Robbie Dickson is a British-Canadian

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

and

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entreprene ...

who involved in the

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

racing industry. He co-founded the Canadian version of the Bullrun Rally and the

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

racetrack A race track (racetrack, racing track or racing circuit) is a facility built for racing of vehicles, athletes, or animals (e.g. horse racing or greyhound racing). A race track also may feature grandstands or concourses. Race tracks are also us ...

Area 27 alongside drivers Bill Drossos and Jacques Villeneuve.

Early life and education

He was born in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, and became interested in

supercars A supercar, also known as an exotic car, is a street-legal sports car with race track-like power, speed, and handling, plus a certain subjective ''cachet'' linked to pedigree and/or exclusivity. The term 'supercar' is frequently used for th ...

after watching the film '' Cannonball Run'' as a child. He graduated with an engineering degree from the

University of Wales The University of Wales () is a confederal university based in Cardiff, Wales. Founded by royal charter in 1893 as a federal university with three constituent colleges – Aberystwyth, Bangor and Cardiff – the university was the first universit ...

Career

Dickson initially worked in various engineering positions for automotive companies including

BMW Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, trading as BMW Group (commonly abbreviated to BMW (), sometimes anglicised as Bavarian Motor Works), is a German multinational manufacturer of vehicles and motorcycles headquartered in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Th ...

Isuzu , commonly known as Isuzu (, ), is a Japanese multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture. Its principal activity is the production, marketing and sale of Isuzu commercial vehicles and diesel engines ...

, and Ford before being recruited as an engine designer by

Westport Innovations Westport Innovations (, ) is a company that develops alternative fuel, low-emissions technologies to allow engines to operate on clean-burning fuels such as compressed natural gas (CNG), liquefied natural gas (LNG), hydrogen and biofuels such as ...

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

. In the early 2000s, he competed in the Race the Base Event at

CFB Cold Lake Canadian Forces Base Cold Lake , abbreviated as CFB Cold Lake, is a Canadian Forces Base in the City of Cold Lake, Alberta. The facility is operated as an air force base by the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and is approximately south of the ...

Cold Lake, Alberta Cold Lake is a city in east-northern Alberta, Canada and is named after the lake nearby. Canadian Forces Base Cold Lake (CFB Cold Lake) is situated within the city's outer limits. History Cold Lake was first recorded on a 1790 map, by the nam ...

. During this event, he misjudged the braking distance that was necessary to make the turn at the end of the runway. Consequently, his car spun out of control. Dickson then turned to brake design, with a stated intent to design a more efficient

braking system A brake is a mechanical device that inhibits motion by absorbing energy from a moving system. It is used for slowing or stopping a moving vehicle, wheel, axle, or to prevent its motion, most often accomplished by means of friction. Background ...

than the standard

hydraulic brake A hydraulic brake is an arrangement of braking mechanism which uses brake fluid, typically containing glycol ethers or diethylene glycol, to transfer pressure from the controlling mechanism to the braking mechanism. History During 1904, Frederic ...

s. Using the established system of air brakes, he created an auxiliary brake system for supercars based on other fast-moving vehicles such as trains. The system engages automatically when speeds greater than 100km/h are reached and the foot brake is applied.

Firgelli Automations

He later founded Attivo Design to market his auxiliary air brake. The technology used by Attivo was manufactured by Firgelli Automations, a company specializing in actuators and control devices, founded by Dickson in 2002. As of 2023, Dickson remains the CEO of Firgelli Automations.

Area 27 and ''Cannonball Run''

Dickson's love of the film '' Cannonball Run'' inspired him to team up with Bill Drossos and Canadian Formula One racer

Jacques Villeneuve Jacques Joseph Charles Villeneuve (; born 9 April 1971) is a Canadian former racing driver, who competed in IndyCar from 1994 PPG Indy Car World Series, 1994 to 1995 PPG Indy Car World Series, 1995, and Formula One from to . Villeneuve won t ...

to create the racetrack and race club Area 27. The track derives its name from Jacques' racing number. Dickson's group negotiated with the

Osoyoos Indian Band The Osoyoos Indian Band () is a First Nations government in the Canadian province of British Columbia, located in the adjacent towns of Oliver and Osoyoos in the Okanagan valley, approximately north of the Canada–United States border. They ar ...

for a long-term lease on the land. GPS-guided earthmovers were used to trace the layout of the 4.9 kilometer track, and 12,139 feet of concrete was used on the track and its barriers. The track is now a full-sized racing club with an on-site racing school and other facilities. He later founded the annual Diamond Rally, an invite-only charity rally of 200 supercars, sponsored by Hublot Vancouver. The rally raises money for charity and runs from

to Whistler and the Okanagan via the

Sea-to-Sky Highway Highway 99 is a provincial highway in British Columbia that runs from the U.S. border to near Cache Creek, serving Greater Vancouver and the Squamish–Lillooet corridor. It is a major north–south artery within Vancouver and connects the c ...

Venture capitalist

Dickson is a venture capitalist and

angel investor An angel investor (also known as a business angel, informal investor, angel funder, private investor, or seed investor) is an individual who provides capital to a business or businesses, including startups, usually in exchange for convertible de ...

who has supported various businesses, including assisting

De Beers The De Beers Group is a South African–British corporation that specializes in the diamond industry, including mining, exploitation, retail, inscription, grading, trading and industrial diamond manufacturing. The company is active in open-pi ...

Diamond in opening its first jewelry store in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. Committed to sustainable innovation, he invests in clean-tech companies focused on environmentally friendly solutions and

zero-emission A zero emission engine, motor, process, or other energy source emits no waste products that pollute the environment or disrupt the climate. Zero emission engines Vehicles and other mobile machinery used for transport (over land, sea, air, rail) and ...

technologies. His portfolio includes investments in Etalim Inc. and other companies developing technologies with potential future applications.

Personal life

Dickson is an avid car collector and has owned hundreds of automobiles in his lifetime. The first brand-new car he purchased was a custom Lamborghini Aventador Roadster. In 2011, ''

The Vancouver Sun The ''Vancouver Sun'', also known as the ''Sun'', is a daily broadsheet newspaper based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The newspaper is currently published by the Pacific Newspaper Group, a division of Postmedia Network, and is the larg ...

'' profiled Dickson and his $1,000,000 garage renovation, complete with 120 spotlights, a full-size bar, and a lifelike fiberglass model of

Michael Schumacher Michael Schumacher (; born 3 January 1969) is a German former racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to and from to . Schumacher won a record-setting seven Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles, tied by Lewis Hamilton in ...

's F1 Ferrari.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dickson, Robbie Alumni of the University of Wales Living people Year of birth missing (living people)