Spirit F1 owner and Le Mans-winning Bentley team boss John Wickham dies aged 73

His role with the Spirit team, which brought Honda back into F1 in 1983, and the first of two stints at Bentley as team director of the organisation that triumphed at Le Mans with the Speed 8 LM-GTP coupe were just two chapters of a varied and successful motorsport management career spanning five decades.

He returned to Bentley in early 2012 to mastermind the marque’s re-entry into motorsport with the Continental GT3 racer and was team manager of the factory M-Sport squad in 2014-15. Stefan Johansson, Spirit 201C Honda, in the pitlane with team manager John Wickham and designer Gordon CoppuckContact with Honda while at the Bicester-based constructor resulted in an invite to set up a team focused fully on the marque’s F2 programme with the two-litre V6 introduced in 1980.

Spirit limped through into the 1985 season with Hart power — and for one race a Cosworth DFV — before selling its Pirelli tyre deal to Toleman to pay off its debuts and subsequently closed its doors.

John Wickham was diagnosed with merciless motor neuron disease in 2019 (ALS in the USA) the same hideous horror that took the lives of BritishGT winner Neil Cunningham and McLarenF1's marketing maestro Peter Stayner... MND MoreNeedsDoing!

We will never forget you John

So sad. God bless

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