From a press release issued by Team Roberts:

Formula One Designer John Barnard Joins Team Roberts

Banbury, England – January 7, 2003: Team Roberts is proud to announce that John Barnard has joined the team as Technical Director. Mr. Barnard assumes this role, effective immediately, at the team’s United Kingdom base of operations.

Mr. Barnard is famous for his prolific design work with racing cars, especially in Formula One. In a career spanning some 35 years he has worked for companies such as Lola Cars, McLaren, Benetton, Ferrari, Arrows and Prost.

Barnard assisted Gordon Coppuck in the design of McLaren’s 1974 F1 World Championship-winning M23. From 1975 through 1978 he designed the Vel’s Parnelli Jones VPJ6 series of Indy Cars. The series used an in-house developed turbocharged Cosworth DFV engine, the first turbo application of that of engine type. The VPJ6B is also noteworthy for initiating the use of a transverse mounted gearbox.

Other notable Barnard penned cars include Jim Hall’s 1980 Indy 500 and Indy Car championship winning Chaparral 2K, and the first all composite monocoque Formula One car – the McLaren MP4/1, which claimed it’s first victory by taking the 1981 British GP at Silverstone during it’s maiden season. The MP4/1 led to McLaren’s dominance of F1 in the mid-80’s. While heading up Ferrari’s Guildford Technical Office in England, Barnard developed Formula One’s first semi-automatic gearbox. The 1998 Arrows A19 F1 car was the first car to use a carbon composite gearbox, which was designed by Barnard.

In the capacity of Technical Director for Team Roberts, Mr. Barnard will be responsible for all engineering and technical development of the organization’s projects, including the 2003 Proton KR V-5 four-stroke grand prix racing motorcycle. He will also oversee all technical aspects of the racing team.

“There are a lot of things that can be done with motorcycles,” stated Barnard. “It’s all very exciting. There are new ways to make things as well as new ways to approach things in general.” He added, “Above all we must be realistic. We need to build a good foundation and get our feet on the ground, from there we can move forward.”

Team Roberts owner, Kenny Roberts commented, “Bringing John into our organization is another step in our quest to achieve a higher level of engineering, overall expertise, and competitiveness. He added, “I’ve known John for a lot of years and have complete faith in his ability to help us evolve our company and our team to a higher level.”