Walter Thomas Frederick Hassan OBE, C.Eng., M.I. Mech.E. (25 April 1905 – 12 July 1996) was a distinguished UK automotive engineer who took part in the design and development of three very successful engines: Jaguar XK, Coventry Climax and Jaguar V12, as well as the

ERA An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Comp ...

racing car.

Early life

Hassan was born in London where his father, of

Northern Irish Northern Irish people is a demonym for all people born in Northern Ireland or people who are entitled to reside in Northern Ireland without any restriction on their period of residence. Most Northern Irish people either identify as Northern ...

descent, owned a clothes store in Holloway. His natural interest was always in mechanical things. As it was told, his uncle encouraged him to be a creator since his uncle was building model ships. He studied at the Northern Polytechnic Institute (subsequently renamed and amalgamated by stages into

London Metropolitan University London Metropolitan University, commonly known as London Met, is a public research university in London, England. The University of North London (formerly the Polytechnic of North London) and London Guildhall University (formerly the City ...

) and then Hackney Technical Institute of Engineering. The Regent Street Polytechnic (now incorporated into the University of Westminster) has also been named.

Bentley

Hassan's first job was as a 15 year-oldRivers Fletcher, Obituary, ''The Independent'' 17 July 1996 shop boy in

W. O. Bentley Walter Owen Bentley, MBE (16 September 1888 – 13 August 1971) was an English engineer who founded Bentley Motors Limited in London. He was a motorcycle and car racer as a young man. After making a name for himself as a designer of aircraft a ...

's newly founded Bentley Motors, employee No. 14. He was a fitter in the engine shop then in the chassis shop, gaining a complete experience of the 3-litre cars then in production. He eventually moved to road testing working under the head of experimental department (today's R&D) Frank Clement, the company's professional racing driver, and was a riding mechanic in some races. In the off-season he was part of the Bentley Motors service department. Establishing himself as the best Bentley mechanic, he was allotted to Woolf Barnato, their top driver and Bentley Motors chairman and shareholder. They established a close and lasting friendship. After it was put into liquidation and taken over by

Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to: * Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct Automobiles * Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...

at the end of 1931 Hassan left Bentley Motors and worked for Barnato. In 1933, he started to build a racing car that would become known as ''Barnato Hassan'' and was one of the fastest cars ever to lap Brooklands. Later he developed a car for Bill Pacey, known as the '' Pacey-Hassan''. It was a success on the British racing circuits in the 1936 season. By now he had become a family man and accordingly sought out more stable employment. He had married in 1933 and he went on to have four children.

ERA

Hassan then spent time at

Raymond Mays Thomas Raymond Mays (1 August 1899 – 6 January 1980) was an auto racing driver and entrepreneur from Bourne, Lincolnshire, England. He attended Oundle School, where he met Amherst Villiers, leaving at the end of 1917. After army service i ...

at Bourne in Lincolnshire working there with Peter Berthon on engine development and at Brooklands with Thompson and Taylor on ERA chassis development. The vast majority of prewar ERAs are still in existence and they have continuous and verifiable provenance. They still compete in historic events despite the youngest being nearly seventy years old (as of 2018).

Jaguar

In 1938 he joined

SS Cars Ltd SS is an abbreviation for ''Schutzstaffel'', a paramilitary organisation in Nazi Germany. SS, Ss, or similar may also refer to: Places * Guangdong Experimental High School (''Sheng Shi'' or ''Saang Sat''), China *Province of Sassari, Italy (veh ...

, later Jaguar Cars, as development engineer at

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a city in the West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its city status until the Middle Ages. The city is governed b ...

. When the war started (1939) he moved to Bristol and worked on aero engine development for the

Bristol Engine Company The Bristol Aeroplane Company, originally the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company, was both one of the first and one of the most important British aviation companies, designing and manufacturing both airframes and aircraft engines. Notable ...

. At the end of the war he returned to Coventry to continue to work with Bill Heynes on what became the XK engine. This engine remained in production with various displacements from 1948 until 1992. This XK engine powered the winning car at Le Mans in

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the United ...

1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito is chosen President of Yug ...

, 1955, , and

1957 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th year ...

Coventry Climax

In 1950 Hassan joined Harry Mundy at

Coventry Climax Coventry Climax was a British forklift truck, fire pump, racing, and other specialty engine manufacturer. History Pre WW1 The company was started in 1903 as Lee Stroyer, but two years later, following the departure of Stroyer, it was reloca ...

, and they designed the FW series (featherweight) lightweight

overhead camshaft An overhead camshaft (OHC) engine is a piston engine where the camshaft is located in the cylinder head above the combustion chamber. This contrasts with earlier overhead valve engines (OHV), where the camshaft is located below the combustion cha ...

engine intended for fire pumps but further developed for motor racing. In

Colin Chapman Anthony Colin Bruce Chapman (19 May 1928 – 16 December 1982) was an English design engineer, inventor, and builder in the automotive industry, and founder of Lotus Cars. In 1952 he founded the sports car company Lotus Cars. Chapman ...

's cars they had great successes in the Le Mans 24 Hours,

Formula 2 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 re ...

and Formula 1, twice bringing the

world championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

to Jim Clark and

Team Lotus Team Lotus was the motorsport sister company of English sports car manufacturer Lotus Cars. The team ran cars in many motorsport categories including Formula One, Formula Two, Formula Ford, Formula Junior, IndyCar, and sports car racing. Mor ...

. This engine was also used in cars like the

Lotus Elite The Lotus Elite name has been used for two production vehicles and one concept vehicle developed and manufactured by British automobile manufacturer Lotus Cars. The first generation Elite Type 14 was produced from 1957 until 1963 and the second ...

Jaguar V12

Coventry Climax was bought by Jaguar in 1963. Bill Heynes and Claude Baily, the original V12 engine designers, were then joined by Hassan and together they went on to develop the Jaguar V12 engine.XJ13 - Building The Legend
Walter Hassan of Bentley, Coventry-Climax and Jaguar. In later years, Le Mans-winning Jaguars were powered with a modified V12 racing engine. A 7.0-litre V12 based on the production 5.3-litre engine powered the winning

Jaguar XJR-9 The Jaguar XJR-9 is a sports-prototype race car built by Jaguar for both FIA Group C and IMSA Camel GTP racing, debuting at the 1988 24 Hours of Daytona. Development An evolution of the design for the XJR-8, the XJR-9 was designed by Ton ...

in June 1988. A Jaguar XJR-12 powered by a 7-litre 60 degree SOHC V12 won in June 1990. During that race it covered 4882.4 km at an average speed of 204.036 km/h / 126.782 mph with a maximum trap speed of 353 km/h / 219 mph.

Retirement

Hassan married Ethel Murray in 1933 and they had a daughter and three sons. He retired on 28 April 1972 at the age of 67 and was awarded the OBE for his services to motor sport. After Ethel's death he lived with his son, Bill, at Kenilworth though he later moved to the Motor Industries Benevolent Home and died at Easenhall, Warwickshire, on 12 July 1996 aged, 91 years old.

External links

Walter Hassan page at the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust site

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hassan, Walter British people of Irish descent English people of Irish descent Officers of the Order of the British Empire British automotive engineers 1905 births 1996 deaths