Tony Rudd

British engineer who took technical control of BRM for its 1962 title and later headed Team Lotus in 1989

Tony Rudd was sent to BRM by Rolls Royce in 1951 to help with the superchargers of its V16, on what was meant to be a loan of a few months. He stayed for good. By 1960 he was in charge of all its engineering, and his V8 cars carried BRM to the constructors' and drivers' championships of 1962.

In 1969 he moved to Lotus, where he worked mostly on road cars but led the research that produced the ground effect Lotus 78. In 1989 the Chapman family, who still owned Team Lotus, asked him to head the racing team, and he did so for a year until it was sold. He died in 2003, aged 80.

Teams led

• British Racing Motors, 1960 to 1969
• Team Lotus, 1989 to 1989