Today (Mon 6th July 2026) we say a final goodbye to our good friend John Thompson. An amazing man who as a fabricator and welder had an eye for what makes a car fast. He used that to design and produce an impressive array of successful cars in Formula 1, Indycar, LeMans and many other series. But he will also be remembered fondly for his stories and humour, which we will not forget either.
We have had a connection with John long before we knew him as a friend, from his time building the Cosworth 4 wheel drive F1 car and Ford super van. But it was when he retired and sold off his equipment that we grew to know him, Maureen and Eric. As part of the deal, John wanted to still come in and use the equipment he sold us. It was soon put to work alongside the original jigs to build Porsche 962 monocoques. With John and Eric again helping us build the famous honeycomb design that won at LeMans. John was a colourful character who often came in to see what we were up to and visit the fabrication shop where he was always most at home. He would entertain with us stories from his past, often unbelievable and always with his unique (and often inappropriate) sense of humour!
Only a few weeks before his passing, he came in to meet a new customer of ours. A customer who has a picture of John’s LeMans winning NSX on the wall (and a car in a garage) and was very keen to meet the man who’s “past creations were the inspiration to my ambition”. We hope you and Maureen are somewhere looking down on us John and we can do you proud with the new car. We will remember you every time we pick up the screwdriver with TCP scratched into the handle. Or open the drawer with your hand drawn race car on the back of some flowery wallpaper! From all at EY3, goodbye John.
You can read more about his life in motorsport in this nice article from Autosport: John Thompson