Ralph Bellamy is a retired motor racing car designer and engineer. Born 4 February 1938 in
Eastwood Eastwood may refer to:
Places
;in Australia
*Eastwood, New South Wales
**Eastwood railway station
**Electoral district of Eastwood
*Eastwood, South Australia
;in Canada
* Eastwood, Ontario
*Eastwood, Edmonton, Alberta, a neighborhood
;in the Ph ...
,
Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
,
New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
, he worked for various teams such as
Brabham
Brabham () is the common name for Motor Racing Developments Ltd., a British racing car manufacturer and Formula One racing team. Founded in 1960 by Australian driver Jack Brabham and British-Australian designer Ron Tauranac, the team won four ...
,
Ensign,
Fittipaldi,
Lola and
McLaren
McLaren Racing Limited is a British motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor, the second oldest active team, and the second most successful Formul ...
.
Bellamy first came to Europe in the 1960s to try and achieve a successful career in motor racing. Once in Europe, Bellamy first came to be noticed for his work with
Gordon Coppuck on the
McLaren M14
The McLaren M14A is a Formula One racing car built and raced by McLaren in the 1970 World Championship and the 1971 World Championship. A later extension, the McLaren M14D featured a V8 Alfa Romeo engine.
Design
M14A
The M14A was an evolut ...
in 1970. Bellamy then became chief designer of the 1971
McLaren M19A
The McLaren M19A is a Formula One racing car built and run by McLaren in three World Championship seasons between 1971 and 1973. The C version (an extension of the A car) was used in the and 1973 seasons.
Design
With Gordon Coppuck preoc ...
and following this the McLaren M21.
He then moved from McLaren to Brabham where
Bernie Ecclestone
Bernard Charles Ecclestone (born 28 October 1930) is an English business magnate. He is the former chief executive of the Formula One Group, which manages Formula One motor racing and controls the commercial rights to the sport, and part-owns ...
was in charge and he redesigned the
Brabham BT34
The Brabham BT34 was a Formula One racing car designed by Ron Tauranac, and used by Brabham during part of the 1971 and 1972 Formula One seasons.
Development
In 1971, Jack Brabham sold his share of the team to co-owner and designer Ron Tauranac ...
into the BT37. Bellamy then lost his position to
Gordon Murray
Ian Gordon Murray (born 18 June 1946 in Durban, Union of South Africa), is a South African-born British designer of Formula One racing cars and the McLaren F1 road car. He is the founder and CEO of Gordon Murray Automotive.
Early life
Born t ...
and moved to
Lotus
Lotus may refer to:
Plants
*Lotus (plant), various botanical taxa commonly known as lotus, particularly:
** ''Lotus'' (genus), a genus of terrestrial plants in the family Fabaceae
**Lotus flower, a symbolically important aquatic Asian plant also ...
where he was one of the team designing the
Lotus 78. Next he joined Fittipaldi Automotive in 1978 without success and moved again to Ensign for the 1980 season.
From 1983, Bellamy spent time in Indycar design and Formula 2 design. In 1986 he was working at Lola, designing
Formula 3000 chassis and the Lola F1 design.
Bellamy retired in 1993 moving back to Australia, however he was still involved in motorsport designing
V8 Supercars for
Tony Longhurst Racing.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bellamy, Ralph
1938 births
Formula One designers
Australian motorsport people
People from Sydney
Living people
McLaren people