I doubt that most land speed racers will be familiar with the name "John Horsman" but those in the UK and those who followed the "Golden Age' of sports car racing will be. John worked for Aston-Martin after graduating from Cambridge and eventually went to Ford Advanced Vehicles to be on the development team for the GT40. This operation became JW/Gulf Racing and they won Le Mans twice with their GT40s. Porsche turned over their sports car racing effort to JW/Gulf Racing and the blue & orange Porsche 917 became the dominant force after its evil handling problems were solved. During a pratice session at Zeltweg, John noticed that the pattern of smashed gnats on the bodywork showed the airflow pattern and there were no Gnats on the top of the tail of the 917-- the air was simply not flowing over the tail as it had been assumed that it would. A sheet of aluminum and a few pop rivets turned the Porsche 917K into "a proper racing car."
John retired to Tucson, where he lives now with his wife, Janet. He has written an excellent book about his days with legendary racing teams-- "Racing in the Rain".
In the past few years, John suffered two heart attacks-- one quite severe and another less so. In both cases he was injected with iodine to see his blood flow but the iodine destroyed 80% of his kidney function. He has been on a transplant waiting list for some time and last week one became available. A skilled transplant team here in Tucson operated on him and he now has a functioning kidney. This week John was released from the hospital and is now at home, although on medication to suppress his immune systen to minimize the cance of rejection.
I wish him the very best-- John Horsman is a fine engineer, an outstanding team manager, and he is a proper English gentleman.
Regards, Neil Tucson, AZ
