Willy Rampf (born 20 June 1953) is a German car engineer who is currently a technical consultant for

Williams Racing Williams Grand Prix Engineering Limited, currently racing in Formula One as Williams Racing, is a British Formula One motor racing team and constructor. It was founded by former team owner Frank Williams and automotive engineer Patrick Head ...

and was the former technical director of the Sauber

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, ...

team.

Career

Rampf was born in Maria Thalheim, studied Automotive Engineering at the

Munich University of Applied Sciences The Munich University of Applied Sciences (HM) (german: Hochschule für angewandte Wissenschaften München) was founded in 1971 and is the largest university of applied sciences in Bavaria with about 17,800 students. The Munich University of Appl ...

, and has worked as a development engineer for BMW since 1979. From 1989 to 1993, Rampf worked for BMW in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

, where he discovered

. The Sauber team made its debut in Formula One at the

South African Grand Prix The South African Grand Prix was first run as a Grand Prix motor racing handicap race in 1934 at the Prince George Circuit at East London, Cape Province. It drew top drivers from Europe including Bernd Rosemeyer, Richard "Dick" Seaman, Richa ...

in 1993. Rampf was invited to the race, and half a year later he signed a contract to become race engineer for the Sauber team. Rampf was the engineer of Sauber driver

Heinz-Harald Frentzen Heinz-Harald Frentzen (born 18 May 1967) is a German former racing driver. He competed in multiple disciplines including Sportscars, Formula One and DTM. He had his most success in Formula One, entering over 150 Grands Prix and winning three. ...

for three years. In the 1997 season, he worked for drivers

Nicola Larini Nicola Larini (born 19 March 1964) is an Italian racing driver. He participated in 75 Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on 6 September 1987. He finished second in the tragic 1994 San Marino Grand Prix on a substitute outing for Ferrari, but only ...

Norberto Fontana Norberto Edgardo Fontana (born 20 January 1975) is an Argentine racing driver. He participated in four Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on 29 June 1997 but scoring no championship points. His opportunity to race came as a result of two separat ...

and Gianni Morbidelli. At the end of the 1997 season, Rampf returned to BMW, where he would lead the motorcycle project for the Dakar Rally. BMW motorcyclist

Richard Sainct Richard Sainct (14 April 1970 – 29 September 2004) was a French rally raid motorcycle rider, best known for his three victories on Dakar Rally, The Paris-Dakar rally in 1999, 2000 and 2003. Biography His other notable achievements include winni ...

would win that race. At the end of 1999, Rampf returned to Sauber, where he became technical director on 1 April 2000. He remained in that position when Sauber was taken over by BMW in 2005, and when the company withdrew its backing in 2009. Rampf left his position at Sauber in April 2010, and was replaced by James Key. He joined Volkswagen Motorsport as technical director in August 2011, overseeing the design of the Polo R WRC.

References

Willy Rampf: the unknown technical director
Joe Saward. ''grandprix.com'', 26 January 2002. Retrieved 5 July 2008.

''Formula1.com'' 20 February 2008. Retrieved 5 July 2008. {{DEFAULTSORT:Rampf, Willy 1953 births Living people BMW people Formula One people German automotive engineers German motorsport people People from Erding (district) Engineers from Bavaria Sauber Motorsport Williams Grand Prix Engineering Sportspeople from Upper Bavaria