Paul Emery

Paul Emery, who died, aged 75, on February 3, was perhaps the most ingenius and prolific special builder in history. He raced an Emeryson at Brooklands and there was a long, varied succession of Emerysons after the war. He built several fwd 500cc F3 cars, raced his own F1 car throughout the 1950s and even qualified ahead of several Maseratis for the 1956 British GP. A batch of Emeryson F1 cars was made in 1961, though they proved disappointing.

He constructed a twin-engined Mini, an Imp-powered Emery GT took 15 class wins from 16 starts in the 1963 Motoring News GT Championship, one of his designs formed the basis of the Mini-Marcos (and Mini-Jem) and Emery-tuned Imps were a feature of saloon car racing in the 1960s.

In the 1970s, he turned his hands to quarter-mile midget racing, and won the national championship for five consecutive years. For the first time in his life, he made money from the sport. Later on, he worked on restoration of historic racing cars.

To his widow, Barbara, we offer our deepest condolences.

M L