James Horley – Engineer – Inventor – Sportsman
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Life, Education, and Family
Born June 1960, in Melbourne, Australia. A talented athlete, Horley won a collage sports scholarship in Athletics and competed in several international events in the 400m; played VFA (Australian Rules) football and representative Rugby Union in both Australia and New Zealand. but his main passion was motorsport where he competed in Australian and Asian Championships and the 1987/88 World Touring Car Championship.
Horley suffered a career-ending accident in 1988 whilst competing in the Asian Touring Car Championship. He went onto form a group of companies in Australia and Europe specializing in Engineering Consulting and Grand Prix Safety where he became a leading authority in motorsport circuit design and safety.
Career
Horley obtained an engineering scholarship with the Johns Perry Group in Australia and worked on various engineering and construction projects throughout Australasia. Today James Horley is the senior partner of a consulting firm, Wenden Project Engineering, and is a member of the Royal Institute of Engineers (Australia) MIEAust and a Certified Practicing Project Director (CPPD) with the AIPM and PMI.
Motor Sport
Horley competed in various circuit categories with little success in his early days; mentored to give Rallying a try he acquired a Datsun160J and soon gained notoriety, in 1980 he acquired a new Nissan SSS featuring a 2 litre turbocharged engine and with some sponsorship, took the team to New Zealand for the World Rally Championship. After some good results in the NZ national rallies, he was offered a drive with a Nissan factory-backed team seeking for a replacement driver for the World Championship event’s Motorguard Rally of New Zealand’.
Following his first WRC event, Nissan offered him a sponsored drive competing in the Asian Rally Championship in a Nissan Silvia with Chang Racing. The Malaysian based team competed throughout Asia in FIA international events where Horley achieved some impressive results in the 5-day endurance events.
The Porsche 930’s were notoriously difficult to drive and with over 370HP and excessive ‘bump’ steering. Again Horley had his best results in the endurance events with points in Fuji & Shah Alam. Whilst racing in Macau Horley was involved in an accident when the circuit was blocked with four cars catching fire causing significant damage and Red Flagging the race
Horley returned to Australia for the Australian Endurance Championship rounds throughout the ’80s and drove for the Country Dealer Team in the 2-liter category in the Isuzu PF60.
With the introduction of ‘Group A’ Touring Cars as the new international FIA category in 1986, Horley acquired a two-car Ford 3000S Capri’s and competed in the Australian Touring Car Championship and Australian Endurance Championship.
In 1987, The team contracted a Nissan Skyline Turbo DR30RS for an assault on the outright category and competed in both the Australian Touring Car Championship (ATCC) & World Touring Car Championship (WTC) events.
In 1988, whilst competing in the Southeast Asian championship, Horley was involved in a highspeed accident and suffered serious injuries including a broken neck which forced his retirement from competition.
Inventions
Motor Sports Telemetry
James Horley also developed the world’s first live data telemetry system for motorsport [3]. His engineering expertise and knowledge of international motorsport allowed him to develop ‘The Racing Modem System’ developed in conjunction with his sponsor, Netcomm Australia.
For the first time, data from the on-board CPU’s were transmitted to the team engineers in the pits, allowing them to analysis the race cars’ performance in real-time. This technology was a world-first for motorsport and was released in Australia at the 1987 Sandown Castrol 500 where he finished 5th outright.
Today Data Telemetry Systems are utilized in all international motorsport categories, including all Formula One teams. Data collected from the car’s engine, drivetrain and chassis management systems are sent to the engineers via live-stream radio signals allowing instance analysis of performance and fuel management systems, braking and engine performance. Data analysis and measurements of the race car provide vital engineering information including accelerations (G forces) in 3 axes, temperature readings, wheel speed, and the displacement of the suspension.
Horley went on to develop a version of the data transmission specifically for television, where the car’s instrument panel could be shown during live TV broadcasts. This initiative was first used by Australia’s 7 Network during the World Touring Car Championship in the Bathurst 1000 in 1987 and is now utilized by many broadcasters on various motorsport coverage throughout the world. [4]
Grand Prix Safety
Following his retirement from driving, Horley continued to be involved in international motorsport. Whilst still recovering from his injuries, Horley designed and developed the only engineered safety crash barrier system for Grand Prix Motorcycle Racing.
Horley went through a stringent design & test regime. After 20 months of development, the ‘Airfence Safety System’ was demonstrated to the Federation Internationale Motorcyclists (FIM) during the 1991 Malaysian Grand Prix.
Later that year Horley went to Geneva to seek FIM approval of the Airfence for all Championship events and was granted an official ‘Homologation’ in 1992. The Airfence Safety System has revolutionized Grand Prix & Road Racing safety as the only advance in Grand Prix safety since the introduction of straw bales in 1919.
The Airfence has been a feature of Grand Prix (MotoGP) & Superbike (SBK) events along with most national championships around the world since the early nineties and is a mandatory safety barrier on most Grand Prix circuits. The Airfence Safety Systems are installed on over 35 countries and have been responsible for saving countless lives and serious injury to drivers competing in over 20 different championships.
Horley established ‘Airfence Safety Systems’ in Australia and formed of joint venture companies in Europe & America service the Grand Prix industry around the world.
Following the death of Ayrton Senna in 1994, the Federation Internationale Automobile (FIA) approached Horley to design & develop a safety crash barrier specifically for Formula 1 Grand Prix where the racing circuit cannot be modified; such as Monaco.
Working with the renowned F1 & FIA Medical Director, Prof Syd Watkins and F1 legends Gerhard Berger and Niki Lauder, Horley designed, developed, and tested a specialised Safety Crash Barrier for F1 Grand Prix. Horley took his new Airfence F1 System to Milan for testing under the FIA supervision with The Airfence F1 Safety System gaining homologation in 1995 for Formula 1 Grand Prix.
Since the development of the initial Airfence, Horley continued his work in Grand Prix Safety and was recognized as the world’s leading authority in Grand Prix circuit design and safety. He also went on to develop safety crash systems for the World Cup Speedway & the Winter Olympics which was first used in Lillehammer.
Today, James Horley lives in Australia and pursues his passion for yacht racing.
References
- ^ Register of Certified Project Managers, retrieved 2010-03-11
- ^ Newspaper Clipping
- ^ Beyond 2000, retrieved 2010-03-11
- ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5lPRXNvoSc
- ^ Tomorrows World, retrieved 2010-03-11
Retrieved from “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Horley“
Categories: Australian racecar drivers | Australian Touring Car Championship drivers | 1960 births | Living people | Australian engineers`
James Horley
| Nationality | Australian |
| Born | June 1960 |
| Motorsport Career | |
| 146 | Race Starts |
| Championships & Events | |
| 1979-81 1981 – 82 1982 | Victorian Rally Championship Australian Rally Championship New Zealand Championship |
| 1982 -83 1982 -85 1984-88 1985-88 1983-86 1986-87 1983-85 1984-87 | World Rally Championship Asian Rally Championship Australian Touring Car Championship Australian Endurance Championship Asian Sports Car Championship Asian Touring Car Championship Macau Grand Prix Bathurst 1000 |
| Awards | |
| 2004 | FIM ‘Jack Findlay’ Award |
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