my office?

 

[cider_and_toast]

Clive Chapman on Peter Warr:

Everyone at Classic Team Lotus is very sorry to have learned of the sudden death of Peter Warr, one of the greatest characters in the history of Team Lotus. Clive Chapman has written the following:

Peter Warr was a man of great ability and character who lived life to the full and put in very much more than he took out. He was a leading figure in Formula One in the seventies and eighties, and helped many great drivers to realise their dreams.

At Team Lotus he managed not only the team, the sponsors and the drivers, but also, and perhaps most importantly, my father; he played a vital role in enabling him to realise the potential of his engineering brilliance.

After my father’s death in 1982 he stepped up to lead Team Lotus and take it back into the winner’s circle with Ayrton Senna at the wheel; a fantastic achievement in difficult circumstances.

A sophisticated man of great taste, who cared always for his family and his team; always thinking of those around him and always thinking of ways around the opposition, in the best possible spirit.

He will be remembered fondly by so many people that he met throughout the course of his exciting life, during which he achieved so much.

 

[FB]

A sad loss of an important person in F1 history. Apart from signing Senna for me Warr's master stroke was getting Gerard Ducarouge to sign up as designer for the Lotus team after Chapman had died. Warr's talent wasn't as an engineer but as a manager and surrounding yourself with the right people was a knack he seemed to have. Getting the Lotus engineers to build a new car in 5 weeks after Ducarouge's arrival at the team was quite an incredible feat.