Thirty years in motorsport leaves a trail of machines. Each car on this page represents a chapter — a role, a team, a set of decisions made under pressure that shaped the engineer, the leader, and the businessman I became. This isn’t a collection. It’s a career told in metal and composite.
Spectrum 05b — Australian Formula Ford
The starting point. Racing Formula Fords in Australia — including with Jason Bargwanna — was where the engineering instincts took root. Single-seater racing at entry level is unforgiving and pure: no aerodynamic complexity, no excuses. It taught me that the basics done brilliantly beat sophistication done badly.
→ Read more: Motorsport Passions
McLaren MP4-17D & MP4-18a
Working at McLaren under Ron Dennis was a masterclass in what it means to make motorsport a science. The MP4-17D was a race-winning machine; the MP4-18a was a technically ambitious car that never raced, and arguably the most instructive project I worked on — because it taught me as much about the cost of over-engineering as the MP4-17D taught me about excellence. McLaren’s culture of precision and accountability became a template I carried for the rest of my career.
Arrows Grand Prix — A18 through A23
Six cars across several seasons at Arrows gave me breadth that McLaren’s precision had not — resource-constrained racing, rapid iteration, and the particular discipline of getting the most from what you have. The Arrows A23 is one I return to often: it later became the Super Aguri SA05, a transformation that is one of the most remarkable stories in modern Formula One. I will write that story fully soon.
Super Aguri SA05, SA06, SA07, SA08
Co-founding Super Aguri F1 with Honda in just 100 days remains one of the defining experiences of my career. We built a Formula One team from almost nothing — inheriting Arrows A23 chassis, recruiting a skeleton crew, and fielding Takuma Sato in a grid that included Ferrari and McLaren. The SA06 through SA08 represent a team punching consistently above its weight before the 2008 financial crisis ended the programme. What we built in those 100 days proved that systems thinking and sheer execution can overcome almost any resource disadvantage.
Amlin Aguri — Formula E Season 1
Being a founding Team Principal in Formula E meant writing the rulebook as we raced to it. Season 1 was part engineering challenge, part experiment — every team running identical Spark-Renault SRT_01E cars, learning together what electric motorsport could become. The decisions made in those early seasons shaped the championship that would go on to attract every major automotive manufacturer in the world.
DS TECHEETAH — Five World Championships
The TECHEETAH years are the chapters I’m most asked about. As Team Principal, we won five ABB FIA Formula E World Championships — Drivers’ and Teams’ titles — with Jean-Éric Vergne and António Félix da Costa. Behind those results was a relentless commitment to building the right culture: the right people, the right processes, and a pit wall that could make critical decisions in the space of a corner. Everything I now teach through the Motorsport MBA was forged here.
StreetDrone — Level 2 Autonomous Vehicle
Not a racing car — but arguably the most technically ambitious machine on this page. StreetDrone was founded to bring motorsport’s real-time data processing and sensor integration philosophy into the autonomous vehicle industry. The Level 2 Renault Twizy demonstrators in the Oxford office were the physical proof of concept for what became Oxa, following the acquisition of StreetDrone in September 2024.
Lola T001 — Formula E Season 11
The latest chapter. As Motorsport Director at the reinvented Lola Cars, I announced the Lola Yamaha Formula E entry at the Tokyo ePrix in 2024 — a partnership with Yamaha Motor Co. that brings together one of motorsport’s most storied constructors with one of Japan’s great engineering companies. The T001 represents everything I believe about where electrification, sustainable materials, and motorsport’s future are heading. The race is just beginning.
To discuss how these experiences translate into leadership and strategy for your organisation, get in touch.