John Wyer
Encyclopedia
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
automobile racing engineer and team manager. He is mainly associated with cars running in the lightblue and orange livery of his longtime sponsorship partner Gulf Oil
Gulf Oil
Gulf Oil was a major global oil company from the 1900s to the 1980s. The eighth-largest American manufacturing company in 1941 and the ninth-largest in 1979, Gulf Oil was one of the so-called Seven Sisters oil companies...
.
As team manager and team owner, Wyer won the 24 Hours of Le Mans
24 Hours of Le Mans
The 24 Hours of Le Mans is the world's oldest sports car race in endurance racing, held annually since near the town of Le Mans, France. Commonly known as the Grand Prix of Endurance and Efficiency, race teams have to balance speed against the cars' ability to run for 24 hours without sustaining...
several times. His first victory came in the 1959 edition, in his tenth anniversary as Aston Martin
Aston Martin
Aston Martin Lagonda Limited is a British manufacturer of luxury sports cars, based in Gaydon, Warwickshire. The company name is derived from the name of one of the company's founders, Lionel Martin, and from the Aston Hill speed hillclimb near Aston Clinton in Buckinghamshire...
team manager, helping Carroll Shelby
Carroll Shelby
Carroll Hall Shelby is an American retired automotive designer and racing driver. He is most well known for making Mustangs for Ford Motor Company known as Mustang Cobras which he has done since 1965...
and Roy Salvadori
Roy Salvadori
Roy Francesco Salvadori is a former motor racing driver and manager from England. He participated in 50 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 12 July 1952, and achieved two podiums, scoring a total of 19 Championship points.During a varied career he also won the 24 Hours of Le...
win with the DBR1
Aston Martin DBR1
The Aston Martin DBR1 was a sports racing car built by Aston Martin starting in 1956, intended for the World Sportscar Championship as well as non-championship sportscar races at the time...
. The team also won the 1000km Nürburgring
1000km Nürburgring
The ADAC 1000 km Nürburgring is an endurance race for sports cars held on the Nürburgring in Germany and organized by the ADAC since 1953.- History :...
in three consecutive years.
In 1963 he left Aston Martin for Ford Advanced Vehicles (FAV) In 1964. After dismal results with the GT40's in their first two years, mainly dealing with reliability due to mechanical failure, the Ford GT40
Ford GT40
The Ford GT40 was a high performance sports car and winner of the 24 hours of Le Mans four times in a row, from 1966 to 1969...
program was handed over to Holman Moody and Carroll Shelby to compete against Ferrari, with the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans
24 Hours of Le Mans
The 24 Hours of Le Mans is the world's oldest sports car race in endurance racing, held annually since near the town of Le Mans, France. Commonly known as the Grand Prix of Endurance and Efficiency, race teams have to balance speed against the cars' ability to run for 24 hours without sustaining...
victory being the most famous, as well as 1967. While factory support from Ford backed Carroll Shelby and Holman moody with the MkII and MK IV chassis, John Wyer continued competing with The GT40 MKI, as well as experimenting with their own inhouse built cars, known as Mirage M1, M2, and M3.
When Ford closed the project after the 1967 season, John Wyer and John Willment formed J.W. Automotive (JWA). As Wyer was the well known team manager and present at race tracks, it was widely assumed that JW stands for John Wyer even though it means John Willment, as stated by Willment's brother-in-law Hans Herrmann
Hans Herrmann
Hans Herrmann is a former Formula One and Sports car racing driver from Stuttgart, Germany.In F1, he participated in 19 World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on August 2, 1953...
.
With backing from Gulf Oil
Gulf Oil
Gulf Oil was a major global oil company from the 1900s to the 1980s. The eighth-largest American manufacturing company in 1941 and the ninth-largest in 1979, Gulf Oil was one of the so-called Seven Sisters oil companies...
and their teammanager J-O Bockman, Wyer created the Ford-powered Mirage M-1
Mirage (race car)
The Mirage race cars were built by J.W. Automotive at Slough in England to compete in international sports car races in the colours of the Gulf Oil Corporation....
, a prototype that won the 1967 1000km Spa
1000km Spa
The 1000 Kilometres of Spa-Francorchamps is an endurance race for sports cars held at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium.- History :The Spa 24 Hours had been introduced in 1924, and other races followed. As on the Nürburgring, both a 24-hour race for touring cars and GTs is held, and an...
. Due to a rule change that came in effect for 1968, prototypes were limited to 3000cc, while sportscars could have 5000cc if at least 50 were built. This applied to the two-year-old Ford GT40
Ford GT40
The Ford GT40 was a high performance sports car and winner of the 24 hours of Le Mans four times in a row, from 1966 to 1969...
s, which were modified by Wyer. As a surprise, Wyer won the World Sportscar Championship
World Sportscar Championship
The World Sportscar Championship was the world series run for sports car racing by the FIA from 1953 to 1992.The championship evolved from a small collection of the most important sportscar, endurance and road racing events in Europe and North America with dozens of gentleman drivers at the grid,...
for Ford in 1968 even though the 2200cc Porsche 907
Porsche 907
The Porsche 907 was a sportscar racing prototype built by Porsche in 1967 and 1968.- 1967 :The 907 was introduced at the 1967 24 Hours of Le Mans...
were considered favorites at the beginning of the season. The superior power of the 5000cc V8 allowed them to win on fast tracks, and especially at Le Mans two years in a row in 1968 and 1969, even though they were outclassed at twistier tracks.
As it was obvious that the GT40 would finally become obsolete after 1969, Wyer switched to the new Porsche 917
Porsche 917
The Porsche 917 is a racecar that gave Porsche its first overall wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1970 and 1971. Powered by the Type 912 flat-12 engine of 4.5, 4.9, or 5 litres, the 917/30 variant was capable of a 0- time of 2.3 seconds, 0– in 5.3 seconds, and a top speed of over .There are 6...
. Wyer's team even became the factory's main partner and was a major factor in developing the wedge-shaped Kurzheck tail of the 1970 917K which made the car much more stable than the original 1969 version.
Battling with Ferrari 512
Ferrari 512
Ferrari 512 S was the designation of 25 five litre sports cars built until January 1970, related to the Ferrari P sports prototypes. The V12-powered cars were entered in the 1970 International Championship for Makes by the factory Scuderia Ferrari and private teams...
, the other Porsche team that was backed by Martini Racing
Martini Racing
Martini Racing is the name under which various motor racing teams raced when sponsored by the Martini & Rossi distillery that produces Martini vermouth. Martini's sponsorship program began in 1968...
and led by Vic Elford
Vic Elford
Victor Henry Elford is a former sportscar racing, rallying and Formula One driver from England. He participated in 13 World Championship F1 Grands Prix, debuting on 7 July 1968...
, and even Gulf-Porsche-Stars Jo Siffert
Jo Siffert
Joseph Siffert was a Swiss racing driver.Affectionately known as "Seppi" to his family and close friends, Siffert was born in Fribourg, Switzerland, the son of a dairy owner...
and Pedro Rodríguez
Pedro Rodriguez (racing driver)
Pedro Rodríguez was a Mexican Grand Prix motor racing driver. He was born in Mexico City and was the older brother of Ricardo Rodríguez.-Career:...
competing against each other, JWA earned many victories in 1970 and 1971, but not at Le Mans. In fiction, a Gulf-Porsche 917K won in Le Mans (film)
Le Mans (film)
Le Mans is a 1971 action film directed by Lee H. Katzin. Starring Steve McQueen, it features footage from the actual 1970 24 Hours of Le Mans auto race....
, though, making the Gulf colors even more famous.
In 1972, 5 litre sportscars like the 917s were banned, and the 3000cc Porsche 908
Porsche 908
The Porsche 908 was a racing car from Porsche, introduced in 1968 to continue the Porsche 906/Porsche 910/Porsche 907 series of models designed under Ferdinand Piech....
prototypes were also dropped by the factory as the new weight limit was too high, removing the 908's advantage that balanced their lack of power.
Wyer adopted the new 3.0 L regulations and started building Gulf-Mirage prototypes once more, using a Formula One
Formula One
Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...
Cosworth DFV
Cosworth DFV
The DFV is an internal combustion engine that was originally produced by Cosworth for Formula One motor racing. Named Four Valve because of the four valves per cylinder, and Double as it was a V8 development of the earlier, four-cylinder FVA , making it a Double Four Valve engine...
engine. The successful F1-engine was considered unsuited for endurance racing as vibrations took their toll after several hours, so modifications had to be made. After three years of trying, Jacky Ickx
Jacky Ickx
Jacques Bernard "Jacky" Ickx is a Belgian former racing driver who achieved 25 podium finishes in Formula One and six wins in the 24 hours of Le Mans.- Racing career :...
and Derek Bell
Derek Bell (auto racer)
Derek Reginald Bell MBE is a former racing driver from England who was extremely successful in sportscar racing, winning five times at Le Mans. He also raced in Formula One for the Ferrari, McLaren, Surtees and Tecno teams...
finally achieved Wyer's last win at Le Mans, in 1975.
The following year, John Wyer retired from automotive competition and sold his team to Harley Cluxton's Grand Touring Cars operation.