Few racing car designers have enjoyed such long and distinguished careers as Bob Riley. The American, who has died 93, was both prolific and successful in multiple disciplines over the course of more than 60 years at the drawing board.

Riley-designed cars won the Indianapolis 500, the United States Auto Club Champ Car title multiple times and just about everything worth winning in North American endurance racing. Repeatedly! His designs triumphed at the Daytona 24 Hour no fewer than 13 times.

It will be for those successes in sportscar racing that Riley will be best remembered, not just for the sheer number of races and championships won, but because the cars that accrued them carried his name. Riley & Scott took a trio of wins at Daytona in with the MkIII World Sports Car in the second half of the 1990s, while Daytona Prototypes known simply as Rileys took a further 10 in the US endurance classic during the Daytona Prototype era between 2005 and 2015, including eight on the bounce.

The MkIII open-top prototype and the family of Riley DP coupes – the MkXI, the MKXX and MkXXVI – (both spaceframe chassis designed together with son Bill) were serial championship winners. Drivers of the former took a total of eight titles on the original IMSA trail (subsequently known Professional Sportscar Racing), in the United States Racing Racing Championship, the American Le Mans Series and the Grand American Road Racing Series. The line of DPs took the Grand Am crown nine times.

“Just about everything I drove designed by Bob was incredible,” says Wayne Taylor, who won Daytona with both the MkIII and the MkXI, as well as the IMSA and Grand-Am titles with each car. “With a Riley chassis I knew that I was going to be in a position to win races and championships.

“Bob understood what was required for racing on the rough tracks in North America; he understood that you need mechanical grip. His cars were always easy to drive. That was always the big thing about a Riley.

Wayne Taylor, pictured with his team after winning the 2005 Daytona 24 Hours, enjoyed enormous success in Riley cars

Photo by: F. Peirce Williams / Motorsport Images

“He played a massive role in my career going all the way back to the Intrepid GTP I raced at the start of the 1990s. I have a lot to thank him for.”

Riley’s successes in single-seaters came as a hired hand. He started working for US racing legend AJ Foyt for the 1971 season, designing the Coyote with which his employer took third place at Indy that year. An evolution of the car Riley conceived for ’73 would give Foyt his fourth and final victory at the Brickyard in 1977.

By then, Riley had moved over to work for Pat Patrick. He would design a quartet of Wildcats for him, though not before he’d built the first Indycar to bear his name in ’74. There would be another two R&S designs built for the Indy Racing League between 1997 and 2000. Both marques were race winners in their respective series, as was another Coyote, with full ground-effects, built for Foyt in 1981. It sat on the front row at Indy, too.

Many of Riley’s sportscar designed didn’t carry his monicker, either. The Chevrolet-engined Intrepid RM-1, an IMSA race winner in Taylor’s hands in 1991, was an important car the Riley story: it was the first machine father and son designed together and can be considered the roofed forebear of the MkIII. Then there was the first Cadillac Northstar LMP that flew the flag for the General Motors brand at Le Mans in 2000 and again, in a form modified by others, in 2001.

His Ford Mustang GTP – a front-engined prototype that predated the Panoz LMPs of the late 1990s and early 2000s – was a race winner, too. It won first time out in IMSA in 1983, though never again.

Yet Riley was much more than a designer of prototypes and Indycars. His body of work was immense. A string of titles were claimed by his chassis in the Trans-Am silhouette series: 13 drivers claimed overall titles in the Riley-penned tubeframe racers. GT machinery, tubeframe or otherwise, by his hand won North American sportscar titles with Chrysler’s Dodge brand, Oldsmobile and Mazda.

Formula Ford, Super Vee chassis and a Busch Grand National second-tier NASCAR emerged off the Riley drawing board over the years. There was even a Land Speed Record car built for the salt flats of Bonneville.

Foyt took his fourth Indy 500 win in 1977 with Coyote originally devised by Riley

Photo by: Motorsport Images

Riley started out building cars in which to compete himself. The first was a C-Modified Sports Car Club of America contender built in 1959 that followed on from a pair of Triumphs, a TR2 and then a TR3, purchased during a stint in the US Air Force. The tubeframe machine known as a Lynx was powered by a Chevrolet V8 and, he would relate in his autobiography The Art of Race Car Design published in 2015, had more than a hint of of the Jaguar D-type about it.

He began his engineering career working on the Saturn space programme before moving to Ford, which seconded him to Kar Kraft to work on the project that yielded the US manufacturer four straight Le Mans victories in 1966-69. Suspension design was his focus on the Ford MkII and IV. All the while, he was building more Lynx chassis, Vees and FF1600s, in his spare time.

Riley & Scott was established in 1990 with Briton Mark Scott, a former McLaren mechanic who had moved to the USA with Teddy Mayer’s new CART operation set up on his departure from the F1 team. R&S was briefly part of the Reynard Racing Cars empire from 1999, before ownership quickly returned to the Riley family. Riley Technologies was the new name for the company.

A passion for engineering drove Riley to continue designing racing cars into his dotage. Riley never really stopped working: he worked on a new Trans-Am car this decade. Suspension and aerodynamics were his twin specialities: he was experimenting with ground-effect at the same time as that other great innovator, Lotus boss Colin Chapman, in the mid-1970s.

Bob once remarked to this author when already deep into his 80s that he was only working part time these days. In old age, he pointed out, he wasn’t getting to the workshops until until 9:30.

Riley & Scott company he co-founded with Mark Scott in 1990 helped cement Riley’s name in sportscar racing lore

Photo by: Motorsport Images

The FIA and the Austin race promoter are in discussions over installing adjustable gravel traps for Formula 1’s 2025 United States Grand Prix, Motorsport.com understands.

This approach is aimed at solving the track limits controversy involving Red Bull’s world champion Max Verstappen and McLaren driver Lando Norris that marred the end of last Sunday’s race at the Circuit of the Americas.

The Austin track had already made considerable effort to avoid further F1 track limits sagas during its recent major resurfacing work, following the 2023 race where Haas sought a right of review over track limits abuse it felt should have been sanctioned.

Turns 6, 13, 14 and 15 at Austin were narrowed, along with cameras installed to monitor track limits at various places, while Turn 11’s run-off was covered in a resin-bound ‘fake’ gravel-filled insert.

But the track did not install the small gravel trap solution the FIA has worked to develop for 2024 that was first installed at Austria’s Red Bull Ring and called the “perfect set-up” by F1 race director, Niels Wittich

This approach involves narrowing kerbs and painting white lines to ensure cars cannot be run on these fully without going off track, but critically a small gravel track is installed behind a kerb to act as a deterrent to drivers really pushing track limits – with the whole aspect designed to be easy for tracks to revise when it comes to holding motorbike events that cannot have gravel for safety reasons.

Track detail with gravel traps

Photo by: Jon Noble

Motorsport.com understands that as part of its rollout of the removable gravel trap feature, all F1 tracks were asked to consider installing it at certain contentious corners.

The idea was therefore put to the Austin race organiser ahead of the 2024 event that ended with Norris dropping off the podium for overtaking Verstappen outside track limits at Turn 12 at the end of the track’s long main straight – where the Red Bull was also running off the road.

The pair had also clashed in a similar incident – albeit with Verstappen as the attacker the whole way through the move – at the first corner of the Austin race where they also both went off the road.

There was much discussion in the media over the idea of installing the adjustable gravel traps used at the Red Bull Ring as a solution for Turn 1 and 12 at Austin in the immediate aftermath of last weekend’s race.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20, Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38, battle into turn 1, as Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-24 overtakes Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-24

Photo by: Steve Etherington / Motorsport Images

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Motorsport.com understands that the FIA has again raised the idea with the Austin promoter following the race’s controversial ending.

However, it only has the power to force circuits to make such design changes on safety grounds, which, given the current saga focuses on sporting clashes, this does not cover.

Austin also must consider how any gravel traps might impact safety at the MotoGP event it has hosted since 2013 and the adjustable gravel traps solution is also understood to come with considerable extra cost to any track that wants to install them.

COTA boss Bobby Epstein had said ahead of this year’s US GP that the adjustable gravel trap solution was not suitable for the Texas venue at this stage.

“You can’t have both,” he said. “You can’t cut into the track and put in gravel, then flip it back and hope it stays watertight when you have clay underneath it.

“So, there’s some back-and-forth challenges to it.”

Pedro Acosta, Red Bull GASGAS Tech3

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

This topic was also much discussed ahead of this weekend’s race in Mexico, where the F1 drivers had to field many questions about the Verstappen/Norris incidents on the event’s media day.

Mercedes driver George Russell said: “For me, the root cause of the problem is having a circuit that allows you to run wide.

“And if we take Austria last year as an example, you had, I don’t know, 300 track limit problems. They put gravel in, and there’s no problems.

“If you put gravel in on that corner [Turn 12 at Austin], Lando doesn’t go off and overtake, and Max doesn’t break that late and go off as well. So, I think we need to tackle the root cause.”

COTA has been approached for comment on this article.

McLaren Formula 1 driver Oscar Piastri says he has no intention of seeking Red Bull talks and is “very happy where I am”.

Piastri has long been on Red Bull’s radar as a future option, and in a recent interview, Red Bull driver advisor Helmut Marko said Piastri’s manager Mark Webber was keen to have a conversation about the 23-year-old’s future.

But Piastri, who has a contract with the Woking-based team until the end of 2026, says he is perfectly happy to stay where he is, having taken his first two career wins in his second season with McLaren this year.

When asked in Mexico if Red Bull was on his horizon for the future, the Australian replied: “Definitely not. I’m very happy where I am. I’m under contract for the next two years after this. I’m certainly not looking to go elsewhere.

“It wouldn’t be a weekend in F1 without some comments from Helmut.”

Piastri, who won in Hungary and Azerbaijan, said he was “not massively” surprised by Red Bull’s interest but treated it as a sign of respect.

Oscar Piastri, McLaren F1 Team, Lando Norris, McLaren F1 Team, wave to the crowd on the drivers’ parade

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

“It’s a nice compliment I would say,” he added. “But again, I’m very happy with where I am and they have quite a big pool of drivers they can choose from.”

Piastri’s comments come in the wake of him being asked to support Lando Norris in the drivers’ championship, as his team-mate still has a chance to dislodge odds-on title favourite Max Verstappen.

In an interview with Motorsport.com, Verstappen said he would not have accepted backing up his team-mate.

“Max is a very straightforward guy,” Piastri said in Austin about Verstappen’s comments. “Says what he thinks, we all know that.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, 2nd position, Lando Norris, McLaren F1 Team, 1st position, and Oscar Piastri, McLaren F1 Team, 3rd position, on the podium

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar

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“In my position, I don’t see it as being a number one, number two. If I put in good performances and deserve them on merit…Baku was a perfect example, really, of not giving up everything this season purely for the benefit of Lando and trying to help the team as best as I can. 

“So, it’s not simply number one number two. We still have the same car. We still have the same opportunities. I appreciate [Max’s] support, but it’s not really how I feel.”

Norris’ title chances took a hit after finishing behind Verstappen in both Austin’s sprint race and grand prix, meaning he now trails the triple world champion by 57 points with five rounds remaining.

Lewis Hamilton is sticking with Mercedes’ latest upgrade for Formula 1’s Mexican Grand Prix, despite the troubles he faced with it in Austin.

The seven-time world champion spun out of last weekend’s United States GP early on, in an incident he suspected had been triggered by balance problems from new developments.

His view seemed to be supported by the fact that team-mate George Russell had had a near identical crash at the same Turn 19 in qualifying.

With Russell’s accident damaging his own new parts, which have been flown back to the team factory for repairs and should be ready for Brazil, Mercedes had to make a choice for Mexico as to which of its two drivers would have the upgrades.

The squad has agreed that Hamilton will stick with the latest parts, with Russell running the previous specification which should provide some valuable back-to-back data on whether or not the new upgrade is working as hoped.

Having now looked more closely at the data, Hamilton thinks that the Austin difficulties were likely the result of the track being so bumpy, rather than there being a fault with the upgrades.

“We can see in the data that we have three wheeling, so the left wheel starts moving,” said Hamilton. “The car is jacking, basically.

“We can see on the rear, the right height oscillating a lot, so 12 to 15mm difference going into the corner. And you can see a 40 kilometre [per hour] tail wind.

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 W15, retires from the race in the gravel after a spin

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

“So you can imagine, there’s a small window where the downforce is perfect, and then it gets too high. Then you fall off the peak, so I think it was a combination of all those things.

“If you watch the video, the car is bouncing, the left wheel starts bouncing, and then I think we just lose load, and I think the floor is probably a little bit more sensitive maybe than the previous floor.

“But I’ve kept it on this weekend because it’s a much less bouncy circuit, and it’s good because we need to get more data on it.”

Russell echoed Hamilton’s view that having packages split across both Mercedes should help fast track the team’s learnings on where it sits with its latest upgrade package.

His suspicion is that Austin was much more about the team having been too bold with its set-up, rather than it being a fault of new parts.

“Having had a few days to review everything from Austin, I think it’s fair to say we were sailing a bit too close to the wind with how we set our car up,” he said.

“We were setting up really aggressive, really close to the ground, and it clearly bit Lewis and I over the course of Saturday and Sunday. But when we could get around the lap, we showed real signs of strong performance.

“I think this weekend in Mexico is going to be a good opportunity to see across the two cars. Obviously, we’ve only got one upgrade this weekend and, as I was the one who damaged it last week, Lewis got the choice and elected to use the new one.”

Antonelli factor

Hamilton is sitting out opening practice for the Mexico, with rookie driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli having another run for the squad ahead of his debut in place of Ferrari-bound Hamilton next year.

But, after the Italian’s debut FP1 appearance in Italy ended with a high-speed crash into the barriers after 10 minutes aboard Russell’s car, Hamilton says he has advised the 18-year-old to not feel the need to impress so early on this time out.

Asked if he had any concerns about handing over his upgraded car to Antonelli, Hamilton said: “I don’t really personally feel that. Again, going into Monza, we didn’t approach it in that way.

“Kimi is young, and he’s learned from his first outing in Monza. We did our briefing together, because obviously he’s working with Bono next year, and obviously I’m here to support in any way I can.

“I think what’s key is, and as I spoke to him, he doesn’t have to set the world alight on the first lap. Just build into it, enjoy it. I told him the track is really, really dirty early on.”

Watch: McLaren and Red Bull Summoned by the Stewards – F1 Mexican GP Media Day Reaction

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Ford will be represented in the DTM for the first time in over three decades, with the American marque inking a new partnership with long-time Mercedes customer HRT for 2025.

The outfit run by businessman and gentleman driver Hubert Haupt will field a pair of Ford Mustang GT3s in the DTM next year, run under the Ford Performance HRT banner.

It will be a part of a larger collaboration between Ford and HRT that will see the German squad enter the GT3 version of the popular muscle car in other European championships, including the NLS, GT Masters and GT World Challenge Europe.

The tie-up with HRT marks the next stage in the expansion of the Mustang GT3 programme after Ford introduced the car in limited capacity at the beginning of 2024.

Together with Multimatic, which co-developed the Mustang GT3, Ford entered the car on a factory-basis in the GTD Pro class of IMSA SportsCar Championship this year, while Proton secured additional customer entries in the pro-am GTD class and its LMGT3 equivalent in the World Endurance Championship.

Proton also entered the GTWCE Endurance Cup with an all-Pro entry after plans for Dinamic Motorsport to switch from Porsche fell through.

“Having a team like HRT join the Ford Performance global family is a significant moment for us,” said Mark Rushbrook, global director, Ford Performance Motorsports.

“Haupt Racing Team’s proven success in DTM and other race series is a strong endorsement of the Mustang GT3, and we’re thrilled to see them take on the legendary ADAC RAVENOL Nurburgring 24 Hours as well as many of the other iconic circuits of Europe.

Haupt Racing Team Ford Mustang GT3

Photo by: Ford Performance

“This also means that along with our partners at Multimatic and Proton Competition, the Ford Mustang GT3 will now be competing at most of the iconic, 24-hour races at circuits such as Le Mans, Daytona and Spa.

“This collaboration strengthens our global position in GT3 racing and opens up new series and audiences for us around the world as we continue to grow the Mustang racing program in 2025.”

HRT had been a major customer of Mercedes since it was formed in 2020, but its contract with the German manufacturer was due to expire at the end of the year.

In the five years it has spent racing the Mercedes-AMG GT3, HRT won the DTM title at its first attempt with Maximilian Gotz when the championship switched to GT3 rules for 2021, plus the Silver Cup title in the Sprint leg of GTWCE with Jordan Love in 2023.

HRT managing director Ulrich Fritz said: “HRT has continuously developed and improved over the past few years.

“We have built up a high level of expertise in the use and development of race cars. We are therefore very excited about this new project.

“The fact that Ford has chosen HRT as its spearhead in Europe is a great honour. Ford is a real power brand with a great motorsport tradition and high motivation.

“The Ford Mustang GT3 is a latest-generation race car that we will certainly be able to take to the next level together.

“We will be well prepared for the upcoming season and are very much looking forward to working with Ford.”

Ludwig, pictured in Tourist Trophy action in 1988, won that year’s DTM title in a Sierra RS 500

Photo by: LAT Photographic

Ford has a history of competing in the original iteration of the DTM. A previous version of the Mustang GT had a cult following in the series, with Gerd Ruch last racing the car in 1994.

Moreover, Le Mans 24 Hours legend Klaus Ludwig clinched his first DTM title while driving a Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth in 1988, the only championship success for Ford in the series to date.

Ludwig went on to score two more titles with Mercedes in 1992 and 1994.

Haupt Racing Team Ford Mustang GT3

Photo by: Ford Performance

Marc Marquez believes he is not the fastest MotoGP rider in this weekend’s Thailand Grand Prix despite topping Friday practice with a new lap record.

Returning to the scene of his sixth and most recent MotoGP World Championship title victory in 2019, Marquez was in slick form throughout the day en route to the overall top spot in Friday afternoon’s P2 session.

Stopping the clock at 1m29.165s on the Gresini Ducati, his effort was enough for him to edge out championship Jorge Martin by just over a tenth of a second and lower the erstwhile lap record.

Coming after he notched up his third victory of the season in Phillip Island less than a week ago, a buoyant Marquez is keen to make that precursor to achieving his objective of improving his qualifying performances.

However, Marquez suggested that practice results did not provide a true picture of the pecking order, insisting that riders like Pramac’s Martin again hesitated from showing their true pace on Friday.

“I’m happy to have started the weekend in this way, which is important,” he said. “It’s true that the pace is good, it’s not the fastest one like in Australia.

“I think Martin is faster than us and [Enea] Bastianini, when he is fast on Friday it means that he will be super fast all weekend, but let’s see what we can do.”

Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

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The positive opener leaves Marquez optimistic of a similar challenge towards the sharp end in qualifying, an area where the Spaniard has struggled for consistency in his first season racing Ducati machinery.

The 31-year-old has qualified on the front row only three time since the summer break, with an average starting position of 6.25 during this period.

“I have the potential that from the initial moment I am riding very fast,” he added. “In the first part of the season I was always struggling on the Friday and I’d improve a lot over the weekend.

“Now I am starting Friday with a good pace so the way to improve is safe. Already the lap record, so if I can do a 1m 29.1s [in qualifying] I will sign up for it.”

Marquez is keeping a lid on his expectations for Saturday’s qualifying session, saying he will be happy as long as he is able to qualify inside the first two rows on the grid.

“Here everyone is pushing and trying to get the maximum,” he said. “Both Martín and Pecco Bagnaia are raising the bar very high, but we also have our personal battle between me and Enea Bastianini and that, for my part at least, leads me to take quite a few risks to try to be there with them.

“I had a very good lap and it’s really positive to start a Friday like this. But tomorrow is the day we have to set a clear and realistic goal, which is to try to be on the second row.”

Marquez remains the only rider to score a grand prix victory on last year’s Ducati GP23 bike in a season that has been dominated by the latest iteration of the Desmosedici.

While a fouth victory would make 2024 his most successful season his last title-winning campaign in 2019, he reiterated that his goal is to build on his recent results and put himself in the best possible position for his year with the factory Ducati team.

“Obviously the more victories the better, but it is an irrelevant fact, which you remember now because I am there, but otherwise nobody remembers [in the future],” he said.

“Obviously if I can win four races it is better than three, but the important thing is to continue with this consistency that I am showing, since Austria I have taken a small step and I am confirming it in all the circuits I go to.”