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This
page include profiles of all the key members of the
team from the 2008 season.
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Ray
Mallock - Founder and Chief Executive, RML
RML’s
Managing Director, Ray started his professional
career with an apprenticeship at Aston Martin,
before joining the family motorsport business,
Mallock Racing. He worked there with his father
Arthur and brother Richard, producing the famous
Mallock U2 racing cars that started the motorsport
involvement of many people in the sport today.
Ray
then went on to carve out a successful driving
career, being a Grovewood award winner (the
forerunner to today's Autosport Awards) in 1971,
when he was acknowledged as being one of the
'up and coming' British drivers of the early
1970s. He went on to win the British Formula
Atlantic Championship twice, before moving into
sports car racing. He won nine world championship
events in Group C2 in the 1980s.
Ray's
engineering and business skills enabled him
to form RML in 1984, combining his joint passions
for driving and engineering. This ultimately
led to his being responsible for the build and
development of the Ecurie Ecosse and Aston Martin
Group C cars of the 1980s. Ray retired from
his professional driving career in 1989 to concentrate
on the business and spend more time engineering.
Since then RML has gone on to win in every category
in which it has competed, including being multiple
BTCC champions for Vauxhall and Nissan; rally
champions for Vauxhall and Opel, designing,
building and developing America's first supercar,
the Saleen S7, and winning LMP2 twice with the
RML-developed MG Lola EX264.
In
2004 he retuned to Le Mans as a driver for the
first time since 1989 driving the Roger Bennington
owned Aston Martin Nimrod in the Group C GTP
Motor Racing Legends race that preceded the
2004 Le Mans 24 Hours. He finished third in
class. This was also an opportunity for Ray
to reacquaint himself with the Aston Martin
Nimrod that had been such an important part
of his driving career and RML’s development.
Ray
still finds time - as often as he can - to race
his historic Mallock U2 Clubmans cars and he
regularly competes in one of the Aston
Martin DB4’s owned by Marsh Plant
and prepared by RML. In 2004 he shared a Saleen
S7-R in the Spa 24 Hours with his son Michael.
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Phil
Barker – Team Manager & Race Operations
Director
The
RML Le Mans and Le Mans Series team is headed
by Phil Barker, whose motorsport career started
more than 20 years ago in the World Sportscar
Championship with John Fitzpatrick Racing.
Phil
set out as a motorsport technician in 1984 but,
utilising his engineering qualifications, soon
progressed to chief mechanic, developing a specialist
knowledge of transmission preparation and development.
His early assignments included the World Championship-winning
Ecurie Ecosse C2 and Aston Martin C1 programmes
before he joined Tyrrell F1 to manage its transmission
department.
Phil
returned to RML in 1995, where he race-engineered
John Cleland to the driver’s title in
the highly competitive British Touring Car Championship.
He continued to engineer the Scot's car until
1997, when RML was retained by Nissan to run
its BTCC programme. Phil then spent three years
race-engineering another Scot, David Leslie,
culminating in a championship runner-up spot
in 1999.
Throughout
his BTCC era Phil also worked as development
engineer with particular emphasis on transmission,
steering and damper development.
When
RML returned to GT/Sportscar racing with the
Saleen programme in 2000 Phil was a key member
of the development team, and then went on to
lead the championship-winning ELMS programme
in 2001.
Over
the last few years Phil has been running the
majority of RML’s race activities, including
entries at Le Mans, the FIA GT Championship,
the LMES, Le Mans Series and winning the UK-based
ASCAR oval stock car series two years in succession
in 2002/3.
Since
2005 Phil has been the mastermind behind RML’s
successful LMES and Le Mans Series campaigns,
culminating in two class-winning performances
from the MG EX264 in the Le Mans 24 Hours of
2005 and 2006 and the Le mans Series LMP2 team
title in 2007.
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Adam
Wiseberg – Motorsports Director, AD Holdings
AD
Holdings is the principal sponsor of RML’s
sports prototype programme. Within that context,
Adam performs a complicated role, not only acting
as the chief point of contact between AD and
the race team, but also being the visible face
of the squad as far as the team’s guests
are concerned. During race weekends, Adam co-ordinates
the links between the team garage and hospitality,
organising pit visits, taking driver interviews,
explaining the complexities of the car and ensuring
that the day runs smoothly for the visitors.
At other times Adam is responsible for all the
team’s marketing and public profile –
everything from taking the final decision on
issues relating to the MG’s livery and
sponsor placement, to merchandising, branding,
negotiating additional sponsorship, and publicity.
This façade, however, hides a die-hard
motorsport enthusiast – and not merely
from the relative comfort of a hospitality suite!
Adam is also an accomplished driver in his own
right, and while his regular outings are at
the wheel of a historic rally car or classic
sportscar, like his favourite MGA, he has also
competed at international levels in contemporary
GT racing. He co-drove an RML Saleen S7R with
Ray and Michael Mallock in the 2004 Spa 24 Hours,
and in 2005 made his British GT debut with Emotional
Engineering at the wheel of the team’s
Monaro GT.
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Rick
Perry – Race Technician
Rick is one of the most experienced members
of the RML sportscar squad, having spent more
than half his life in motorsport. He’s
worked in Formula 1, DTM German touring cars,
GT and sportcars, and his list of satisfied
employers includes names like Mercedes, Jaguar,
Stewart Grand Prix and Lotus.
2008
will be Rick’s fifth year with RML. “I
love the people in this team, and I love working
with them,” he says. “Right from
the very top, from Ray (Mallock), the drivers
and the team management, and all the way through,
it’s like working for a huge family, not
just another race team."
"I
have a very wide competitive streak,”
he adds, “and I like to be on the winning
side. It’s so good to feel you’ve
had a hand in a something that’s successful,
and because of that competitive steak, I get
a huge sense of achievement whenever we do well.
You also know that it’s never down to
one person. This is a real team effort, and
we all work together really well, but it’s
very satisfying work.”
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Jason
Hancock – Race Technician (Number
1 Mechanic)
New
to the team in 2008, Jason's profile will be
updated shortly.
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Adam
Hughes – Race Technician (Number
2 Mechanic)
Although
still labelled as a “Junior”, Adam
is by no means a novice, as Rick Perry explained.
“Experience belies his years,” says
the team’s Senior Race Technician. “There
are not many in this business who can get to
the age of twenty-one and claim to have been
on the winning team at Le Mans twice. Adam is
one of those guys who always wants to improve,
do better, and achieve more. He’s not
just a body-polisher, even if that’s where
he started out. No, he’s a sharp, effective
member of the team and he's an excellent mechanic!”
That’s praise indeed from someone of Rick’s
experience and standing.
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Will
George (No 3, Apprentice Mechanic)
New
to the team in 2008, Will's profile will be
updated shortly.
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Teddy
Pedersen - Sub Assembly Technician
Teddy
is one of the longest-serving members of the
RML squad, having been with the team for thirteen
years now. Danish by birth, Teddy started out
as a mechanic, completed a stint as truckie
between 2001 and 2003, and is now predominantly
employed as Sub Assembly Technician. This is
a demanding job, with considerable responsibilities,
but doesn’t go without recognition. “Teddy
is a remarkably capable member of the team,”
says Phil Barker. “He’s very loyal,
a meticulous worker, an excellent mechanic and
a huge asset to the team.”
When
RML was running the Vauxhall and Nissan squad's
in the British Touring Car Championship, Teddy
acted as Number One mechanic on the test team
during the period when RML dominated British
Touring cars.
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Jamie
Cox – Fabricator
New
to the team in 2008, Jamie's profile will be
updated shortly.
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Rafal
Pokora– Data & Simulation Engineer
New
to the team in 2008, Rafal's profile will be
updated shortly.
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Mason
Jeffreys – Number One Truckie
New
to the team in 2008, Mason's profile will be
updated shortly.
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Andy
Berzins– Number Two Truckie
New
to the team in 2008, Andy's profile will be
updated shortly.
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Mark
Deacon – Pit Support Technician
A
community police officer with the Metropolitan
Police by trade, Mark Deacon joined RML for
the Le Mans 24 Hours for the first time in 2007,
and will be back again this year.
A
feature about Mark was included after last year's
race, and can be viewed again here.
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SUPPORT |
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Russell
Sames – Engine Technical Support (AER)
Russell
has been AER’s full-time representative
on the RML squad for two seasons now, acting
as technical support for the MG’s two-litre
turbocharged AER engine. Described as one of
the “top guys” in the business,
Russell is just “happy that they go on
believing that!”. He’s been with
AER for six years now, having come to the company
via Pi and, before that, Pectel; one of Mike
Lancaster’s earlier companies before he
founded AER.
In
2006 Russell oversaw the Chamberlain Synergy
LMP1 Lola, also powered by an AER unit, but
moved to RML from the start of 2007. Not only
was he with the team for the Le Mans 24 Hours,
but he also accompanies RML to most rounds in
the Le Mans Series. “Once the engine is
installed and running, one of my main duties
is to keep an eye on the engine telemetry and
management system, and try to pick up on any
potential problems before they arise.”
He enjoys the satisfaction of bringing together
fine engineering and complex electronics, and
achieving a balance that works. “It’s
enormously satisfying,” he says.
Russell
has been associated with MG and Le Mans since
the very beginning of the sportscar programme,
having been involved with the works MG EX257
project from 2000.
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Karl
Duchesne - Electronics Support (Life Racing)
2008
will be Karl’s third year with RML, having
been on permanent secondment to RML since the
start of 2006. As a representative of Life Racing,
Karl has expert responsibility for design and
maintenance of the MG's wiring loom and all
the car's electrical components and installations.
“We do a lot of work with AER,”
he explains. “Although I work exclusively
with RML, Life Racing also deals with several
other teams using the AER engine, including
Radical and ASM.” Aspects of Karl’s
work cover the Engine Management system, Chassis
Control and all the peripheral wiring. It’s
a great responsibility, and a challenge. “The
entire installation is unique to the MG,”
he says. “It has been specially designed
for RML, and for this car, and there is hardly
any carry-over, not even to the other cars based
on the similar Lola chassis. They’re all
different.” Karl works closely with Rick
Perry, RML’s Senior Race Technician.
Life
Racing is an affiliate company of AER Limited.
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Anne
Morel - French Liaison
Last
year was Anne’s fourth Le Mans with RML,
having first joined the team in 2003. Since
that time she has become a regular member of
the team at events and races all around Europe,
acting as Liaison Officer between RML and the
ACO.
Although
Anne has a long-standing interest in motorsport,
her last full-time job was as Finance and
Administration Director for the French
Chamber of Commerce in England. Based in London,
it was a post she occupied for eleven years.
Outside
her direct responsibilities towards RML, Anne
also works to help young and talented drivers
make their way in motorsport. Her past “charges”
include Nic Minassian, now enjoying international
recognition with Peugeot Total, and Briton Adam
Sharpe. She was also instrumental in helping
Thierry Sabin establish the Paris-Dakar Rally
as one of the most gruelling and demanding motorsport
challenges in the world.
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Marcus
Potts - Press Officer
2008
will be Marcus’s fifth season with RML,
and he has been working as Press Officer for
at least one of the race teams competing in
the 24 Hours every year since 1995.
That
first post at Le Mans was with Team Marcos,
when he was nominated for the ACO’s Media
Communication Award, narrowly losing out to
Yves Courage in the final analysis, but still
gaining an honourable mention – the only
time to date that a “runner-up”
has ever been acknowledged. Since then he has
worked for a variety of teams, including Marcos
Racing International, Chamberlain Motorsport,
Skea Racing International (second in GT2 in
2000) and PK Sport (three times). In 2003 he
was also employed by Team Bentley to report
on the squad's build-up to what would be a memorable
outright win for the historic British marque.
Away
from Le Mans, Marcus was Press Officer for Porsche
GB in 2001, covering Kelvin Burt and Marino
Francitti’s dominant run to the British
GT title. He followed that with two seasons
as Press Officer for GruppeM Motorsport, assisting
the team to the British GT2 title in 2004, and
then following them through to the FIA GT Championship
GT2 title as works team for Porsche in 2005.
Marcus
prepares Press Releases for the team, takes
many of the team’s photographs (both trackside
and in the pitlane) and writes, designs, hosts
and maintains the team’s website. A graphic
designer and copywriter by trade, Marcus has
been a motorsport enthusiast since the Group
C days. His first visit to Le Mans was in 1988,
with a group of friends from TWR Jaguar in Kidlington.
They cheered Jan Lammers, Johnnie Dumfries and
a certain Andy Wallace to victory that year.
Little did Marcus know that one day he’d
be working with Andy at Le Mans.
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