John Gentry - Senior Engineer
SENIOR ENGINEER - OCEAN RACING TECHNOLOGY 2010
2008 to Date
Race Engineering/Design Consultan. Working primarily with: Ocean Racing Technology GP2 Team Race Engineer for Alvaro Parente Teamcraft - A1GP Team Pakistan and A1GP Team Germany
2005 - 2007
Race Engineering/Design Consultant.
Working primarily for Racing Engineering Ltd (Spain) in the role of Technical Director responsible for the operation and all technical aspects of their GP2 team while also being directly responsible for Race Engineering the cars of Neel Jani (2005), Adam Carroll (2006) and Sergio Jimenez / Ernesto Viso / Filipe Albuquerque /Marcos Martinez (2007)
1999 – 2004
Activa Technology Ltd. (Yamaha Motor Co. Ltd. (Japan))
TECHNICAL DIRECTOR (Activa Technology Ltd.)
TECHNICAL COORDINATOR (Dome Cars UK.)
Ultimately responsible for technical co-ordination and management of all departments within Activa Technology including Composite Manufacturing, Scale Wind Tunnel Operation, Engineering, Design and Suspension Development (Öhlins Racing UK.)
Liaison between Activa Technology and Dome Cars (Japan). Providing technical & race engineering support for Dome Cars in Europe, working directly for Jan Lammers - Racing for Holland team, competing in the FIA Sprotscar Championship and at the Le-Mans 24-Hours.
1996 – 1999
Triple Eight Race Engineering Ltd.
TECHNICAL DIRECTOR / CHIEF DESIGNER (Founder member.)
Directly involved in establishing a new team from scratch to campaign the Vauxhall Vectra in BTCC. Ultimately responsible for vehicle design and development. Enjoyed some success, may be more so than any other team campaigning a Vectra, however a disagreement with company policy led to my resignation at the end of the 1999 season.
1994 – 1996
Tom Walkinshaw Racing Ltd.
CHIEF DESIGNER (TWR/Volvo BTCC Program.)
Technically responsible for the Volvo 850 & S40 touring car projects.
Race Engineer for Ricard Rydell during this highly successful Volvo program.
1992 – 1994
Team Roberts (Yamaha Factory 500cc Grand Prix Team)
RACE ENGINEER/RIDER MANAGEMENT
Both John Kocinski and Luca Cadalora (his first GP victory) scored Grand Prix victories under my engineering/rider management.
1991 - 1992
Leyton House Formula 1 Team
DESIGNER/RACE ENGINEER (Mauricio Gugelmin, Karl Wendlinger)
1989 – 1991
Suzuki Factory 500cc Grand Prix Team
ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT / TEAM COORDINATOR
Kevin Schwantz scoring Grand Prix victories under my engineering management.
1988 – 1989
Benetton Formula 1 Team
TEST TEAM ENGINEER/RACE ENGINEER
Responsible for co-ordination of the test team chassis, active suspension and engine development programs.
RACE ENGINEER (Teo Fabi, Thierry Boutsen, AlessandroNannini)
1986 – 1987
Brabham Formula 1 Team
DESIGNER/RACE ENGINEER (Elio de Angelis, Derek Warwick, Andrea de Cesaris)
1984 – 1985
Renault Sport - Formula 1
RACE ENGINEER (Derek Warwick)
Also responsible for liaison between Renault Sport and all UK suppliers. Having negotiated a 3-year contract with Renault Sport it all came to an abrupt halt when they decided to withdraw from F1 due to industrial pressures and concentrate solely on providing engines for Formula One customer teams.
1984
Autodelta (Alfa Romeo Formula 1 Team)
CHIEF DESIGNER
Responsible for design of the 1985 Alfa Romeo Formula 1 car and design office management.
1980 – 1984
Toleman Group Motorsport
DESIGN OFFICE MANAGER/RACE ENGINEER (Derek Warwick)
Working with Rory Byrne on the design of the European Championship winning Formula 2 car and subsequent Toleman Group Motorsport Formula 1 cars.
Pre 1980
Having worked in a contract drawing office after completing my secondary school education in 1966 and then AC Cars (of Cobra fame) my motor sport career got underway at the end of 1970 when I joined MARCH ENGINEERING as a detail design draughtsman. (With one of my heros Ronnie Peterson)
Between 1973 and 1979 I worked for various teams in a design/race engineer capacity gaining valuable experience in each of the following teams.
UOP SHADOW (Nicholas AVS)
FITTIPALDI AUTOMOTIVE
TYRRELL RACING ORGANISATION
ATS FORMULA ONE TEAM