Maurice Philippe, also known as Maurice Phillippe, was a British aircraft and 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...

 car designer.

Philippe designed his first car in 1955, called the MPS (Maurice Philippe Special), while employed developing the Comet 4 aircraft for De Havilland

De Havilland

The de Havilland Aircraft Company was a British aviation manufacturer founded in 1920 when Airco, of which Geoffrey de Havilland had been chief designer, was sold to BSA by the owner George Holt Thomas. De Havilland then set up a company under his name in September of that year at Stag Lane...

.

Philippe raced a Lotus 7 in 1963 and 1964, and in 1965 was asked by Colin Chapman

Colin Chapman

Anthony Colin Bruce Chapman CBE was an influential British designer, inventor, and builder in the automotive industry, and founder of Lotus Cars....

 to be his "design team" at Team Lotus

Team Lotus

Team Lotus was the motorsport sister company of English sports car manufacturer Lotus Cars. The team ran cars in many motorsport series including Formula One, Formula Two, Formula Ford, Formula Junior, IndyCar and sports car racing...

. Philippe and Chapman first redesigned the Lotus 39

Lotus 39

The Lotus 39 was a single seat racing car produced by Team Lotus. It was originally intended for use in Formula One, to be powered by the Coventry Climax 1.5 litre flat-16 engine...

, then produced the Lotus 43

Lotus 43

The Lotus 43 was a Formula One racing car designed by Colin Chapman for the 1966 season. It was partially based on the Lotus 38 Indycar, due to Chapman's experience at Indy with larger engine capacity and tyre/suspension setup. The car was designed in this way in response to new regulations which...

, the classic Lotus 49

Lotus 49

The Lotus 49 was a Formula One racing car designed by Colin Chapman and Maurice Philippe for the 1967 F1 season. It was designed around the Cosworth DFV engine that would power most of the Formula One grid through the 1970s and was the first successful Formula One car to feature the engine as a...

, the ground-breaking Lotus 72

Lotus 72

The Lotus 72 was a Formula One car designed by Colin Chapman and Maurice Philippe of Lotus for the 1970 Formula One season.- Development :The 72 was yet another innovative design by Chapman featuring inboard brakes, side mounted radiators in sidepods, as opposed to the nose mounted radiators which...

 as well as the Lotus 56

Lotus 56

The Lotus 56 was a racing car, designed by Maurice Philippe as Team Lotus' 1968 entry in the Indianapolis 500, replacing the successful Lotus 38. The Lotus 56 was not based on the STP-Paxton Turbocar that almost won in 1967, but was an entirely new and more advanced design...

 tubine Indy cars.

In 1972, Philippe left Lotus and went to work for Parnelli Jones

Parnelli Jones

Rufus Parnell "Parnelli" Jones , is a retired American racing driver and racecar owner. He is most remembered for his 1963 Indianapolis 500 win, and almost winning the 1967 Indy 500 in a turbine car...

's USAC team, designing the Cosworth-Parnelli VPJ4 for F1, which was raced in by Mario Andretti

Mario Andretti

Mario Gabriele Andretti is a retired Italian American world champion racing driver, one of the most successful Americans in the history of the sport. He is one of only two drivers to win races in Formula One, IndyCar, World Sportscar Championship and NASCAR...

.

In 1978, he replaced Derek Gardner

Derek Gardner (motorsport)

Derek Gardner designed advanced transmission systems. He joined Formula One while employed by Harry Ferguson Research, developing four-wheel drive systems for Matra in 1969. He met Ken Tyrrell in 1970 and Tyrrell chose Gardner to design his chassis...

 as chief designer at Tyrrell

Tyrrell Racing

The Tyrrell Racing Organisation was an auto racing team and Formula One constructor founded by Ken Tyrrell which started racing in 1958 and started building its own cars in 1970. The team experienced its greatest success in the early 1970s, when it won three drivers' championships and one...

, with the Tyrrell 008 finishing fourth in the Constructors' Championship. The 1979 Tyrrell 009 ground-effect car was less successful, only scoring four third places. In 1980, the Tyrrell 010

Tyrrell 010

The Tyrrell 010 is a Formula One racing car that was designed by Maurice Philippe for the Tyrrell team. It was introduced for the season....

was introduced and was raced in modified form until 1983.

In 1988, he designed the March-Alfa 89CR Indy car, but he died in 1989 before the car ran for the first time.