Oliver Winterbottom - A Life in Car Design: Jaguar, Lotus, TVR

First printed in hardback format in 2017.

First published in ebook format 2020 by Veloce Publishing Limited, Veloce House, Parkway Farm Business Park, Middle Farm Way, Poundbury, Dorchester, Dorset, DT1 3AR, England Fax 01305 250479 e-mail .

Ebook edition ISBN: 978-1-787117-05-1

Hardback edition ISBN: 978-1-787110-35-9

Oliver Winterbottom and Veloce Publishing 2020. All rights reserved. With the exception of quoting brief passages for the purpose of review, no part of this publication may be recorded, reproduced or transmitted by any means, including photocopying, without the written permission of Veloce Publishing Ltd. Throughout this book logos, model names and designations, etc, have been used for the purposes of identification, illustration and decoration. Such names are the property of the trademark holder as this is not an official publication.

Readers with ideas for automotive books, or books on other transport or related hobby subjects, are invited to write to the editorial director of Veloce Publishing at the above address.

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Contents

Dedication

To Wendy, Anne and Jane.

Introduction

Throughout my working life I have often been asked what I do. I am a car designer, has been my reply. Oh, that must be exciting, they usually say. Well, it has been exciting and frustrating, wearying, worrying, depressing and, above all, exhilarating. Throughout my career, new technology completely transformed working methods. In the 1960s, when I started in the business, the industry was using tools and processes little changed from Victorian times. By the beginning of the 21st century, a total revolution had been wrought by the microchip and the computer. Before, we used Imperial measurements now, we use metric. These changes have made a huge impact on the accuracy, control and reliability of the motorcar, and I have been lucky to work through that evolution; this book shares the story with you.

The tale traces my life from my upbringing, joining Jaguar Cars in 1961 as an engineering apprentice, through my creative years there and at Lotus and TVR. As a change, I had a short time designing luxury seagoing boats. Later on, I worked for General Motors in Detroit, USA, and completed my career in China, retiring in 2009. Many of the projects described were stillborn. While this poses the question of what might have been, it is still not unusual today for ideas to bud and then wither. Some could have changed the course of history in a beneficial way, while others would probably have marked the demise of the perpetrators. As life progressed, I attained more senior positions in the industry. Sadly, for me, that marked a gradual departure from the drawing board and experimental workshop.

A few years ago, I had the opportunity to become involved in the vehicle safety sector. This was a new and exciting area in which to operate, with the bonus of hopefully being able to reduce the personal suffering caused by road accidents.

To keep the story interesting, I have introduced some projects and aspects of motoring history hitherto known only to a few, but this is not intended to be a marque history or technical guide. I hope it gives an insight into the events behind the creation of various products. I have included many illustrations, some of which are the only remaining record of projects. Copies of engineering drawings are in some cases damaged or lacking in clarity, but are here as a necessary part of the story.

In the course of the story, I have ventured my personal opinions on various events and stress that these are just that: personal. They do not necessarily reflect those of others.

It would be nice to think that this tale gives more people the desire, or hopefully passion, to join the world of creative engineering. I found the (often hard) work, very enjoyable, and, today, take great satisfaction seeing my past efforts on the road. It makes it all worth while.

Finally, I would like to give my thanks to all those who have helped in the production of this book. To the copyright holders of the illustrations, and the friends who jogged my memory, without whom, this could not have happened. To Ron and Brenda Middleton at Focalpoint, Norwich, who gave up so much time to digitise the many historic drawings, and last, but not least, to my late wife, Wendy, who had the patience to allow this work to encroach throughout the whole of our home.

Oliver Winterbottom

The author with his 1966 award-winning model. (Courtesy Malcolm Griffiths/Classic & Sports Car)

Photo acknowledgements

Apart from where specified, all photos are from the authors collection, or by permission.

Chapter 1

The beginning

I was born on 24 February 1944, in Ashford, Kent, and was immediately forced to take up residence under the hospital bed as protection from an air raid. Once this alert was over, life became more conventional, with Rowna, my mother, taking me home to New Romney by the sea. My father, Walter (always known as Frosty), who, in normal times, was a family doctor, was not present at my birth, as he was serving in the Royal Army Medical Corps.

My grandfather, Archie Winterbottom, provided the link with engineering which had a long family history. An ancestor had driven locomotives for the Caledonian Railway in the 1850s, and his grandson, Archibald, had covered nearly every sector of engineering. A Lancashire man, he was an apprenticed engineer to a textile machinery maker, later joining the Caledonian Railway, and then the Argyll Motor Company. He then transferred to yet another branch of engineering: shipbuilding. Moving to Shanghai, he qualified as a Chief Engineer Marine, before joining the Rising Sun Petroleum Company, running oil refineries in the Far East until the Second World War. Following service in the Navy in the Faroe Isles, he retired to England, and kept me amused with his enthusiasm for railways.

My father was born in Oldham, Lancashire, and attended school in Shanghai before coming back to England and public school. He took up medicine, qualifying at St Marys Hospital, Paddington, where he found the two loves of his life. One was Brooklands motor racing track, the other was my mother.

My mother came from Lincolnshire and provided me with another link to motor cars. A cousin was Raymond Mays, founder and driving force in the creation of ERA and, later, BRM racing cars.

1944 saw the arrival of the V1 flying bomb directed at London. The House in New Romney, with its large orchard, became the site for a barrage of American heavy anti-aircraft guns. When, one day, my mother found a large piece of shrapnel in my pram, she decided to move away to a safer spot. In a letter to Archie, she relates, while life is not too comfortable, at least Oliver finds any form of bang amusing. Eventually, my father came back from Europe, in late 1945, and plans were made for the future. My parents squeezed me into their MG TB sports car and headed for Olney, in North Buckinghamshire.

My father was a major influence, with his love of motorsport and cars. 14 May 1949 was the first motor racing event that I can remember: the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. I was only five years old, and, not surprisingly, found the cars very noisy, the worst offenders being the 500cc cars. This visit to Silverstone was to be the first of many.