Joseph Gibson Fry (26 October 1915, Chipping Sodbury – 29 July 1950, Blandford circuit) was a British racing driver and distant member of the Fry's Chocolate family. He became the primary driver for the highly successful Shelsley Special "Freikaiserwagen", created by his cousin David Fry and Hugh Dunsterville, with help from Dick Caesar. The original car was built in Bristol in 1936 and featured an Anzani engine which was replaced in 1937 by a Blackburne engine. Joe set a number of hill records during the late 1930s including an unofficial outright record at Prescott when he climbed in 47.62 seconds in the 1,100 c.c. Freikaiserwagen, on 27 August 1938. At the outbreak of World War Two he held both the blown and unblown 1,100 c.c. records at Shelsley Walsh Hill Climb in 41.52 and 42.58 seconds respectively.
Fry finished second in class, for racing cars up to 1,100 c.c., in the Freikaiserwagen at the Brighton Speed Trials in 1947. He drove the car to a class victory at Brighton the following year recording a faster time. He won the class again at Brighton in 1949 reducing his time yet again.
At Blandford hillclimb on 28 May 1949: "J.G. Fry made f.t.d. in the 650 lb., twin Marshall-blown V-twin Freikaiserwagen." His winning time was 31.13 seconds.
At Bouley Bay Hill Climb, Jersey, on 21 July 1949, Fry finished first in class but overall a runner-up to Sydney Allard, at which point Fry led the British Hill Climb Championship. At the final round at Prescott he was just one point behind Sydney Allard, but he had mechanical problems and slumped to fourth overall behind Allard, Poore and Moss in the final standings.
Fry was killed at the wheel of the Freikaiserwagen at the 1950 Blandford hillclimb, less than two months after driving a Maserati 4CL in the 1950 British Grand Prix at Silverstone. Raymond Mays said: "The death of Joe Fry, from injuries received while practicing for a Blandford hill-climb, was a great blow to me and to British motor sport in general."
source: Wikipedia
Fry joined Renault earlier this month from McLaren, where he was praised by the outfit's bosses as having played an instrumental role in getting the Woking-based team back to competitive form.<br>But while Renault has hired him to give it a level of technical leadership that it felt it lacked in the past, Fry has played down talk that he just needs to repeat what he did at McLaren.<br>"I think the ...
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Fry will replace former chassis technical director Nick Chester, who announced his exit from the team after 19 years at the end of 2019.<br>Fry has had spells at Benetton, Ferrari, Manor and McLaren, whom he rejoined as engineering director in 2018 in a temporary role while the team waited for James Key's arrival.<br>He left McLaren during the 2019 season but remained under contract with the ...
It’s not yet clear what the former Ferrari man’s job title will be. The team’s technical side is currently headed by executive director Marcin Budkowski, and chassis technical director Nick Chester.<br>Fry began his career with the team in the early days of Benetton, rising to the role of race engineer by 1992.<br>He then moved to McLaren, becoming chief engineer before joining Ferrari as ...
Eric Boullier’s resignation as McLaren’s racing director in July of last year amid a torrid F1 campaign with the MCL33 kickstarted a restructuring of the Woking-based outfit.<br>The reshuffle, initiated by CEO Zak Brown, saw Stella installed as performance director and Fry brought in as engineering director on a short-term deal.<br>Speaking to Motorsport.com, Andreas Seidl and James Key – ...
Just days after Williams announced it had parted with former technical chief Paddy Lowe, Fry handed in his notice at McLaren and has been put on gardening leave.<br>Fry had returned to McLaren in September 2018 to help with the development of this year’s MCL34, which has helped the outfit jump up to fourth place in the constructors' standings.<br>However, Fry's tenure at Woking was always likely ...
After eight years away, Fry rejoined the Woking outfit last year on what was a short-term contract while it needed extra input as it awaited the arrival of James Key, who had been recruited from Toro Rosso as technical director but was on a lengthy gardening leave of his own.<br>Fry contributed to the development of the MCL34, working alongside performance director Andrea Stella. Both men have ...
Fry last worked in F1 as an engineering consultant for Manor before the team’s collapse before the start of last year. With McLaren going through a major overhaul of its structure, and likely to have to wait until next year before it can get hold of new technical director James Key, it has recruited Fry to help in its task. Talks have been ongoing for several weeks but it is now understood ... ...
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