Peter Warr Passes Away - Sad Day

[Feffman]

Former Lotus Boss Peter Warr Dies

 

By Jonathan Noble

Wednesday, October 6th 2010, 05:52 GMT

 

 

Peter Warr, who was best known as a former team boss of the Lotus Formula 1 outfit, has passed away.

 

Although he enjoyed some minor success racing himself, famously winning the 1963 Japanese Grand Prix at Fuji in a Lotus sportscar, it was in team management that Warr made his name.

 

Having been invited by Lotus founder Colin Chapman to help run the F1 squad at the end of 1969, Warr played a key role in Jochen Rindt's title triumph in 1970 and Emerson Fittipaldi's successful 1972 campaign.

 

Warr switched to the Wolf team for the start of the 1977 season, helping the outfit win on its debut that year in Argentina. He remained at the team when it merged with Fittipaldi's operation, before making a return to Lotus in the middle of 1981.

 

He became team principal after Chapman's death in December 1982 and remained there until 1989 - when he left to become an FIA permanent steward and later secretary of the British Racing Drivers' Club.

 

Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone was one of those keen to pay tribute to Warr.

 

"Not only have I lost a good friend who was the team manager for Lotus when Colin Chapman ran the company but Peter Warr, who died yesterday of a heart attack will be missed by the thousands of people that knew him," Ecclestone told the official Formula 1 website.

 

"When Peter was in Formula 1 he helped me to build it to what it is today. Thank you Peter."