20 replies to this topic

[GeorgeTheCar]

I just learned of Max's death last year.

I would like help in documenting his career for the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame Archives as little is known here in Canada.

info@cmhf.ca

[Graham Gauld]

As nobody else seems to want to add anything herewith a synopsis.

Max was born in Sodertalje just south of Stockholm. His father worked for the Bofors armaments company and specilised in the smelting and refining of titanium. When Max was seven his father was offered a better position in the same field of work in Canada and the whole family emigrated eventually settling in Torinto. At school and college in the 1960's he used to do a lot of doodling and loved the technical drawings published in Sports Car Graphic. He was keen on racing and was trying to understand the ins and outs of racing car design.
He later made a trip to Britain and called in at Brabhams late in th e evening and started asking Ron Tauraunac some questions such as why he had reduced the rer track on his new Formula 1 car. As Max told me of this encounter. " This man, who I thought of as a minor God, remarked that the Goodyear tyres were getting wider all the time and they couldn't get the car on to the transporter any longer ! I went away thinking that this man was even more magical than I imagined because firstly he doesn't want to tell me how he really works it all out, but equally he has the wit to come up with an answer like this. Of course it was three or four years later that I realised it really was the reason !"
He went on to form Dymag wheels which specialised in magnesium racing wheels and joined our Ecurie Ecosse team in 1985 to work on the Ecosse C2 cars.
There is a lot more information on Max in my book " Ecurie Ecosse " as a Scotsman it pains me to publish all that I wrote about him.

[Cirrus]

He designed the Nemo F3 car for Race Cars International in 1970.

[jph]

Originally posted by Cirrus
He designed the Nemo F3 car for Race Cars International in 1970.

And also the Aston Martin AMR1 Group C car.

[Frank de Jong]

... and, according to my notes, the MRE F Atlantic car (1974), and the 1973 MRE F3 car.

By the way, GeorgeTheCar, if you start with a little more information, chances of more and better answers will increase. Boxstrom ringed a little bell with me, but little more. Graham's answer learned that he was a designer

[GeorgeTheCar]

Thanks Frank!

Hopefully now more people can add to fill in the blanks

[MCS]

Originally posted by Frank de Jong
... and, according to my notes, the MRE F Atlantic car (1974), and the 1973 MRE F3 car.

MRE...I'd forgotten them. Didn't they get bought out by Tiga?

I can remember a FF2000 car and something to do with Delta rings a bell for some reason - I could be way off here.

What else did he design?

[fausto]

He worked also for Team Schuppan on the much revised 962, the one that didn't perform very well at Le Mans 1991 (infact for the race the team reverted to a standard short tail 962...).

[Cirrus]

MRE did get bought by Tiga, and the early Tiga FF1600 and FF2000 cars were basically rebadged MRE's. I spoke to MB a few times in the early nineties, when he was considering buying a CAD system. Ron Tauranac (who clearly rated his abilities highly) suggested that I give him a call. This was around the time that the Aston Martin project foundered, and I guess that the reason Max didn't go ahead was tied up with that.

I'm not aware of any Delta connections, though...

[J. Scott Morris]

In 2005, Jack Boxstrom, wrote:

"Max is my younger brother by 7 years. He flunked his grade 11 French about three times, including summer school. So eventually our parents said, "so what do you want to do now?" and he asked for a one way ticket to the UK (at aged approx 20 - this would be about 1965).

Max got a free welding school and was hired as a chassis welder at McLaren, so I told all my racing friends not to buy a McLaren Can-Am or Formula car that year since my brother was still learning his craft! In any case, his forte was design and engineering, not welding and later he studied vehicle aerodynamics at Manchester University with Costin and designed some cars with the latter for Tiga - including a formula car that had a cockpit canopy and set a lap record at Monza.

Then he designed racing wheels for cars and bikes and had a company called Dymag Wheels that eventually had about 100 employees and made pretty well all of the world's magnesium racing wheels for F-1, Prototypes and his famous 3-spoke bike racing wheel. Sold the company and went on to project consulting and race car design. His major "from scratch" car was the AMR-1 Group "C" Aston Martin for which he also built the chassis and bodies in his new kevlar-carbon fabrication shops. He is a very clever chap and there are lots of other stories and achievements - not bad for a kid that I used to get very annoyed with because he would draw "improved" bodies, chassis, etc in my Road & Track magazines, superimposed on the magazine pictures. Early, while he was still in Canada he had a motorcycle magazine and wrote technical articles for Track & Traffic magazine - one on supercharging was so complex that I could not understand it!

Max also designed a new car with a Viper V-10 for Bristol called the "Fighter"? and was with Jaguar on a contact basis doing "engine development". He still lives in Leicester, England and has been recently active in ocean going sail boat design."

[Gav Astill]

Originally posted by J. Scott Morris
In 2005, Jack Boxstrom, wrote:...........
Max also designed a new car with a Viper V-10 for Bristol called the "Fighter"?"

http://www.bristolca...stolFighter.htm

[Chris Witty]

It was only while reading today's copy of Autosport that I read of Max Boxstrom's death. I knew Max way back in the early Seventies when I ran an F2 team called LIRA-Team Lotus. We were based in Hornsey, north London. Also sharing the same race shop was the Irishman Brendan McInerney who had a team called Race Cars International. Max worked for Brendan and ended up designing and building him an F3 car called the Nemo. It never really worked and Brendan stuck with his Chevron I recall. I last met Max quite a few years ago when he lived in Bath. He'd sold the Chippenham-based Dymag business, or rather he "lost" the Dymag business, and was working closely with the Callaway Corvette team. He was also interested, as has been mentioned, in sail design and was intersted in getting involved in a still born UK America's Cup campaign I was involved in. He was tall with a limp, worn thick glasses and had a distinctive Canadian accent. You'd never forget him once you'd met him. For those of us who knew him, he will be sadly missed.

[Barry Boor]

Welcome to TNF, Chris.

Another motor sport 'name' to add to TNFs growing list!

[bradbury west]

Off thread somewhat, Chris, is your leg better now after the fall in the tunnel? And did you write?
Roger Lund

[cstlhn]

I was fortunate to meet Max while employed by the Livanos family and during the build of the AMR1. I watched Max design a complete transaxle that used Hewland internals. When the Aston Martin project was later shelved by Ford the transaxle design and patterns was sold to Mazda and used in their LeMans winning car.
The consumate engineer I enjoyed every conversation I had with Max and deeply mourn his death. Does anyone know the cause of death?

David

[Chris Witty]

Originally posted by bradbury west
Off thread somewhat, Chris, is your leg better now after the fall in the tunnel? And did you write?
Roger Lund

The 'leg' has got worse over the years, particularly at Christmas and Easter time. Thinking of having it amputated and sent to Jenny Agutter as a momento. As for writing, she did reply on my 50th birthday actually ... and that's a fact!

[f1steveuk]

Welcome Chris, didn't realise you had appeared on these pages, we met many years ago at Filching Manor Motor Museum (I think!) but I cannot remember why, either a land or water speed thing, or is my brain going!!!??

[bradbury west]

Chris, many thanks for an elegant reply to a flippant posting, and on a serious thread, to boot.
RL

[ReWind]

Originally posted by GeorgeTheCar in 2008
I just learned of Max's death last year.

Last year would mean 2007.

In fact it seems Max Boxstrom died in 2008. A little bit about him here.

[B Squared]

"In 2005, Jack Boxstrom, wrote:

"Max is my younger brother by 7 years."

Would this be the same Jack Boxstrom that is (I believe he's still there) with the automobile auction company - RM? He is listed as a sports car/ race car specialist. My friend Dave Murray of orlandoclassiccars.com is friends of Jack & speaks highly of him. Surely, it is the same man. Please correct me, if mistaken. Thanks,

Brian

[nubenow]

Originally posted by fausto
He worked also for Team Schuppan on the much revised 962, the one that didn't perform very well at Le Mans 1991 (infact for the race the team reverted to a standard short tail 962...).

The understatement of the year!

The *revised* 962 was misconceived from the get go, Max's aero package was woefully inadequate for the task at Le Mans, and during the first night practice, the car suffered from frontal lift at high speed........Eje Elgh brought it into the pits saying the lights were shining into the trees on the Mulsanne!

The enormous wing was nicknamed *the B52 wing section* by the boys at Team Schuppan...........

But to be fair to Max, the Raplh Bellamy suspension was lacking also, resulting overall in a car that just wasn't going to be able to race Le Mans.

Luckily, against advice, enough regular 962 bits, were also brought to Le Mans and the crew worked an epic all nighter and got the car completely rebuilt back to a standard 962, including a quick paint job in the early hours of a cold pre race morning (we won't mention the over spray on the adjoing Courage cars tho)............just missing out on getting it onto the track for morning warm up. It started and finished the race though.