Top F1 designer joins Proton KR

Formula One designer John Barnard has joined Proton KR as technical director.

Barnard has worked for teams throughout Formula One, including McLaren, Ferrari, Benetton, Arrows and Prost. Successes included the first carbon-fibre monocoque, on a 1981 McLaren, and the first semi-automatic gearboxm, on the 1989 Ferrari. Both the McLaren and his Benetton B191 formed the basis for championship-winning machines.

As technical Director, Barnard will be responsible for all engineering and technical development of the organisaion’s projects, including the 2003 Proton KR V-5 four-stroke. He will also oversee all technical aspects of the racing team.

” There are a lot of things that can be done with motorcycles,” stated Barnard. “It’s all very exciting. There are new ways to make things as well as new ways to approach things in general.” He added, “Above all we must be realistic. We need to build a good foundation and get our feet on the ground, from there we can move forward.”

Team Roberts owner, Kenny Roberts commented, “Bringing John into our organisation is another step in our quest to achieve a higher level of engineering, overall expertise, and competitiveness.” He added, “I’ve known John for a lot of years and have complete faith in his ability to help us evolve our company and our team to a higher level.”

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