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

Antonelli wowed with his immediate pace on his grand prix weekend debut in Monza, but pushed beyond the limits at the Parabolica and crashed out after five laps.

“It was definitely much better than Monza,” Antonelli said. “I drove much calmer today, I didn’t want to take any risks. I just wanted to do a clean session, just to get some laps, understand the car a bit more and understand the tyres.

“I think overall it was pretty decent. Of course, I could feel I wasn’t on the limit, but just because it was my choice. I just wanted to get a clean session overall. I was able to pick up the pace quite quickly. It was good like this.”

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes F1 W15

Photo by: Dom Romney / Motorsport Images

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Antonelli picked up some floor damage coming from a metal piece of debris, which forced Mercedes to repair the damage before Hamilton returned to the car for Friday afternoon’s FP2. 

“To be honest, I didn’t really see it,” Antonelli commented. “It was a shame because I got quite a bit of floor damage from it. It was quite big damage, so of course it wasn’t ideal. But still, I managed to get a few laps in the bag.”

In FP2 Russell suffered a heavy crash after his car bottomed out over the kerbs in the Esses, which sent his W15 into a dramatic spin into the barriers and prompted a much bigger repair job for the Mercedes team.

“I don’t really know what happened, the car just started bouncing on the ground, and before I had a chance to even catch it, the car was already spinning,” Russell explained after the session.

“A lot of work for the guys tonight again, seems like it’s one thing after another at the moment, but it’s frustrating as in FP1 we were really strong, really fast. Obviously we’ve missed out on laps, FP3 is going to be important, just hope we can get the car fixed.”

Jorge Martin says he has no designs on playing the points game as he chases his first MotoGP world title despite the possibility of doing so without winning another race this season.

The Pramac Ducati rider scored a small but significant success with his run to second place in the Thailand Grand Prix sprint race at the Chang International Circuit by finishing ahead of arch title rival Francesco Bagnaia, who took third.

Extending his advantage to 22 points over the Italian with five races remaining – three grands prix and two sprints – it means Martin can finish second to Bagnaia in each and still clinch the title.

However, it’s a permutation Martin isn’t dwelling on: “If they said you only need to be fifth or 10th, I don’t know how to be that.

“I only know how to do my best. So the best way to give 100% is to do my best – but I’m not silly, I want to control the risk.”

Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Indeed, Martin gave an example of the small margins that exist between himself and Bagnaia when he ran deep into Turn 1.

Having dropped to sixth behind Bagnaia as a consequence, Martin says he can take satisfaction from having still gotten the better of his Ducati stablemate come the chequered flag, having factored in the defending world champion in the first corner tussle.

“It was either release the brakes and lose some position or go wide and hit Pecco, so I decided to go wide,” he added.

“It was difficult afterwards, I was sixth or seventh going into the third corner, it was really hot in the pack but I was riding well and competitive, that’s the important thing.”

He added: “I had to push more than expected and overtake riders like Acosta and Pecco, who are really strong on the brakes, which was complicated.

“It has been a good sprint, but I know that tomorrow more riders will improve, and it is essential to start well, keep calm, and do our best.”

Ferrari’s senior performance engineer Jock Clear says that the team “hasn’t changed anything” despite murmurings over internal changes to its front wing to benefit from greater flexing.

The Italian squad had been one of the teams to lodge a query with the FIA over the front wings of Mercedes and McLaren, under the belief that these were flexing beyond a permissible amount despite passing the governing body’s rigidity tests.

After the FIA offered clarification, it opened the door for other teams to pursue a similar design, with Ferrari understood to have pressed its own version into service. This was considered as a potential contributor to the team’s dominant 1-2 at the United States Grand Prix last weekend.

But Clear stated that it was “questionable” to discuss how the other teams were progressing with their own designs, and that the FIA was happy with Ferrari’s adherence to the regulations.

In response to a question about lead times for flexing front wings following the FIA’s clarification, Clear said: “I think that what you’re talking about there is specifically a fairly questionable discussion.

“We don’t know what other teams are doing. We only know what we’re doing on our car. We interpret the rules in the way that we think is the correct interpretation and the FIA have never questioned any of our interpretation of the rules.

“We continue to develop as much as we can and as fast as we can within the scope of the rules. We haven’t changed anything. 

Jock Clear, Senior Performance Engineer, Scuderia Ferrari

Photo by: Andreas Beil

“If we look at what other people do, we can only guess what actually is going on. We can’t do physical tests on it. We could only work on our own car and we are comfortable with the development, pretty much since Austria.

“And since the summer break, we’ve really got a grip of what direction to go in, both on the development and on the set-up.”

Clear explained that Ferrari’s form at Austin came from its own understanding of how it missed the mark at the Austrian Grand Prix in June, noting the similarity between the two venues.

He added Austin also proved that Ferrari’s upgrades at the end of the European season had worked to alleviate its mid-season slump following a misfiring Barcelona update package.

“There were things we did on the set-up; I think we got it wrong in Austria, which is a very similar circuit to Austin, funnily enough. 

“Not absolutely true, but the aspects of Austin that worked for us were a result of what we didn’t get working in Austria.

“So effectively, the package was very similar. Obviously, we brought upgrades in Singapore, we brought upgrades in Italy that were generic [not track-specific].

“I think Austin was a proof of that package. But more than that, what we did correctly in Austin was correcting the errors we made in Austria in terms of set-up.”

Francesco Bagnaia aired his frustration at suffering a slight but important loss to MotoGP title rival Jorge Martin with his run to third place in the Thailand Grand Prix sprint race.

Though the race itself went the way of Enea Bastianini, Bagnaia’s failure to defend against Martin for second place sees his rival ease his overall advantage out to 22 points with five races remaining.

It means Martin can afford to finish second in each of the remaining three grands prix and two sprint races to secure this year’s title, even if Bagnaia wins them all.

As such, Bagnaia doesn’t want to leave anything to chance in these remaining races but remained frustrated to have been overhauled by Martin in a straight fight having started from pole.

“My feeling wasn’t ideal as it was this morning,” he admitted.

“I struggled to be competitive on the braking, my fastest sectors during the weekend was sector one and three, today I was losing that.

“We luckily lost just two points and we have tomorrow to try to close this gap, because Jorge can just finish second and still be champion. We have to focus on the results and be more perfect.”

Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

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Bagnaia also raised a view that Martin violated track limits enough to earn a penalty, claiming to have counted four occasions in which he strayed onto the green.

“I thought so and I started to count because when I saw it twice I thought one more is a penalty so I counted two more, but maybe I counted wrong.”

Bagnaia not seeking in-house Ducati help in title bid

Bagnaia isn’t prepared to count on other Ducati riders to side with him rather than stablemate Martin in his attempt to make it three titles in a row.

“I know it is hard to believe but I never had any help by anyone in Ducati. I always like a clean race and clean battle, I try to be as clean as possible and not touch anyone.

“Also, I don’t want any help and I will not ask for any.”

First practice for the Mexico Grand Prix saw five rookies take to the wheel, but the 60-minute session didn’t go smoothly for two drivers.

Oliver Bearman took charge of Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez but was involved in a tangle with Alex Albon midway through the session.

Albon was charging in his Williams when coming up on the slower-moving Ferrari in the mid-sector Esses but, when about to pass, lost the rear end of his car on the inside kerb and swiped the side of Bearman’s machine, leaving both stranded with terminal damage.

But with that incident still ongoing, Robert Shwartzman – who was controlling Zhou Guanyu’s Sauber for the session – went past Yuki Tsunoda’s RB as the Japanese slowed down, triggering an investigation.

The stewards found the Ferrari junior guilty of overtaking under yellow flags, explaining: “Following the incident at T9 Shwartzman passed a single waved yellow, and a double yellow flag before overtaking Tsunoda in the yellow zone while traveling at speed.

“The penalty is the usual penalty for passing under a double yellow, and while the Stewards recognize that the driver is not scheduled to start the race, they have applied the consistent penalty.”

Shwartzman joins Button on unusual waiting list

Jenson Button, McLaren MCL32

Photo by: Sutton Images

That consistent penalty is a grid drop of five positions for the next F1 race Shwartzman participates in.

However, with the grid almost completely filled for next season and Shwartzman not in the running for any of the remaining vacant seats, it is unlikely he will be able to take that penalty, unless he is called upon in a reserve capacity, like Bearman has on two occasions this year for both Ferrari and Haas.

It is a situation that mirrors one Jenson Button experienced in 2017 when substituting for Fernando Alonso at the Monaco Grand Prix that year.

With the Spaniard competing in the Indianapolis 500, Button came out of retirement to join Stoffel Vandoorne for the Woking-based outfit but during the race, he pitched Pascal Wehrlein into the barriers at Portier.

The stewards then gave the Briton a three-place grid penalty but, where his situation differs to Shwartzman, the incident report explained that punishment was for the “next race he participates in this season”, whereas the latter’s punishment is less descriptive.