35 replies to this topic

[Mallory Dan]

Just been reminded of this chap via another thread. I think he lived/prepared his cars from very close to where I live now, so I have a bit of an interest.

As I remember he had March's in F Libre in Britain in the late 70s early 80s, which were always beautifully presented. He then went to the States to work on Can/Am (?) then Indycars, be interested to know how he got the role over there. Was he a mate of Jim Crawford for example, or maybe some other connection. I think he worked with Penske for a while, indeed is he still there ?

As a driver I don't think he was mega quick, but pretty respectable nonetheless, I belive his talents were more in the engineering/preparation side of things.

Anybody else remember John, or his cars. I wonder is anyone in touch with him ?

Dan

[MCS]

Could be wrong here, but didn't he race Minis in special saloons to begin with?

Or was that somebody else?

MCS

[DAVE TAYLOR]

John Travis was our arch rival with his brown March 792? sponsored by Sheffield insulations? in 1883. His blackdog team based near Tarlton or possibly Banks near Southport.

He worked for british aerospace and the interesting bit i think he became the Lola indy car desigher. Am i right about this !!!

[fausto]

He is involved with Epsilon-Euskadi sportscar project: http://www.epsiloneu....com/lemans.htm

[Stephen W]

Originally posted by Mallory Dan
Just been reminded of this chap via another thread. I think he lived/prepared his cars from very close to where I live now, so I have a bit of an interest.

As I remember he had March's in F Libre in Britain in the late 70s early 80s, which were always beautifully presented. He then went to the States to work on Can/Am (?) then Indycars, be interested to know how he got the role over there. Was he a mate of Jim Crawford for example, or maybe some other connection. I think he worked with Penske for a while, indeed is he still there ?

As a driver I don't think he was mega quick, but pretty respectable nonetheless, I belive his talents were more in the engineering/preparation side of things.

Anybody else remember John, or his cars. I wonder is anyone in touch with him ?

Dan

He had a March but also built a replica March 792. He also built a Sports Libre car which eventually had a 5 litre Rover V8 in the back!

He was based at Tarleton and as mentioned earlier was a British Aerospace employee before shipping out to America.

I'll try to dig out a pic or two!

[alansart]

Originally posted by Stephen W


He also built a Sports Libre car which eventually had a 5 litre Rover V8 in the back!

The Sports car was built for Thundersports and called a BRD. It was used for sprints by the late Les Edmunds who achieved FTD at the Brighton Speed Trials.



John Travis was designing Lola's when Les owned the car. It had a few handling problems, so Les rang John for advice. John appeared with reams of computer printouts, with suspension setups and the like, and endless ideas of how to solve the problem. All Les wanted was a couple of adjustments, but it was eventually sorted.

Unfortunately the BRD was destroyed in a freak accident at Aintree. It's thought that a bird hit either Les, or the cockpit, as he crossed the finish line and the car careered into the horse racing fences. Les was left with severe leg injuries but survived to live another day, although he died of a heart attack several years later.

[Mallory Dan]

"BRD" stood, I think, for Blackgate Racing Developments. John lived/was based on Blackgate Rd in Tarleton.

[amr2]

MCS mentioned a possibility of a Special Saloon/ Mini connection.....

As I recall there was certainly a John Travis who drove a Mini in Special Saloons around the mid to late 70's, and was sponsored by 'MerseySpeed', a tuning/equipment shop on Warbreck Moor, almost opposite the end of Melling Road.

Seems likely to be the same chap, or maybe just a coincidence............


Andrew

[simonlewisbooks]

Originally posted by alansart


Unfortunately the BRD was destroyed in a freak accident at Aintree. It's thought that a bird hit either Les, or the cockpit, as he crossed the finish line and the car careered into the horse racing fences. Les was left with severe leg injuries but survived to live another day, although he died of a heart attack several years later.

I always thought he had died in the accident.... It stuck in my mind having seen the car run at Colerne the same (or the previous) season.

[Stephen W]

Originally posted by simonlewisbooks


I always thought he had died in the accident.... It stuck in my mind having seen the car run at Colerne the same (or the previous) season.

Les did survive the accident but died months later of complications arising.

The car was a mess and I was asked but the scrutineers to take pictures of the wreck - I declined as it was far too gruesome. I would have thought the car was a complete write-off so suspect the Colerne event would have been the previous season.

[alansart]

Originally posted by Stephen W


Les did survive the accident but died months later of complications arising.

The car was a mess and I was asked but the scrutineers to take pictures of the wreck - I declined as it was far too gruesome. I would have thought the car was a complete write-off so suspect the Colerne event would have been the previous season.

I knew Les from years before when we were involved with Chris Reynalds in Formula Ford.

I didn't see the accident, but saw some photos of the remains of the car when I visited him in hospital. It wasn't pretty and I'm amazed he survived. He caught an MRSA type bug whilst in Fazerkerly Hospital but when I last saw him, after he was transfered to Stevenage, he was on good form. We watched Schumacher win another GP on the TV. Bearing in mind the rebuild the surgeons did to his legs and feet it's not surprising he still had a few problems.

Back to John Travis. Les was full of praise for his abilities but just wished he would give a simple answer to a problem and not get to technical

[richie]

Originally posted by Mallory Dan
"BRD" stood, I think, for Blackgate Racing Developments. John lived/was based on Blackgate Rd in Tarleton.

Can tell you that John Travis lives in Wimborne Dorset.

I met Gerry Edmunds last week, widow of Les - who still has some fibreglass panels from the crashed BRD.

[IrishMariner]

IIRC, John Travis spent some time on the Lola-Buick project ('90/'91) and then a lot of time in Poole as Penske's chief designer after Nigel Bennett left. He had a Porsche 911 Turbo with personalised plates. I was there in 2001 when they were quiet enough. Most of the factory was working on Roger Penske's huge yacht that was being build in Italy at the time. The artisans in Penske Cars were fabricating mufflers and stair-railings and suchlike.

[IrishMariner]

Originally posted by fausto
He is involved with Epsilon-Euskadi sportscar project: http://www.epsiloneu....com/lemans.htm

According to http://www.ultimatec...i-ee1-Judd.html, Travis has left that project to design the A1GP car for Ferrari.

[Tony Matthews]

I am in infrequent contact with John Travis, and am in the process of sourcing a couple of cutaway prints of the Penske PC27 for him. I first met him when he took over Champ-car design at Lola with Keith Knott after Bruce Ashmore left.

[RTH]

This was the March-Hart 420R 2 Litre 75S we bought from John Travis in the winter of 86/87 and raced in Thundersports in 87-8.

John based his BRD on this car with virtually identical bodywork but with a much simpler chassis and it was substantially lighter than the March.
We saw the finished BRD when we picked up the car from his Lancashire works. He was at that time working locally at British Aerospace.John's work was always to the highest standard, The BRD was beautifully made.



The rear wing produced so much downforce it bent itself down on one side of the centre supports at Thruxton.

[Tony Matthews]

Originally posted by IrishMariner
IIRC, John Travis spent some time on the Lola-Buick project ('90/'91) and then a lot of time in Poole as Penske's chief designer after Nigel Bennett left. He had a Porsche 911 Turbo with personalised plates. I was there in 2001 when they were quiet enough. Most of the factory was working on Roger Penske's huge yacht that was being build in Italy at the time. The artisans in Penske Cars were fabricating mufflers and stair-railings and suchlike.

John had, at one time at Penske, a red Mitsubishi GTO, four-wheel everything. Ah, the 'artisans', what a nice bunch of guys. I gave my drawing of the McRae GM1 to Mervyn ???, as he had worked on the car when the Penske shop in Factory Road was the McRae workshop.

[Andrew Kitson]

Originally posted by IrishMariner


According to http://www.ultimatec...i-ee1-Judd.html, Travis has left that project to design the A1GP car for Ferrari.

Correct, with Rory Byrne as consultant. The new A1-GP/Ferrari 2008/2009 series starts again at Zandvoort this coming weekend, although some problems getting enough cars ready in time. They are all testing at Snett this week beforehand.

[MCS]

Originally posted by amr2
MCS mentioned a possibility of a Special Saloon/ Mini connection.....

As I recall there was certainly a John Travis who drove a Mini in Special Saloons around the mid to late 70's, and was sponsored by 'MerseySpeed', a tuning/equipment shop on Warbreck Moor, almost opposite the end of Melling Road.

Seems likely to be the same chap, or maybe just a coincidence............

Andrew

Are we any nearer to establishing if there were, in fact, two John Travises ???

[richie]

Originally posted by MCS


Are we any nearer to establishing if there were, in fact, two John Travises ???

He's easily contactable, try www.192.com?

[richie]

Originally posted by MCS


Are we any nearer to establishing if there were, in fact, two John Travises ???

We are indeed. I called at John's lovely cottage last Saturday en route to my mother's place in Dorset.

He said that he hadn't raced Minis but had heard of the other JT. A brief on his career:

He had begun competing during his time working for Leyland Vehicles moving up to Formula Atlantic, Thundersports, Formula 2 and an F1 RAM in British national events.

After Leyland Vehicles, he went to British Aerospace then designed and raced the BRD. He ran a Formula Vauxhall programme and was engineer for Roland Ratzenbeger in Formula 3 and 3000.

Lola's Mike Blanchet noticed John's talent and employed him a development engineer. He initially worked on Formula 3000 and Nissan Group C car before becoming Chief Designer for the Indy Programme 1993-1996.

As designer at Lola and Penske, his cars won 26 races and 3 championships in America's Champ Car Series.

He's currently Technical Director for A1GP, A2GP and Ferrarri Project at Bognor

[Nigel Beresford]

Originally posted by IrishMariner
IIRC, John Travis spent some time on the Lola-Buick project ('90/'91) and then a lot of time in Poole as Penske's chief designer after Nigel Bennett left. He had a Porsche 911 Turbo with personalised plates. I was there in 2001 when they were quiet enough. Most of the factory was working on Roger Penske's huge yacht that was being build in Italy at the time. The artisans in Penske Cars were fabricating mufflers and stair-railings and suchlike.

Purely for the sake of historical accuracy....

John joined Penske Cars during 1996 and designed the rear end of the 1997 car (PC26) during a changeover period whilst Nigel Bennett gradually let go of the reins. John then assumed the role of Chief Designer for the 1998 car (the PC27) when Nigel retired at the end of 1997. John was in charge of the engineering at 'Cars until early 2002. Unfortunately the PC27 and its derivative PC28 (known publicly as PC27B) of 1998 and 1999 suffered from poor reliability and competitiveness. The car was exquisite but the gearbox took a lot of sorting out and the Goodyear tyres and Al Jr.s private distractions meant that it was no match for the Reynard / Honda / Bridgestone combo. The engine was extremely tightly packaged (at John's urging) and this meant that development of the inlet system was very difficult. Once the team / tyre / engine / driver package was revised after 1999 things took off for us and he was very much the man responsible for the re-engineering of the Reynards which took the CART championship in 2000 and 2001.

At the time of your visit the Fabrication shop were making exhaust heat shields for Roger's new boat which was being built by Fedship (sp?) in Holland. This used the skills and techniques developed making the header boxes for the Indy cars. At quieter periods in the summer (e.g. August) the various departments spent some time painting and sprucing up the factory while the DO was working on the next year's car.

John is presently designing the A2GP car.

Thanks

Nigel

[Tony Matthews]

With A1GP up against the wall, does anyone know what John Travis' situation is?

Edited by Tony Matthews, 08 July 2009 - 10:12.

[marktravisuk]

With A1GP up against the wall, does anyone know what John Travis' situation is?

Hi All,

I am John Travis's son and at present because of the problems within A1GP he is not doing a great deal within racing world. If you want to contact him or pass a message on I will gladly do that.

Regards

Mark Travis

[RTH]

Mark, welcome to TNF, please do get John to register and relate some of the many stories from a long career in motorsport.
I met John when we bought the March 75S Hart from him around about 1987 just at the point where he had finished his self- designed BRD Blackgate Sportscar.At the time I think he was still working for British Aerospace?

Edited by RTH, 11 December 2009 - 17:46.

[Phil Rainford]

In this month's Motor Sport ( February 2010 ) John Travis 's input into the Penske PC26 is discussed by Andrew Frankel


PAR

Edited by Phil Rainford, 24 January 2010 - 12:43.

[Alan Cox]

Here is a photo from flickr, of John's 792 showing sponsoprship from BRS and E.A.R. Looks immaculate, as always.
http://www.flickr.co...in/photostream/
And in Riva and Mariani colours the previous year
http://www.flickr.co...in/photostream/

[RTH]

His cars really looked better than new.

[Alan Cox]

Note that while he still retained the same transporter, it, too, had been re-liveried. It's no surprise that many of us still remember his immaculate presentation.

[DogEarred]

About 5 or 6 years ago he also designed a Judd V10 single seater for the Austrian finance company Superfund, working out of Poole in Dorset. The car was intended to form a one make series in Europe and the prototype ran, driven by Bernoldi, amonst others. Superfund changed their minds, then proposed an Asian series but that did not get off the ground either.

[jcdeleted]

MCS mentioned a possibility of a Special Saloon/ Mini connection.....

As I recall there was certainly a John Travis who drove a Mini in Special Saloons around the mid to late 70's, and was sponsored by 'MerseySpeed', a tuning/equipment shop on Warbreck Moor, almost opposite the end of Melling Road.

Seems likely to be the same chap, or maybe just a coincidence............


Andrew
[/quote]

I've only just come across this thread, but I can provide a little bit of information on "The Other John Travis", if not on his achievements.

I was first intoduced to John about 6 years ago by a friend who in his youth used to help out Mike Kearon, who I remember as a very useful Mini racer in Special Saloons and was also based around Liverpool. We were on our annual pilgrimage to the North West to race Nellie the Mallock on the best circuit in the U.K. and John joined us in the paddock.

John came over as an extremely modest, charming and courteous gentleman who always spoke about the achievements of other drivers and never about his own. As a result it was difficult to discover much about him and his own racing. We saw him regularly on this basis over the next 2 or 3 years and always had some wonderful conversations with him, but never about him, despite all my best efforts.

The last time he joined us he was looking somewhat frail, and I heard a few months later that he had died peacefully. If I remember correctly this was about two years ago.

A good man, a good life, well lived. I was glad to have known him, albeit briefly.

[Alan Cox]

While scanning some negs of Ayrton Senna (da Silva) in his Talbot Sunbeam for another thread, cam across this one of John Travis on 8th May 1982 at Oulton Park.

[La Sarthe]

A couple of photos taken at Castle Combe during the 80s. As someone put it so well on here, John's cars were always presented as better than new.

Firstly his March 792 on 13 October 1984.



From here he moved on to a RAM 01. These were taken on 12 October 1985.

[johnfaganwilliams]

I was the original driver of the BRD. As mentioned here it was a jewel of a car beautifully designed and lovingly built by John and his band of brothers in a series of garages behind (I think) his mother's house near Southport. Unfortunately a combination of my lack of talent and the team's lack of funds prevented it being particularly successful. In my defence I think it was too big and probably too heavy to compete with the Lolas and Tigas. Sorry to hear it was destroyed though. I remember testing it at Goodwood and my eyeballs bouncing in their sockets it was so stiffly sprung. Other oddities were no wing mirrors - John didn't believe in them for some reason I never figured out - no self-centring for the steering - ditto. From memory our partnership ended after we were rained off at the Birmingham Grand Prix and the engine seized at Brands - which John blamed me for. I have fond memories of John and the team. They tried the impossible and with a bit of luck and a bit more money - and probably a DFV - they could have pulled it off.

As an aside the team was launched on local television and despite the fact that I was then about 35 years old I'd never told my mother that I was racing as she was bitterly opposed to my doing so. Shame she was watching the box that day. Oops!

Edited by johnfaganwilliams, 20 January 2016 - 11:57.

[Stephen W]

John Travis was I believe based in Tarleton just off the Southport to Preston A565/A59.

[Alan Cox]

This is a link to John's company - http://trackcreate.com/