Name: Owen Maddock
Nationality: Great Britain

Great Britain

Date of birth: 1925

Date of death: 2000

Born in 1925 Maddock began his career as a fitter with the Cooper family soon after World War II. Maddock designed the Cooper Formula 3, Formula 2 and Formula 1 cars between 1954 and 1963. He was easily recognisable by his pronounced stutter and fulsome beard, earning him the nickname of 'Whiskers'. His designs, the first to feature a mid-engined layout since Dr. Ferdinand Porsche's pre-war Auto Union, were born of frustration with Charlie Cooper's insistence that a radical design was required to achieve success. Stirling Moss first took the Cooper to victory in Brazil in the first round of the 1958 world championship, and the following year Jack Brabham drove to the Brighton marque's first world championship title.

Maddock parted with Cooper in 1963 - his last design was the Type 69, a monocoque F1 car which was never built - and went off to design hovercraft although he continued to act as a freelance design consultant to Bruce McLaren's fledgling team until the later 1960s.

He died in 2000.