Peter Warr
{{Short description|British motorsport executive (1938–2010)}}
{{For|the British occupational psychologist|Peter B. Warr}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2021}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2012}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Peter Warr
| image = Peter Warr 1973 Italian Grand Prix.jpg
| caption = Warr at the 1973 Italian Grand Prix
| birth_name = Peter Eric Warr
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1938|06|18|df=y}}
| birth_place = Kermanshah, Imperial State of Iran
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2010|10|4|1938|06|18|df=y}}
| death_place = Sainte-Foy-la-Grande, Gironde, France
| alma_mater = Royal Military Academy Sandhurst
| occupation = {{hlist|
| Motorsport executive
| racing driver
}}
| employer = {{plainlist|
- Formula One
- Lotus ({{F1|1970}}–{{F1|1976}})
- Wolf ({{F1|1977}}–{{F1|1979}})
- Fittipaldi ({{F1|1980}}–{{F1|1981}})
- Lotus ({{F1|1981}}–{{F1|1989}})
}}
| title = {{bulletedlist|
| Team Principal
}}
| spouse =
| children =
}}
Peter Eric Warr (18 June 1938 – 4 October 2010) was a British motorsport executive and racing driver. From 1970 to 1976 and from 1981 to 1989, Warr served as team principal and sporting director for Lotus in Formula One, winning three World Constructors' Championship titles between {{F1|1970}} and {{F1|1973}}; he also served in executive roles at Wolf and Fittipaldi. As a driver, Warr won the inaugural Japanese Grand Prix in 1963 with Lotus.
Early life and career
Peter Eric Warr was born on 18 June 1938 in Kermanshah, Imperial State of Iran.{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/peter-warr-racing-driver-and-team-manager-who-nurtured-the-careers-of-nigel-mansell-and-ayrton-senna-2120547.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220526/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/peter-warr-racing-driver-and-team-manager-who-nurtured-the-careers-of-nigel-mansell-and-ayrton-senna-2120547.html |archive-date=26 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Peter Warr: Racing driver and team manager who nurtured the careers of|date=30 October 2010|website=The Independent|access-date=9 September 2017}} Warr served a period of National Service as an officer in the Guards Division of the British Army, after training at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.{{cite journal|last= Tremayne |first= David |author-link= David Tremayne |date= 10 October 2010 |title= "Now look here, Chap...": Remembering Peter Warr |journal= GrandPrix+ |issue= 71 |pages= 63–67 |url= http://www.grandprixplus.com/ }} Following demobilisation he moved into business. Warr joined Lotus Cars in 1958 as a salesman, soon switching to sister company Lotus Components where he handled sales of the company's customer racing cars, quickly rising to become Managing Director. During this period he also enjoyed a career as a racing driver, driving the same Lotus 18 Formula Junior cars that he sold during his day job. As a driver he did not reach Formula One, but he won a Formula Junior race in a Lotus 20 on the 4.8-mile south circuit at the Nurburgring on 28 April 1962,Competition Press, Vol.8-No.10, 26 May 1962, Page 5. and is famous as the first winner of the Japanese Grand Prix in 1963, driving one of his employer's Lotus 23 sportscars.
Motorsport management
Warr was selected by Colin Chapman in late 1969 to be Team Lotus' Competitions Manager in Formula One, and helped mastermind Jochen Rindt and Emerson Fittipaldi's World Championships in {{F1|1970}} and {{F1|1972}}, respectively. At the end of 1976 Warr moved to the new team set up by Canadian oil magnate Walter Wolf, and oversaw a very successful first year in which Jody Scheckter won three races and challenged for the World Championship. Wolf's fortunes flagged and at the end of 1979 was merged with the Copersucar Fittipaldi team. By mid 1981 Chapman had enticed Warr back to Lotus, where he would remain until 1989.
File:Elio De Angelis talking to Peter Warr at Detroit Grand Prix 1983a.jpeg at the 1983 Detroit Grand Prix]]
After Chapman's death, Warr took over the role of the team boss. He hired a young Ayrton Senna to partner Elio de Angelis against the wishes of John Player & Sons (JPS), the team's main sponsor, which wanted to keep Nigel Mansell.{{cite news| url =http://www.lotus-cars.jp/magazine/ebook/lotus/base.html?040l_epoch0004| title =Last Legend of Lotus| publisher =LCI Limited / Lotus Magazine (Lotus Magazine 09)| language =ja| url-status =dead| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20090327185431/http://www.lotus-cars.jp/magazine/ebook/lotus/base.html?040l_epoch0004| archive-date =27 March 2009}} After the very wet 1984 Monaco Grand Prix, in which Mansell crashed out of the lead, Warr famously stated that "he'll never win a Grand Prix as long as I have a hole in my arse".{{cite journal|last=Taylor|first=Simon|date=December 2009|title=Lunch with...Nigel Mansell|journal=Motor Sport|volume=85|issue=12|page=62}} Mansell went on to become one of the most successful British Formula One drivers of all time, with 31 race wins and becoming the only driver ever to hold F1 and CART titles at the same time.
As Lotus team manager, Warr signed Japanese giant Honda for use of their turbocharged engines in {{f1|1987}} to replace the turbo Renault engines the team had been using since {{f1|1983}} after the French manufacturer pulled out of F1 at the end of {{f1|1986}}. As part of the deal to get the Honda engines, which at the time were the best in Formula One, Lotus agreed to sign Honda test driver Satoru Nakajima as Ayrton Senna's teammate. Also gone from the cars was the famous Black and Gold of sponsors JPS, replaced by the Yellow and Blue of Camel cigarettes.
After a poor start to the 1989 season, Warr was asked to stand down as Lotus boss and was replaced by Rupert Mainwaring and Peter Collins. The change in Lotus team management took place before the ninth round in Germany.
Warr died suddenly of a heart attack on 4 October 2010, in Sainte-Foy-la-Grande, France.{{cite news|title=Peter Warr passes away|publisher= Formula One Administration |work= Formula1.com |url= http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2010/10/11342.html|date=5 October 2010|access-date=2010-10-05}} The sport's commercial rights holder and former Brabham team principal, Bernie Ecclestone, paid tribute to Warr's importance to Formula One, saying that "he helped me to build it to what it is today".{{cite news|last=Ecclestone|first=Bernie|author-link=Bernie Ecclestone|title=Peter Warr - a message from Mr Ecclestone|publisher=Formula One Administration|work=formula1.com|url=http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2010/10/11343.html|date=5 October 2010|access-date=2010-10-05}}
Warr's book My view from the pit wall was unfinished when he died. Journalist Simon Taylor added a prologue and commentary and it was published by Haynes Publishing in 2012.{{cite web|url=http://en.espnf1.com/f1/motorsport/story/70696.html|title=Book review: Team Lotus: My View from the Pit Wall|author=Chris Medland|date=20 February 2012|publisher=ESPN F1}}
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Warr, Peter}}
Category:People from Kermanshah
Category:English motorsport people
Category:English racing drivers
Category:Formula One team principals