Robert John "Robin" Herd (23 March 1939 – 4 June 2019) was an English engineer, designer and businessman. Herd studied at

St Peter's College, Oxford St Peter's College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford and is located in New Inn Hall Street, Oxford, United Kingdom. It occupies the site of two of the university's medieval halls, dating back to at least the 14th c ...

, having turned down an offer to play cricket for

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...

at the age of 18. He initially entered Oxford with a scholarship to study mathematics, however he switched subjects and graduated with a

double first The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading structure for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and integrated master's degrees in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied (sometimes with significant variati ...

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

and

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

, before joining the

Royal Aircraft Establishment The Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) was a British research establishment, known by several different names during its history, that eventually came under the aegis of the Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom), UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), bef ...

in 1961 as a design engineer on the

Concorde The Aérospatiale/BAC Concorde () is a retired Franco-British supersonic airliner jointly developed and manufactured by Sud Aviation (later Aérospatiale) and the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). Studies started in 1954, and France an ...

supersonic aircraft project, focussing on

computational fluid dynamics Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is a branch of fluid mechanics that uses numerical analysis and data structures to analyze and solve problems that involve fluid flows. Computers are used to perform the calculations required to simulate th ...

. He worked on the Concorde project for four years and was eventually promoted to senior scientific officer at the age of 24. He was recruited by

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 ...

in 1965, having been alerted to an engineering vacancy with the constructor by former school friend and racing driver Alan Rees, and worked on cars, such as the

Mallite Mallite is a type of laminate composite material, formerly manufactured by the ''William Mallinson & Sons'' company. The material is formed of a core sheet of end grain balsa wood, faced by duralumin sheets. This construction endows the finished ...

-bodied M2A test car for the Firestone tire company. The M2A subsequently evolved into the

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

M2B car. Herd stayed with McLaren until 1968 — during which time he designed their M4B, M5A and M7 Formula One cars, as well as the successful M6A

Can-Am The Canadian-American Challenge Cup, or Can-Am, was an Sports Car Club of America, SCCA/Canadian Auto Sport Clubs, CASC sports car racing series from 1966 to 1987. History Can-Am started out as a race series for group 7 sports racers with two r ...

car — before moving to

Cosworth Cosworth is a British automotive engineering company founded in London in 1958, specialising in high-performance internal combustion engines, powertrain, and electronics for automobile racing (motorsport) and mainstream automotive industrie ...

to design a four-wheel drive F1 car. He also carried out work for Frank Williams in late 1969, modifying Williams'

Brabham BT26 The Repco Brabham BT26 was a Formula One racing car design. A development of the previous BT24, its Repco engines were unreliable, but following a switch to Cosworth DFV engines it scored two World Championship Grand Prix wins and finished ...

to take a

Ford Cosworth DFV The DFV is an internal combustion engine that was originally produced by Cosworth for Formula One motor racing. The name is an abbreviation of ''Double Four Valve'', the engine being a V8 development of the earlier four-cylinder FVA, which had fo ...

to enter

Piers Courage Piers Raymond Courage (27 May 1942 – 21 June 1970) was a British racing driver. He participated in 29 World Championship Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on 2 January 1967. He achieved two podium finishes, and scored 20 championship point ...

in Formula One. He co-founded

March Engineering March Engineering was a Formula One constructor and manufacturer of customer racing cars from the United Kingdom. Although only moderately successful in Grand Prix competition, March racing cars enjoyed much better success in other categories ...

with

Max Mosley Max Rufus Mosley (13 April 1940 – 23 May 2021) was a British racing driver, lawyer, and president of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), a non-profit association which represents the interests of motoring organisations and ...

, Alan Rees and

Graham Coaker Graham Vincent Coaker (1932 – 12 April 1971) was a British engineer and businessman, who was one of the four founders of the March Engineering motor racing manufacturer. Biography Coaker was trained as an accountant and mechanical engineer, a ...

in 1969. The team completed 207

Grand Prix Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural Grands Prix), is a name sometimes used for competitions or sport events, alluding to the winner receiving a prize, trophy or honour Grand Prix or grand prix may refer to: Arts and entertainment ...

races between 1970 and 1992, winning three with four pole positions. In addition they enjoyed a great deal of success in

Formula Two Formula Two (F2 or Formula 2) is a type of open-wheel formula racing category first codified in 1948. It was replaced in 1985 by Formula 3000, but revived by the FIA from 2009–2012 in the form of the FIA Formula Two Championship. The name retur ...

, and in the 1980s they made a successful foray into Indycars, with March cars winning the

Indianapolis 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly called the Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indi ...

for five successive years from 1983 to 1987. Herd was appointed a

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

in the

1986 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1986 were appointments by most of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries, and honorary ones to citizens of other countrie ...

, as managing director of March.

References

External links

BRDC Archive Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Herd, Robin 1939 births 2019 deaths Alumni of St Peter's College, Oxford Commanders of the Order of the British Empire English football chairmen and investors English motorsport people Formula One designers Formula One team owners McLaren people 20th-century English businesspeople