Special Feature

Derek Gardner, Designer of Championships

Pete Lyons

It reads like a plot line no real screenwriter would dare pitch: A little-known transmission engineer who has never designed a whole racing car must draw up a new mount for an F1 World Champion.

Constructed clandestinely in an old woodshed, the machine proves so fast that it sets a lap record in its first test outing, then starts from pole for its debut Grand Prix. Just 12 months after the prototype is unveiled, a developed version carries the star to his second World Driving Championship.

Main Topic Hubs

Join The Community

Become A Member

 

Members only$29 / year

Keep going. This is where it gets good.

Supercars.net Membership is for people who'd rather know the spec sheet by heart than skim ten headlines. The rest of this story — and every other one like it — is a few seconds away.

  • Thousands of members-only stories

    Deep dives, driven reviews and the full archive back to 2005.

  • No ads. None.

    The whole site reads like a magazine, on every device.

  • Every car, every spec

    Twenty years of models, numbers and history in one place.

  • 30% off the shop

    Every Supercars.net shirt and piece of merch, all year.

Join Supercars.net — Keep Reading

$29 a year. Cancel anytime, no hoops.
Already a member? Sign in

BY CAR PEOPLE, NOT A NAMELESS MEDIA COMPANY. Your membership keeps a small independent team that celebrates the brands and cars that defined this industry doing this.

Join — Keep Reading $29/yr