John Crosthwaite
Encyclopedia
John Crosthwaite was an English race car designer and engineer, active in both the United Kingdom and the United States.
John worked with Cooper Cars, Colin Chapman
at Team Lotus
, and Mickey Thompson
as well as drivers Graham Hill
, Dan Gurney
, and Jackie Stewart
. He designed and built cars for Formula Junior
and the 1962 and 1963 Indianapolis 500
. A chassis specialist, he worked at Formula 1 team BRM and later drew up chassis' for the road cars Intermeccanica
Italia and Reliant Scimitar
GTE.
, a family friend and local MP. He had three older sisters and a younger brother.
His father, Cedric, was in the Royal Flying Corps
in World War I and raced cars and motor cycles. John had a fascination with cars, motorbikes and aeroplanes from an early age.
During World War II he worked at A.V. Roe & Co AVRO
doing final assembly of Lancaster Bombers. Despite being in a reserved occupation he tried to join the RAF but during the medical discovered he was colour blind. He continued to volunteer for other services until AV Roe finally released him in 1943 to join the Royal Marines
. In 1944 he was accepted in the Royal Marine Commandos the 'Green Berets'.
Following the end of the war in the far east he remained in the Royal Marine Commandos until 1947. He left to join the police force for a short period but he could not settle.
He was offered a job in Malaya and as an adventure decided to travel overland. John bought a 1944 Canadian Ford Mercury V8 estate ex War Dept. and along with a friend travelled through France, Italy, then steamer to Greece. They encountered bandits, civil war in Greece, fuel shortages, mines and mine holed roads. They found a way across the closed border to Istanbul, Turkey where they were arrested and interrogated. On release they crossed into Syria through Damascus, then via Baghdad to Basra in Iraq and finally Ahwaz, Iran. Because of the awful state of the roads and despite ongoing repairs, the vehicle finally gave up. His friend joined the Iraq Petroleum Company
but John returned home.
and studied for the National Certificate in Engineering at Coventry Technical College in the evenings. In 1952 he met Tommy Sopwith, son of Sir Thomas Sopwith, who was also doing a short apprenticeship at his father’s factory. They got on well and as Sopwith was interested in sports car racing and knew John was knowledgeable about cars he asked John to be his mechanic. Initially they used an Armstrong Siddeley 3 litre 6 cylinder Saphire engine, Allard JR chassis and preselecter gearbox. Sopwith won several races in the Sphinx Allard. Sopwith called his team Equipe Endeavour after his father's America's Cup racing yacht.In 1954 Sopwith decided to expand Equipe Endeavour with some friends and ordered cars from Coopers. From early 1954 to late 1955 Crosthwaite worked with John Cooper
of Cooper Cars supervising production and final design of Equipe Endeavour sports cars on Sopwith’s behalf. Whilst at Cooper's he met Ivor Bueb
, Roy Salvadori
, Ken Tyrrell
and Jack Brabham
. Crosthwaite did the rounds of the manufacturers to find suitable engines and decided on a Coventry Climax
(which he had seen on a front engined Kieft
) for low weight and small size, and a Connaught engine for power and compactness. He found the people at Coventry Climax keen to develop their engine and increase bhp. Sopwith won many races with the bobtail Cooper Climax and broke the class record at Prescott hill climb. Reg Parnell
and Ivor Bueb raced for the team at several meetings.John Crosthwaite was therefore in at the beginning of and influenced by the multi-cylinder rear engined revolution in motor racing.
Because of Equipe Endeavour's success, John was approached by other teams and drivers but he was quite happy with Tommy. However at the end of the 1955 season at Oulton Park, Tommy had an accident, rolled his Cooper Climax and was quite badly hurt after he ‘overcooked it’ on one of the corners. Tommy's father told him he could continue racing but only in saloon cars. John did not want to work in saloon car racing so he thanked Tommy and decided to move on. Whilst racing at Aintree John had met a young lady, Joan, and was smitten. They married in April 1955 and with a baby on the way he needed to support his family so tried to decide on the best team to join.
who was starting Lotus cars. Crosthwaite worked in the Experimental Department at Lotus Engineering and helped develop and refine the Lotus 11 and Type 14 Elite. He also acted as Chapman’s senior racing mechanic and they competed all over the UK, as well as Le Mans, Imola and Monza. He worked alongside Graham Hill
, then a gearbox mechanic and Mike Costin
, the 'Cos' in Cosworth. Keith Duckworth
worked there during holidays from university. Cliff Allison
was their most successful driver at that time. .
In late 1956 the Suez Crisis
meant that petrol was rationed in the UK and motor racing banned. Colin Chapman asked if Crosthwaite would go to the USA with Team Lotus as he needed a senior mechanic to prepare the Lotus cars for the Sebring 12 hour race in March 1957. Chapman finished first in class. Following the race Crosthwaite went to work for Jay Chamberlain
the Lotus importer in California. He also found a lot of work successfully preparing Coopers and Lotus cars for races in California and Nevada. The drivers he worked for included John Biehl, Frank Monise, Ignacio Lozano, Jock Ross, Leon Miller, and Skip Conklin. There were always a couple of sports / racing cars in the garage or on the drive. He attended race meetings to modify and fine tune the cars for races at Pomona, Riverside, Palm Springs, Santa Barbara, San Diego, Torrey Pines and Laguna Seca.
for their company Dolphin Engineering. This was a single seater mid-engined car with a fibreglass body. The regulations stated that the car’s engine/gearbox were based on a production car of 1100cc or less. The chassis, suspension and bodywork were unrestricted. The chassis was a straight tubular steel space frame. The engine was a 1100cc Fiat and the gearbox an inverted Fiat 600. It had pressed steel wheels and the fibreglass body was made with the advice of a local boatbuilder. The front suspension and brakes were modified parts from a non-runner NSU Prinz that John had. The rear suspension he designed and manufactured himself. Late in 1959 the prototype was raced at San Diego and finished 5th. They decided to tidy up the prototype and go into production with the Mk 1 Dolphin. This tidying up turned into a lot more than that so the only thing left of the prototype was the basic chassis frame and bodywork. World Champion Jack Brabham
test drove the Mk 1 Dolphin at Riverside International Raceway
John then designed a Dolphin Mk 2 with a tuned Ford Anglia 105E engine sourced from Mike Costin in the UK. The new body was drawn to be as small, smooth and aerodynamic as possible. After all the hours spent making Mk 1 body moulds they decided to produce a master 'plug' made of aluminium for the fibreglass body of the Mk 2. This 'plug' was produced to Crosthwaite's specification by the local racecar body shop of Troutman and Barnes. Dolphin Engineering tooled up with jigs for all the welded parts and John designed cast magnesium wheels for the car. The Mk2 was successfully raced by ex pat Ken Miles
. Count Giovanni Lurani
, who was instrumental in persuading the FIA to make Formula Junior an international class, described the Dolphin as the best American Junior constructed. Original Dolphin cars are still raced today at historic car events.
Following the achievements of the Dolphin he came to the attention of Mickey Thompson
, who was well known for involvement in drag racing, land speed record attempts and motor racing. Thompson and his sponsors, Harvey Aluminium, asked Crosthwaite to design a car to race in the 1962 Indianapolis 500
. Unusually they used a stock V8 Buick engine and it was in the rear unlike the front engined, race tuned, Offenhauser powered cars used by most competitors. It was the first stock engine to be raced at Indy since 1946 and was the beginning of the rear engine transformation at the Indianapolis 500. The car had 16" wheels instead of the usual 18"/20" seen at Indy and fully independent suspension. The only thing in common with the Dolphin was the NSU lower front suspension trunion. Thompson's crew led by Fritz Voigt were young, smart and hard working. Working 12-14 hour days, the car was designed and built in 120 days. Crosthwaite lived in a local motel and was rarely home. For the race, the engine (enlarged to 4.2 litre capacity, the maximum allowed by the regulations for “stock block” engines) had to be detuned because they were concerned it would not last the distance. Despite being more than 70 bhp down on the other cars Dan Gurney
qualified eighth and was in ninth place until a leaking oil seal seized the gearbox and ended his race on lap 94. He was placed 20th out of 33. The team won the Mechanical Achievement Award for original design, construction and accomplishment
1963 Indianapolis 500
The sponsors were very pleased with the publicity generated that year so for the 1963 Indianapolis 500 John produced the innovative Harvey Aluminium Special ‘roller skate car’ with the then pioneering smaller profile (12 inch diameter) and wide racing tyres (front 7 inches and rear 9 inches wide) and wheels. Because of the small size of the front wheels Crosthwaite had to work out a way to mount the front brakes inboard in order to get a reasonable size disc. It was the first time that this had been attempted. Mickey Thompson took five cars to Indianapolis. Two of the previous year's design with Chevrolet V8 engines and three 'roller skate' cars. One of the new cars, the Harvey Titanium Special, featured a lightweight titanium chassis. Formula 1 World Champion Graham Hill test drove one of the cars but decided not to race because commitments in Europe meant he had insufficient time to practice. Al Miller II raced one of the modified 1962 cars to 9th place despite only qualifying in 31st position. Duane Carter
qualified one of the roller skate cars 15th but was only placed 23rd after an engine failure on the 100th lap. The small tyre sizes and low car weights caused complaints amongst the old hands and owners, so for future races cars were restricted to minimum tyre sizes and minimum car weight.
, the official race contractor for Ford. Ford wanted Holman Moody to give them a price to run an Indianapolis 500 car for 1964. North Carolina was far enough from Los Angeles so he would not tread on Mickey Thompson’s toes. He wanted to work with Ford as they were by far the best engines and they were working on a real race engine, not a modified stock. Jim Clark
had finished second that year using a Ford engine. Holman Moody were keen for Crosthwaite to start straight away so they could quote a price for Ford.
He drew up a chassis using some of the body panels as stressed members, semi-monocoque with the possibility of using a windscreen and enclosed cockpit. However, ironically, soon after he arrived he found that Mickey Thompson had abandoned General Motors and managed to obtain the Ford sponsorship based on Mickey’s 1962/3 performance (with Crosthwaite designed/built cars) and promotional skills. There was no work at Holman Moody in race cars but they suggested Crosthwaite could work on their racing boats.
Chief Engineer at BRM asking him to go to Watkins Glen race track in New York State. Tony said that Graham Hill wanted John to join BRM and would he like to meet up and discuss details? John said he was busy at the time but when the Ford deal fell through he flew to England and agreed a contract.
In December 1963 John returned to the UK to join British Formula 1 team BRM as chassis designer. His first job was to modify the suspension geometry on the BRM P261
. Next he worked on Tony Rudd’s ingenious monocoque and engine designs to find a way of mounting the engine, gearbox and rear suspension. His solution was to rigidly mount the engine to the monocoque at the driver’s seatback and the rear suspension on the gearbox/final drive unit. The engine mountings were designed to spread the load over the length of the crankcase to protect the expensive castings in the event of a minor shunt. This was patented by BRM and became the norm in racing.
He worked with legends Graham Hill and Jackie Stewart
during some of BRM’s best years. In 1964 and 1965 Graham Hill finished second in the Drivers' Championship (four wins and six second places) and BRM were second in the Constructors' Competition both years.
It was John's idea to surprise Jackie Stewart by making him a tartan driving seat for his BRM P261 at the 1965 Monaco Grand Prix. Graham Hill finished first and Stewart third. Both Graham Hill and particularly Jackie Stewart liked the way Crosthwaite set up their cars and he was asked by Ken Tyrrell
and Matra
(Jackie Stewart’s next team) to do consultancy work on their Formula 2 cars after he left BRM.
Italia. At Alan Mann Racing
he modified and prepared Ford GT40
s for the 1966 Le Mans 24 hour race and Spa. Graham Hill drove one of the cars at Le Mans.
said of the changes - 'it now qualifies for the classic definition of a grand touring car, one which permits driver and passenger and their luggage to cover long distances on European high speed roads in complete comfort'. Crosthwaite was asked to install Ford’s new V6 in place of the old straight 6 cylinder engine in the SE4a and improve the handling and road holding of the Turkish made Anadol
. Reliant were pleased with his modifications and approached him for the job of Chief Engineer in 1967.
Tom Karen of Ogle was asked to submit some body designs for a new four seater Scimitar, the SE5 Reliant Scimitar
GTE. Managing Director Ray Wiggin, Chief Engineer John Crosthwaite and fibreglass body expert Ken Wood went to Ogle’s in Letchworth to look at a couple of mock-up body designs for the new SE5, mostly cardboard and sticky tape. There was no doubt in John’s mind that it was the right shape. Wiggin told Ken Wood to go ahead and do a proper master. The SE5 was conceived and ready for the 1968 Earls Court Motor Show in under 12 months. For the SE5 John and his team designed a completely different chassis frame, revised and improved suspension, new and relocated fuel tank, a rollover bar, new cooling system, spare wheel mounted in the nose to give increased rear space and a 17 gallon fuel tank. The car had separate folding rear seats and later a rear windscreen wiper, both firsts. When designing the chassis John worked closely with Ogle body stylist Peter Bailey to modify and refine the prototype. The design was so successful that the basic chassis and suspension geometry remained the same until the last version of the GTE was produced 20 years later. Journalists were divided in their opinions of the vehicle, but once they actually got to drive it they were usually impressed with the performance, handling, and practicality.
Crosthwaite also drew up the chassis for the Reliant Kitten and the Tom Karen / Ogle styled Bond Bug
.
by the South Korean company Hyundai Motor Company
to help start up their now thriving car production company. This led to the production of the Hyundai Pony
in 1975
invalid carriage.
He was a member of the Car and General Technical Board for the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders
from 1968 to 1974 and a member of the British Racing Drivers Club from 1956 until 1983.
John retired to the South Coast of England in the late 1980s. Active, energetic and enthusiastic, he continued to windsurf and ride mountain bikes 'off road' until he was 76 years old, when he fractured his hip in a cycling accident on the South Downs.
John Crosthwaite died on 5 September 2010 while on holiday in Tralee, Eire.
John worked with Cooper Cars, Colin Chapman
Colin Chapman
Anthony Colin Bruce Chapman CBE was an influential British designer, inventor, and builder in the automotive industry, and founder of Lotus Cars....
at Team Lotus
Team Lotus
Team Lotus was the motorsport sister company of English sports car manufacturer Lotus Cars. The team ran cars in many motorsport series including Formula One, Formula Two, Formula Ford, Formula Junior, IndyCar and sports car racing...
, and Mickey Thompson
Mickey Thompson
Marion Lee "Mickey" Thompson was an American off-road racing legend. He won many championships as a racer, and later formed sanctioning bodies SCORE International and Mickey Thompson Entertainment Group . He also raced in dragsters and land speed record automobiles.Thompson was born in Alhambra,...
as well as drivers Graham Hill
Graham Hill
Norman Graham Hill was a British racing driver and two-time Formula One World Champion. He is the only driver to win the Triple Crown of Motorsport — the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Indianapolis 500 and Formula One World Championship.Graham Hill and his son Damon are the only father and son pair both to...
, Dan Gurney
Dan Gurney
Daniel Sexton Gurney is an American racing driver, race car constructor, and team owner.The son of a Metropolitan Opera star, he was born in Port Jefferson, New York, but moved to California as a teenager...
, and Jackie Stewart
Jackie Stewart
Sir John Young Stewart, OBE , better known as Jackie Stewart, and nicknamed The Flying Scotsman, is a Scottish former racing driver and team owner. He competed in Formula One between 1965 and 1973, winning three World Drivers' Championships. He also competed in Can-Am...
. He designed and built cars for Formula Junior
Formula Junior
Formula Junior is an open wheel formula racing class first adopted in October 1958 by the CSI . The class was intended to provide an entry level class where you could use inexpensive mechanical components from ordinary automobiles...
and the 1962 and 1963 Indianapolis 500
Indianapolis 500
The Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, also known as the Indianapolis 500, the 500 Miles at Indianapolis, the Indy 500 or The 500, is an American automobile race, held annually, typically on the last weekend in May at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana...
. A chassis specialist, he worked at Formula 1 team BRM and later drew up chassis' for the road cars Intermeccanica
Intermeccanica
Construzione Automobili Intermeccanica is an automobile manufacturer, founded by Frank Reisner initially based in Italy but subsequently moving to Canada. It is currently headed by Frank's son, Henry Reisner.-Founding:...
Italia and Reliant Scimitar
Reliant Scimitar
Reliant's first Scimitar was a coupé based upon the styling of a Daimler SP250 prototype and the chassis of a Reliant Sabre. It was first displayed in 1964. It was powered by a 2.6 L Ford straight six from the Ford Zephyr / Ford Zodiac...
GTE.
Early life
John Crosthwaite was born at Thornaby Hall, Thornaby-on-Tees, Yorkshire on 9 October 1925. He was godson to Harold MacmillanHarold Macmillan
Maurice Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton, OM, PC was Conservative Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 10 January 1957 to 18 October 1963....
, a family friend and local MP. He had three older sisters and a younger brother.
His father, Cedric, was in the Royal Flying Corps
Royal Flying Corps
The Royal Flying Corps was the over-land air arm of the British military during most of the First World War. During the early part of the war, the RFC's responsibilities were centred on support of the British Army, via artillery co-operation and photographic reconnaissance...
in World War I and raced cars and motor cycles. John had a fascination with cars, motorbikes and aeroplanes from an early age.
During World War II he worked at A.V. Roe & Co AVRO
Avro
Avro was a British aircraft manufacturer, with numerous landmark designs such as the Avro 504 trainer in the First World War, the Avro Lancaster, one of the pre-eminent bombers of the Second World War, and the delta wing Avro Vulcan, a stalwart of the Cold War.-Early history:One of the world's...
doing final assembly of Lancaster Bombers. Despite being in a reserved occupation he tried to join the RAF but during the medical discovered he was colour blind. He continued to volunteer for other services until AV Roe finally released him in 1943 to join the Royal Marines
Royal Marines
The Corps of Her Majesty's Royal Marines, commonly just referred to as the Royal Marines , are the marine corps and amphibious infantry of the United Kingdom and, along with the Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary, form the Naval Service...
. In 1944 he was accepted in the Royal Marine Commandos the 'Green Berets'.
Following the end of the war in the far east he remained in the Royal Marine Commandos until 1947. He left to join the police force for a short period but he could not settle.
He was offered a job in Malaya and as an adventure decided to travel overland. John bought a 1944 Canadian Ford Mercury V8 estate ex War Dept. and along with a friend travelled through France, Italy, then steamer to Greece. They encountered bandits, civil war in Greece, fuel shortages, mines and mine holed roads. They found a way across the closed border to Istanbul, Turkey where they were arrested and interrogated. On release they crossed into Syria through Damascus, then via Baghdad to Basra in Iraq and finally Ahwaz, Iran. Because of the awful state of the roads and despite ongoing repairs, the vehicle finally gave up. His friend joined the Iraq Petroleum Company
Iraq Petroleum Company
The Iraq Petroleum Company , until 1929 called Turkish Petroleum Company , was an oil company jointly owned by some of the world's largest oil companies, which had virtual monopoly on all oil exploration and production in Iraq from 1925 to 1961...
but John returned home.
Cooper Car Company - Tommy Sopwith
On his return to Britain he went to work as an apprentice at Armstrong SiddeleyArmstrong Siddeley
Armstrong Siddeley was a British engineering group that operated during the first half of the 20th century. It was formed in 1919 and is best known for the production of luxury motor cars and aircraft engines.-Siddeley Autocars:...
and studied for the National Certificate in Engineering at Coventry Technical College in the evenings. In 1952 he met Tommy Sopwith, son of Sir Thomas Sopwith, who was also doing a short apprenticeship at his father’s factory. They got on well and as Sopwith was interested in sports car racing and knew John was knowledgeable about cars he asked John to be his mechanic. Initially they used an Armstrong Siddeley 3 litre 6 cylinder Saphire engine, Allard JR chassis and preselecter gearbox. Sopwith won several races in the Sphinx Allard. Sopwith called his team Equipe Endeavour after his father's America's Cup racing yacht.In 1954 Sopwith decided to expand Equipe Endeavour with some friends and ordered cars from Coopers. From early 1954 to late 1955 Crosthwaite worked with John Cooper
John Cooper
John Cooper may refer to:* John A. D. Cooper , American physician & educator* John B.R. Cooper , California pioneer* John Cooper, current director of the Sundance Film Festival...
of Cooper Cars supervising production and final design of Equipe Endeavour sports cars on Sopwith’s behalf. Whilst at Cooper's he met Ivor Bueb
Ivor Bueb
Ivor Léon John Bueb was a sports car racing and Formula One driver from England....
, Roy Salvadori
Roy Salvadori
Roy Francesco Salvadori is a former motor racing driver and manager from England. He participated in 50 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 12 July 1952, and achieved two podiums, scoring a total of 19 Championship points.During a varied career he also won the 24 Hours of Le...
, Ken Tyrrell
Ken Tyrrell
Robert Kenneth "Ken" Tyrrell was a British Formula Two racing driver and the founder of the Tyrrell Formula One constructor.-Biography:...
and Jack Brabham
Jack Brabham
Sir John Arthur "Jack" Brabham, AO, OBE is an Australian former racing driver who was Formula One champion in , and . He was a founder of the Brabham racing team and race car constructor that bore his name....
. Crosthwaite did the rounds of the manufacturers to find suitable engines and decided on a Coventry Climax
Coventry Climax
Coventry Climax was a British forklift truck, fire pump, and speciality engine manufacturer.-History:The company was started in 1903 as Lee Stroyer, but two years later, following the departure of Stroyer, it was relocated to Paynes Lane, Coventry, and renamed to Coventry-Simplex by H...
(which he had seen on a front engined Kieft
Kieft
Kieft may refer to:*Kieft Cars, the British motorcar company founded by Cyril Kieft* Willem Kieft director-general of New Netherland* Jan Jacob Kieft a Dutch gymnast* Wim Kieft a Dutch footballer...
) for low weight and small size, and a Connaught engine for power and compactness. He found the people at Coventry Climax keen to develop their engine and increase bhp. Sopwith won many races with the bobtail Cooper Climax and broke the class record at Prescott hill climb. Reg Parnell
Reg Parnell
Reginald Harold Haslam Parnell was a racing driver and team manager from England. He participated in seven Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, achieving one podium, and scoring a total of 9 championship points.-Driving career:Before World War II Parnell was a very successful racing...
and Ivor Bueb raced for the team at several meetings.John Crosthwaite was therefore in at the beginning of and influenced by the multi-cylinder rear engined revolution in motor racing.
Because of Equipe Endeavour's success, John was approached by other teams and drivers but he was quite happy with Tommy. However at the end of the 1955 season at Oulton Park, Tommy had an accident, rolled his Cooper Climax and was quite badly hurt after he ‘overcooked it’ on one of the corners. Tommy's father told him he could continue racing but only in saloon cars. John did not want to work in saloon car racing so he thanked Tommy and decided to move on. Whilst racing at Aintree John had met a young lady, Joan, and was smitten. They married in April 1955 and with a baby on the way he needed to support his family so tried to decide on the best team to join.
Lotus Engineering
In autumn 1955 he joined Colin ChapmanColin Chapman
Anthony Colin Bruce Chapman CBE was an influential British designer, inventor, and builder in the automotive industry, and founder of Lotus Cars....
who was starting Lotus cars. Crosthwaite worked in the Experimental Department at Lotus Engineering and helped develop and refine the Lotus 11 and Type 14 Elite. He also acted as Chapman’s senior racing mechanic and they competed all over the UK, as well as Le Mans, Imola and Monza. He worked alongside Graham Hill
Graham Hill
Norman Graham Hill was a British racing driver and two-time Formula One World Champion. He is the only driver to win the Triple Crown of Motorsport — the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Indianapolis 500 and Formula One World Championship.Graham Hill and his son Damon are the only father and son pair both to...
, then a gearbox mechanic and Mike Costin
Mike Costin
Mike Costin was together with Keith Duckworth the co-founder of Cosworth Engineering, a producer of Ford-based and Ford-sponsored engines. Drivers like Jackie Stewart, Emerson Fittipaldi and Nelson Piquet won the Formula One World Championship using Cosworth engines during the 1970s.In recent...
, the 'Cos' in Cosworth. Keith Duckworth
Keith Duckworth
David Keith Duckworth, , was an English mechanical engineer. He is most famous for designing the Cosworth DFV engine, an engine that revolutionised the sport of Formula One....
worked there during holidays from university. Cliff Allison
Cliff Allison
Henry Clifford Allison was a racing driver who participated in Formula One during seasons to for the Lotus, Scuderia Centro Sud, Ferrari and UDT Laystall teams....
was their most successful driver at that time. .
In late 1956 the Suez Crisis
Suez Crisis
The Suez Crisis, also referred to as the Tripartite Aggression, Suez War was an offensive war fought by France, the United Kingdom, and Israel against Egypt beginning on 29 October 1956. Less than a day after Israel invaded Egypt, Britain and France issued a joint ultimatum to Egypt and Israel,...
meant that petrol was rationed in the UK and motor racing banned. Colin Chapman asked if Crosthwaite would go to the USA with Team Lotus as he needed a senior mechanic to prepare the Lotus cars for the Sebring 12 hour race in March 1957. Chapman finished first in class. Following the race Crosthwaite went to work for Jay Chamberlain
Jay Chamberlain
Jay Chamberlain was a racing driver from the United States. He participated in 3 World Championship Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on July 21, 1962. He scored no championship points...
the Lotus importer in California. He also found a lot of work successfully preparing Coopers and Lotus cars for races in California and Nevada. The drivers he worked for included John Biehl, Frank Monise, Ignacio Lozano, Jock Ross, Leon Miller, and Skip Conklin. There were always a couple of sports / racing cars in the garage or on the drive. He attended race meetings to modify and fine tune the cars for races at Pomona, Riverside, Palm Springs, Santa Barbara, San Diego, Torrey Pines and Laguna Seca.
Dolphin Engineering
Early in 1959 racing driver John Biehl introduced Crosthwaite to anglophile and race car enthusiast Buddy Hull. Buddy had come into some money and was very keen to get involved in building race cars himself. They started as a partnership, Hull as MD and financier and John Crosthwaite to design and build a Formula JuniorFormula Junior
Formula Junior is an open wheel formula racing class first adopted in October 1958 by the CSI . The class was intended to provide an entry level class where you could use inexpensive mechanical components from ordinary automobiles...
for their company Dolphin Engineering. This was a single seater mid-engined car with a fibreglass body. The regulations stated that the car’s engine/gearbox were based on a production car of 1100cc or less. The chassis, suspension and bodywork were unrestricted. The chassis was a straight tubular steel space frame. The engine was a 1100cc Fiat and the gearbox an inverted Fiat 600. It had pressed steel wheels and the fibreglass body was made with the advice of a local boatbuilder. The front suspension and brakes were modified parts from a non-runner NSU Prinz that John had. The rear suspension he designed and manufactured himself. Late in 1959 the prototype was raced at San Diego and finished 5th. They decided to tidy up the prototype and go into production with the Mk 1 Dolphin. This tidying up turned into a lot more than that so the only thing left of the prototype was the basic chassis frame and bodywork. World Champion Jack Brabham
Jack Brabham
Sir John Arthur "Jack" Brabham, AO, OBE is an Australian former racing driver who was Formula One champion in , and . He was a founder of the Brabham racing team and race car constructor that bore his name....
test drove the Mk 1 Dolphin at Riverside International Raceway
Riverside International Raceway
Riverside International Raceway was a race track or road course in Riverside, California. The track was in operation from September 22, 1957, to July 2, 1989...
John then designed a Dolphin Mk 2 with a tuned Ford Anglia 105E engine sourced from Mike Costin in the UK. The new body was drawn to be as small, smooth and aerodynamic as possible. After all the hours spent making Mk 1 body moulds they decided to produce a master 'plug' made of aluminium for the fibreglass body of the Mk 2. This 'plug' was produced to Crosthwaite's specification by the local racecar body shop of Troutman and Barnes. Dolphin Engineering tooled up with jigs for all the welded parts and John designed cast magnesium wheels for the car. The Mk2 was successfully raced by ex pat Ken Miles
Ken Miles
Ken Miles was a sports car racing engineer and driver best known for his career in the USA and with American teams on the international scene.-Background:Miles raced motorcycles before he served as a tank sergeant in the British Army in World War...
. Count Giovanni Lurani
Giovanni Lurani
Giovanni Lurani Cernuschi was an Italian automobile engineer, racing car driver and journalist. Also, he was conte di Calvenzano.He studied engineering at the Politecnico di Milano and raced cars such as...
, who was instrumental in persuading the FIA to make Formula Junior an international class, described the Dolphin as the best American Junior constructed. Original Dolphin cars are still raced today at historic car events.
Indianapolis 500 - Mickey Thompson
1962 Indianapolis 500Following the achievements of the Dolphin he came to the attention of Mickey Thompson
Mickey Thompson
Marion Lee "Mickey" Thompson was an American off-road racing legend. He won many championships as a racer, and later formed sanctioning bodies SCORE International and Mickey Thompson Entertainment Group . He also raced in dragsters and land speed record automobiles.Thompson was born in Alhambra,...
, who was well known for involvement in drag racing, land speed record attempts and motor racing. Thompson and his sponsors, Harvey Aluminium, asked Crosthwaite to design a car to race in the 1962 Indianapolis 500
Indianapolis 500
The Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, also known as the Indianapolis 500, the 500 Miles at Indianapolis, the Indy 500 or The 500, is an American automobile race, held annually, typically on the last weekend in May at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana...
. Unusually they used a stock V8 Buick engine and it was in the rear unlike the front engined, race tuned, Offenhauser powered cars used by most competitors. It was the first stock engine to be raced at Indy since 1946 and was the beginning of the rear engine transformation at the Indianapolis 500. The car had 16" wheels instead of the usual 18"/20" seen at Indy and fully independent suspension. The only thing in common with the Dolphin was the NSU lower front suspension trunion. Thompson's crew led by Fritz Voigt were young, smart and hard working. Working 12-14 hour days, the car was designed and built in 120 days. Crosthwaite lived in a local motel and was rarely home. For the race, the engine (enlarged to 4.2 litre capacity, the maximum allowed by the regulations for “stock block” engines) had to be detuned because they were concerned it would not last the distance. Despite being more than 70 bhp down on the other cars Dan Gurney
Dan Gurney
Daniel Sexton Gurney is an American racing driver, race car constructor, and team owner.The son of a Metropolitan Opera star, he was born in Port Jefferson, New York, but moved to California as a teenager...
qualified eighth and was in ninth place until a leaking oil seal seized the gearbox and ended his race on lap 94. He was placed 20th out of 33. The team won the Mechanical Achievement Award for original design, construction and accomplishment
1963 Indianapolis 500
The sponsors were very pleased with the publicity generated that year so for the 1963 Indianapolis 500 John produced the innovative Harvey Aluminium Special ‘roller skate car’ with the then pioneering smaller profile (12 inch diameter) and wide racing tyres (front 7 inches and rear 9 inches wide) and wheels. Because of the small size of the front wheels Crosthwaite had to work out a way to mount the front brakes inboard in order to get a reasonable size disc. It was the first time that this had been attempted. Mickey Thompson took five cars to Indianapolis. Two of the previous year's design with Chevrolet V8 engines and three 'roller skate' cars. One of the new cars, the Harvey Titanium Special, featured a lightweight titanium chassis. Formula 1 World Champion Graham Hill test drove one of the cars but decided not to race because commitments in Europe meant he had insufficient time to practice. Al Miller II raced one of the modified 1962 cars to 9th place despite only qualifying in 31st position. Duane Carter
Duane Carter
Duane Carter was an American racecar driver. He raced midget cars, sprint cars, and IndyCars. Carter was born in Fresno, California, and he died in Indianapolis, Indiana...
qualified one of the roller skate cars 15th but was only placed 23rd after an engine failure on the 100th lap. The small tyre sizes and low car weights caused complaints amongst the old hands and owners, so for future races cars were restricted to minimum tyre sizes and minimum car weight.
Holman Moody
Soon after the Indy 500 race in 1963 Crosthwaite was approached by and moved to work at Holman MoodyHolman Moody
Holman Moody was an auto racing team, racecar manufacturer, and marine engine manufacturer. The team built virtually all of the factory Ford racecars of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. It owned racecars that competed in NASCAR, drag racing, ocean boat racing, rallys, and sports car racing. The team...
, the official race contractor for Ford. Ford wanted Holman Moody to give them a price to run an Indianapolis 500 car for 1964. North Carolina was far enough from Los Angeles so he would not tread on Mickey Thompson’s toes. He wanted to work with Ford as they were by far the best engines and they were working on a real race engine, not a modified stock. Jim Clark
Jim Clark
James "Jim" Clark, Jr OBE was a British Formula One racing driver from Scotland, who won two World Championships, in 1963 and 1965....
had finished second that year using a Ford engine. Holman Moody were keen for Crosthwaite to start straight away so they could quote a price for Ford.
He drew up a chassis using some of the body panels as stressed members, semi-monocoque with the possibility of using a windscreen and enclosed cockpit. However, ironically, soon after he arrived he found that Mickey Thompson had abandoned General Motors and managed to obtain the Ford sponsorship based on Mickey’s 1962/3 performance (with Crosthwaite designed/built cars) and promotional skills. There was no work at Holman Moody in race cars but they suggested Crosthwaite could work on their racing boats.
BRM - British Racing Motors
While he had been at Holman Moody he had a phone call from Tony RuddTony Rudd
Anthony Cyril "Tony" Rudd was an engineer involved in aero engine design and motor racing, with particular associations with BRM and Lotus.- Early life and war service :...
Chief Engineer at BRM asking him to go to Watkins Glen race track in New York State. Tony said that Graham Hill wanted John to join BRM and would he like to meet up and discuss details? John said he was busy at the time but when the Ford deal fell through he flew to England and agreed a contract.
In December 1963 John returned to the UK to join British Formula 1 team BRM as chassis designer. His first job was to modify the suspension geometry on the BRM P261
BRM P261
The BRM P261, also known as the BRM P61 Mark II, is a Formula One motor racing car, designed and built by the British Racing Motors team in Bourne, Lincolnshire, England. The BRM P261 was introduced for the 1964 Formula One season, and its design was an evolution of Tony Rudd's one-off BRM P61 car of...
. Next he worked on Tony Rudd’s ingenious monocoque and engine designs to find a way of mounting the engine, gearbox and rear suspension. His solution was to rigidly mount the engine to the monocoque at the driver’s seatback and the rear suspension on the gearbox/final drive unit. The engine mountings were designed to spread the load over the length of the crankcase to protect the expensive castings in the event of a minor shunt. This was patented by BRM and became the norm in racing.
He worked with legends Graham Hill and Jackie Stewart
Jackie Stewart
Sir John Young Stewart, OBE , better known as Jackie Stewart, and nicknamed The Flying Scotsman, is a Scottish former racing driver and team owner. He competed in Formula One between 1965 and 1973, winning three World Drivers' Championships. He also competed in Can-Am...
during some of BRM’s best years. In 1964 and 1965 Graham Hill finished second in the Drivers' Championship (four wins and six second places) and BRM were second in the Constructors' Competition both years.
It was John's idea to surprise Jackie Stewart by making him a tartan driving seat for his BRM P261 at the 1965 Monaco Grand Prix. Graham Hill finished first and Stewart third. Both Graham Hill and particularly Jackie Stewart liked the way Crosthwaite set up their cars and he was asked by Ken Tyrrell
Ken Tyrrell
Robert Kenneth "Ken" Tyrrell was a British Formula Two racing driver and the founder of the Tyrrell Formula One constructor.-Biography:...
and Matra
Matra
Mécanique Aviation Traction or Matra was a French company covering a wide range of activities mainly related to automobile, bicycles, aeronautics and weaponry. In 1994, it became a subsidiary of the Lagardère Group and now operates under that name.Matra was owned by the Floirat family...
(Jackie Stewart’s next team) to do consultancy work on their Formula 2 cars after he left BRM.
Intermeccanica
Working as a consultant firstly with Jack Griffith, then Frank Reisner, he designed the chassis for the Bob Cumberford shaped car the IntermeccanicaIntermeccanica
Construzione Automobili Intermeccanica is an automobile manufacturer, founded by Frank Reisner initially based in Italy but subsequently moving to Canada. It is currently headed by Frank's son, Henry Reisner.-Founding:...
Italia. At Alan Mann Racing
Alan Mann Racing
Alan Mann Racing was a British motor racing team. It was organized by Alan Mann, born in 1936, who was a part-time racing driver and team manager. The team ran a substantial part of the Ford works racing effort in Europe from 1964 to 1969, when it closed its doors...
he modified and prepared Ford GT40
Ford GT40
The Ford GT40 was a high performance sports car and winner of the 24 hours of Le Mans four times in a row, from 1966 to 1969...
s for the 1966 Le Mans 24 hour race and Spa. Graham Hill drove one of the cars at Le Mans.
Reliant Motor Company - Scimitar GTE
Ray Wiggin at Reliant Motor Company was looking for a chassis specialist in 1966 and Crosthwaite moved there first as a consultant to modify the SE4 Scimitar GT Coupe chassis and suspension so improving the ride and handling. Stirling MossStirling Moss
Sir Stirling Craufurd Moss, OBE FIE is a former racing driver from England...
said of the changes - 'it now qualifies for the classic definition of a grand touring car, one which permits driver and passenger and their luggage to cover long distances on European high speed roads in complete comfort'. Crosthwaite was asked to install Ford’s new V6 in place of the old straight 6 cylinder engine in the SE4a and improve the handling and road holding of the Turkish made Anadol
Anadol
Anadol was Turkey's first domestic mass-production passenger vehicle, and the second Turkish car after the ill-fated Devrim sedan of 1961.Anadol cars and pick-ups were manufactured by Otosan Otomobil Sanayii in Istanbul between 1966 and 1991....
. Reliant were pleased with his modifications and approached him for the job of Chief Engineer in 1967.
Tom Karen of Ogle was asked to submit some body designs for a new four seater Scimitar, the SE5 Reliant Scimitar
Reliant Scimitar
Reliant's first Scimitar was a coupé based upon the styling of a Daimler SP250 prototype and the chassis of a Reliant Sabre. It was first displayed in 1964. It was powered by a 2.6 L Ford straight six from the Ford Zephyr / Ford Zodiac...
GTE. Managing Director Ray Wiggin, Chief Engineer John Crosthwaite and fibreglass body expert Ken Wood went to Ogle’s in Letchworth to look at a couple of mock-up body designs for the new SE5, mostly cardboard and sticky tape. There was no doubt in John’s mind that it was the right shape. Wiggin told Ken Wood to go ahead and do a proper master. The SE5 was conceived and ready for the 1968 Earls Court Motor Show in under 12 months. For the SE5 John and his team designed a completely different chassis frame, revised and improved suspension, new and relocated fuel tank, a rollover bar, new cooling system, spare wheel mounted in the nose to give increased rear space and a 17 gallon fuel tank. The car had separate folding rear seats and later a rear windscreen wiper, both firsts. When designing the chassis John worked closely with Ogle body stylist Peter Bailey to modify and refine the prototype. The design was so successful that the basic chassis and suspension geometry remained the same until the last version of the GTE was produced 20 years later. Journalists were divided in their opinions of the vehicle, but once they actually got to drive it they were usually impressed with the performance, handling, and practicality.
Crosthwaite also drew up the chassis for the Reliant Kitten and the Tom Karen / Ogle styled Bond Bug
Bond Bug
The Bond Bug was a small British two seat, three wheeled sports car of the 1970s. Following the purchase of Bond Cars Limited, Reliant commissioned Tom Karen of Ogle Design to design a fun car. It was a wedge-shaped microcar, with a lift-up canopy and side screens instead of conventional doors...
.
Hyundai Motor Company
In early 1974 he was head hunted along with five other car engineers and executives including George Turnbull (autoindustry executive)George Turnbull (autoindustry executive)
Sir George Henry Turnbull, CEng, FIMechE was a UK automobile executive best remembered in the UK for his period as Managing Director of the Austin-Morris Division of British Leyland....
by the South Korean company Hyundai Motor Company
Hyundai Motor Company
Hyundai Motor Company is a Korean multinational automaker based in Seoul, South Korea which, along with Kia, comprises the Hyundai Kia Automotive Group, the world's fourth largest automaker as of 2009. As of 2011, it is the world's fastest growing automaker for two years running...
to help start up their now thriving car production company. This led to the production of the Hyundai Pony
Hyundai Pony
The Hyundai Pony , was a small rear-wheel drive automobile produced by the Hyundai Motor Company from 1975 to 1988 .-Background:...
in 1975
Reef Engineering
By the late 1970s and ever restless he returned to England to start his own company, Reef Engineering, to produce and export open top cars for holiday resorts in the Seychelles and the West Indies. They were called Cubs, the chassis based on his Kitten design and the body styled by Peter Bailey. He also designed and produced motorboats and Icarus sailboards. John was influenced by his interests as he was very keen on watersports, including scuba diving, water skiing and windsurfing. In the 1980s he was commissioned to do designs for specialist car production companies . These included the Jimp, a kind of mini Land Rover look alike, and the Salamander, intended as a replacement for the AC CarsAC Cars
AC Cars Group Ltd. formerly known as Auto Carriers Ltd. is a British specialist automobile manufacturer and one of the oldest independent car marques founded in Britain...
invalid carriage.
He was a member of the Car and General Technical Board for the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders
Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders is the trade association for the United Kingdom motor industry. It "promote the interests of the UK automotive industry at home and abroad".-History:...
from 1968 to 1974 and a member of the British Racing Drivers Club from 1956 until 1983.
John retired to the South Coast of England in the late 1980s. Active, energetic and enthusiastic, he continued to windsurf and ride mountain bikes 'off road' until he was 76 years old, when he fractured his hip in a cycling accident on the South Downs.
John Crosthwaite died on 5 September 2010 while on holiday in Tralee, Eire.