Owen Ashley

Owen attended Rondebosch Boys High School and was always passionate about motor sport, and he was only 19 when he completed the construction of his first race car. Over his 45-year career, he went on to design and build 170 types of racing and road vehicles and it’s estimated that the total number of cars he constructed was over 450. He also served some time as chairman of the Western Province Motor Club board at Killarney.

In 1981, Owen became motorsport manager of Toyota SA and one of his first tasks was the development of an all-wheel drive rally car. The result was the all-conquering Toyota Conquest which won numerous South African rallies against the likes of the works Audis, Nissans, and Volkswagens of the time.

Toyota Team Europe was so impressed that it adopted the gearbox and transmission design and went on to win the World Rally championships in 1990, 1992, 1993 and 1994.

On leaving Toyota, Ashley joined Motorsport South Africa and was responsible for enforcing the technical rules for the sport.

In the late 1980s, Owen formed Owen Ashley Auto Developments, based at the Killarney race circuit. The objective was to design and manufacture specialised one-off and low-volume vehicles, as well as to consult for various motorsport-related companies. The construction of the two BMW 535is for BMW SA, and the Opel Calibra for GM South Africa were just two of these projects. He would also develop and maintain the B17 BMW of Deon Joubert throughout it’s racing life.

Owen was consulted by Cape Advanced Vehicles, where he was soon appointed managing director. Under his control CAV exported 100 road-certified GT40's to the USA and has built more than 150 vehicles.

Ashley also joined Optimal Energy as a consultant in 2006 to assist with their research and development of an electric car the Joule. The car was developed from an original design by fellow Capetonian Keith Helfet and at least one drivable prototype was built – but the project would have cost too much to put into production and was closed down in 2012.

He was also responsible for the creation of the one-make Supercar Series, and followed this with the Masters V8 Series.This was a one-make racing series designed around a 5.7-litre Ford ‘crate’ engine rated at 335kW.

The left-hand drive cars, each weighing only 1050kg, were meticulously crafted on a tubular space-frame chassis with a monocoque front section, clad in a Ford Mustang-derived two door fastback GT body. Drive was taken to the rear wheels via a five-speed Tremec gearbox and limited slip differential.

Owen Ashley was honoured in 2009 with a Lifetime Achievement Award by Motorsport South Africa, as well as an award for Outstanding Motorsport Engineering Achievement from the South African Motorsport Industry Association.

He passed away on 16 March 2010 at the early age of 63.