Peter Bryant

3/4/1937

Record updated 22-Jan-19

Peter Bryant was born and Educated in the UK. Worked initially at Lotus Cars as engineering intern, and then in 1960 went into professional motor racing. Formula 1 racing as a Racing Mechanic/Engineer for the British Bowmaker F1 racing team featuring John Surtees and Roy Salvadori, Chris Amon and Mike Hailwood. 

Following a period as chief mechanic for the John Surtees driven factory Ferrari 250P sports car team, Peter Bryant emigrated from the UK to California in 1964. His first task was to re-design Mickey Thompson's 1964 Indianapolis cars. In 1965 Peter worked on the Carroll Shelby Cobra World Manufacturers cup winning race team and helped develop the LeMans Factory Ford GT40 cars. 

He was a race engineer/mechanic for the Peter Revson CAN-AM Car in 1966 and the USRRC winning Carl Haas Lola Can-Am Sports Car team in 1967/8. In 1969/70, Peter Bryant designed and built the Ti22 Can-Am cars Mk 1 & 2, (Below) driven by GP driver Jackie Oliver. These were the first ever sports car to utilize titanium in the unique monocoque chassis construction. 

They raced in the CANAM premier road racing series for FIA Group 7 cars The 1969 Ti22 Mk 1 above left was the first American built car to lead a CANAM Race in 1970. Along with the 1970 Ti22 Mk2 they scored more points in the 1970 CANAM Series than any other American designed cars. 

Peter Bryant is also a pioneer in the use of Aerodynamic ground effects to enhance cornering. In 1971/2, Peter Bryant designed the UOP Shadow Can-Am cars driven by Jackie Oliver and Carlos Pace in the Can-Am races. The Shadow Mk2(1971) and the Shadow Mk3 (1972) were the leading American designed cars to run in the Series in those years. 

Bryant designed cars scored more points in the CANAM than any other American designed cars including the ledgendary Chapparals. From 1966 to 1971 Chapparal scored 79 total points and in a shorter period from 1969 to 1972 Bryant designed cars scored 94 points total. 

The UOP Shadow cars were the first road racing cars to run on Unleaded gasoline and in 1971 Bryant was invited to give a paper about this to the SAE Millwaukee section. As a result he was invited to become a member of SAE and was subsequently made a member in 1973. 

In 1973 Bryant retired from active participation in racing and became an independent automotive design and engineering consultant.