Former team boss Ralph Broad dies

By Jamie O'Leary Tuesday, September 21st 2010, 10:20 GMT

Legendary touring car team boss Ralph Broad has died at the age of 84.

Broad established Broadspeed Engineering in 1962 and became a rival to the works Cooper squad with his Minis in the British Saloon Car Championship (later the BTCC).

Its successes attracted works support for an assault on the European Touring Car Championship in 1965 and class wins came at Monza, Spa and the Nurburgring in Minis driven by the likes of John Fitzpatrick, John Handley and Broad himself.

Following his split with the British Motor Corporation, he ran Fitzpatrick to the 1966 crown in a Ford Anglia and was a regular winner with Escorts and Capris well into the early 1970s.

A works contract with British Leyland brought about programmes with both Triumph and Jaguar - Andy Rouse winning the 1975 BTCC crown in a Dolomite Sprint.

"Without him I'd never have been a racing driver," Rouse told AUTOSPORT. "I learnt so much from him since joining Broadspeed as an apprentice in 1971. Without that, I'd probably never have formed by own engineering company.

"He was a sensational engineer and his cars always had good handling.

"He was never afraid to push the boundaries when it came to the rules, but I think people had a lot of respect for him for that."

Broadspeed's final programme was with the monstrous Jaguar XJ12Cs in Europe, beginning in 1976. But when British Leyland pulled its backing for the project two years later, Broad sold his stake in the company and moved to Portugal.

AUSMINI sends its condolences to his family.

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120bhp with 450kg just fun waiting to happen

We were prob. drunk when we set it up last and thought this will be a good idea

RIP, i have always wanted a broadspeed mini. fantastic looking car.

The man must have been genius, to have been thought of as in the same circles as John Cooper. Another memorable person in the Mini World.

I would love to see an honorary Broadspeed made by BMW.

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Aussie Leyland, Aussie Factory, Aussie Mini S.

And of course those Broadspeed fastback derivatives namesake.

Not so sure about a BINI Broadspeed though.

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Slide
1965 Mini Van (1360)
1970 Mk2 Cooper S (1310)
1978 Rover SD1 V8 (4.6)
1996 Land Rover Discovery V8 (4.0)

yeah i agree, they would make a mess just like every other mini they have tried to make.

Dont tarnish a great model by making a poor ripoff much larger and heavier version, that wont be able to compete with other more powerful production cars.

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Sad,,, end of an era really

Peace & love to his family & friends

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No offence intended here but--> anyone writing a book about minis 30 years ago may not have experienced such worn or stuffed-with components as we are finding these days.

You should put your heart & soul into everything you do.