Tony Rudd

In retirement, Rudd remained active in the Society of Automotive Engineers, wrote a widely acclaimed autobiography It Was Fun: My Fifty Years of High Performance and collaborated with Doug Nye on a multi-volume history of BRM. Tony Rudd died in 2003 at the age of 80. He was married to Pamela and had three daughters.

After the conviction of Fred Bushell for financial irregularities related to DeLorean, the Chapman family (who retained ownership of Team Lotus) asked Rudd to step in to head the racing team. He returned to racing for a year in 1989 until the team was sold on, then retired to become a freelance consulting engineer.

Team Lotus were struggling in the mid-1970s and Rudd led the research effort that produced ground effect Lotus 78, which brought the team back to the forefront of Grand Prix success. Rudd went back to the road-car side of the company to research active suspension, turbocharging, and lead consultancy work for other manufacturers. After Chapman’s death in 1982 Rudd took on an increasingly significant role in the business but advanced engineering remained his forté.

During a poor 1969 season and after management changes at BRM, Rudd left for Lotus Cars, gradually working up to the position of Engineering Director on the road-car side of the company – he was not directly involved in racing, which Colin Chapman looked after. Rudd’s achievements included the development of Lotus’ own four-cylinder engine as well as improving production quality of their cars. Rudd also developed Lotus as an engineering consultancy working on high-technology projects for the rest of the automotive industry, creating another profit centre within the business.

The much-delayed BRM V16 engine was fitted with Rolls-Royce superchargers and Rudd was seconded to BRM in 1951 to assist with their development. He never returned to Rolls-Royce, becoming part of the BRM team for almost two decades. Rudd was involved in the development of the V16 and four-cylinder P25 cars and started to assume more prominence after the Rubery-Owen takeover of the team. Peter Berthon and Raymond Mays were eventually sidelined after the drivers threatened to strike and Rudd assumed full technical control of the team in 1960.

Rudd became involved with motor racing in the 1930s when he became an informal assistant to Prince Chula and Prince Bira’s White Mouse Racing team. This inspired him to take up engineering as a career and family influence led him to take up an apprenticeship at Rolls-Royce.

Anthony Cyril Rudd (8 March 1923 – 22 August 2003) was a British engineer involved in aero engine design and motor racing, with particular associations with BRM and Lotus.