Tony Rudd

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

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. Rudd's engineering studies were interrupted by the Second World War during which he served in the Royal Air Force. Trained as a pilot, he flew Avro Lancasters on a tour of 30 operations. He became an expert in diagnosing failures in Merlin engines, but his main interest remained cars. Rudd resumed his engineering apprenticeship after the War and built an Aston-Martin-based 'special'.

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 put in place proper engineering procedures within the team and his spaceframe and monocoque V8-engined designs took BRM to 2 constructors' and 1 drivers' World Championships. However, his H-16 engine for the new three litre formula (based on two of the successful 1.5 litre V8s on top of each other) proved to be heavy and overcomplicated. The team struggled with the complex design and gradually lost momentum in the late Sixties. Rudd claims that the H-16 would have been successful had the drawings been followed accurately - as it was the engine had heavier castings than planned and its power-to-weight ratio was unfavourable; it also had breathing difficulties and only started to improve when it fired as a sixteen-cylinder engine rather than two eights. After abandoning the H-16, Rudd designed a compact V-12 that was to be the foundation of renewed success in the years after his departure from BRM. As a sideline to BRM's main development, Rudd and Peter Wright were also involved with the design of a ground effect car that never raced; driver John Surtees was adamant that it could not be made raceworthy. Rudd and Wright were later to be reunited at Lotus on work that did lead to successful ground-effect racing cars.

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