Gordon Coppuck

Gordon Coppuck
Born (1936-12-08) December 8, 1936
Fleet, Hampshire
Nationality British
Occupation motorsport engineer and designer
Known for Formula One; (March, McLaren, Spirit)
Notable work Co-founder Spirit Racing

Gordon Coppuck (born 8 December 1936 in Fleet, Hampshire)[1] is a British racing car designer who was chief designer for McLaren and later worked for March and co-founded Spirit.

Born in December 1936, he attended Queen Mary's School for Boys before becoming an apprentice at the National Gas Turbine Establishment (NGTE).[2] In 1965 he followed his ex NGTE colleague Robin Herd to McLaren, working as his assistant.[3] In 1971 he became chief designer at McLaren, responsible for various models including the Indianapolis 500 M16 and world championship winning M23.[3] When McLaren merged with Ron Dennis's Project Four in 1980, Coppuck departed, rejoining Herd at March.[3] The following year he founded Spirit with March's Formula Two team manager John Wickham.[3] Spirit raced in Formula Two and then Formula One before Coppuck returned to March.[3][4] Coppuck's nephew Frank Coppuck is also a racing car designer.[3]

References

  1. "Team Bosses: Gordon Coppuck". OldRacingCars.com. Retrieved 2010-05-27.
  2. Nye, Doug (1988) [1984]. McLaren: The Grand Prix, Can-Am and Indy Cars (New ed.). Guild Publishing. p. 54. ISBN 0-905138-54-6.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "PEOPLE: GORDON COPPUCK". grandprix.com. Retrieved 2010-05-17.
  4. "CONSTRUCTORS: SPIRIT RACING". grandprix.com. Retrieved 2010-05-17.
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