HRT confirms departures

February 6, 2012 by Joe Saward

The HRT team has confirmed the departures of technical director Jacky Eeckelaert and head of production Simon Shinkins, as I reported would happen recently. Eeckelaert is returning to his work with Colin Kolles’s Kodewa, which will be running a Lola-Lotus LMP2 programme this year. The team says that chief designer Jean-Claude Martens will take over. He is not an HRT employee but has worked for Holzer Engineering in Germany since 2003, designing a variety of different machinery, including DTM, GT cars and even electric vehicles. The Belgian engineer has a long history in F1, starting out in 1990 at Leyton House Racing. He moved on to the original Team Lotus, following chief designer Chris Murphy and stayed until the team shut down at the end of 1994. He then spent two years as chief designer at Nissan Motorsport Europe before being hired by Toyota for its F1 project in 1997, where he stayed for six years before joining Holzer. The team has also replaced Shinkins.

The team recently introduced a new logo.

Posted in F1 Drivers | 15 Comments

15 Responses

on February 6, 2012 at 11:54 am jeremy chandler @transworldgp

*That* is a very good logo , a bit retro and ‘trackish’ :0)
on February 6, 2012 at 12:35 pm mayhemfunkster

I can only assume the logo shows how competitors negotiate the mobile chicanes that HRT so expertly supply F1…
on February 6, 2012 at 12:38 pm Andrew Bryant (@Optimaximal)

All that logo tells me is they have no clue about racing on circuits.
on February 6, 2012 at 1:09 pm Wilson Laidlaw

Presumably this is a route map for deserting staff to follow to the exit. This team is now looking sicker than Simtek used to. Why on earth would anyone with any sense give them sponsorship money to spend?

Wilson
on February 6, 2012 at 1:35 pm Michael C

deckchairs and Titanic spring to mind
on February 6, 2012 at 1:36 pm Blackacre

Worst logo ever!
on February 6, 2012 at 1:49 pm APSAPSPASPASAPSAA

3 new team logos
1 basic car
= 0 hope

Budget well spent!
on February 6, 2012 at 1:56 pm Nick

I like the logo but they seem to have forgotten that a logo is just a flag. It’s what’s underneath that matters and a new logo can’t change that.
on February 6, 2012 at 1:59 pm David Hodge

Is it just me? Rotate the graphic 90 degrees to the left (which can be achieved by inclining your head 90 degrees to the right) and it suggests to me somebody with their head in their hands, as in despair. Oh dear…
- on February 7, 2012 at 12:27 pm Elfredore
  
  also looks a bit like someone walking like an Egyptian…
on February 6, 2012 at 2:31 pm Chris Neale

Rather puts me in mind of the RAC logo – don’t know if the RAC do circuit cover as an extra….
on February 6, 2012 at 8:01 pm Pedro_A

Puts me in mind of the failed USF1 – releasing new logos, yet no car. We shall see.
on February 6, 2012 at 8:36 pm thomas_b

Well, the logo reminds me of the Catalunya circuit map. Where are they trying to relocate their base this time? I’m too lazy to look it up, but I think it’s either Madrid or Barcelona. Either way they try to suggest to us – or the Spanish sponsors – that they are really, really Spanish.
on February 6, 2012 at 10:31 pm bloomsm

That logo is ridiculous. If you don’t know what HRT is, the logo won’t help.
on February 7, 2012 at 12:29 pm Kiwi

Pffft, like they don’t have anything better to do than designing a new logo. It looks like this team – wherever it is located – is falling apart big time. Why in the world do they exist anyway?