Owen Ashley, best described as a motorsport engineer and car builder extraordinaire and a former chairman of the Killarney racetrack's board of directors, has died.
He was 63 and had been ill for some time.
Owen matriculated at Rondebosch BHS (as did many other prominent club members, including our chairman), Already passionate about motor sport, he was only 19 when he completed the construction of his first competition vehicle.
He went on to design and build 170 types of racing and road vehicles for, among others, BMW, General Motors and Toyota.
His construction total is more than 450 vehicles.
Ashley was approached by Toyota SA in 1981 to become motorsport manager. One of his first tasks there was the development of an all-wheel drive rally car. Once completed, it proved so successful that it went on to win 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 for four out of seven years.
On leaving Toyota, Ashley was put in charge of technical aspects of all motorsport for SA Motorsport Control, managing the technical rules enforcement for the sport.
His next move was to form his own company, Owen Ashley Auto Developments, in Cape Town during the late 1980's. His object was to design and manufacture specialised one-off and low-volume vehicles, as well as to consult for various other motorsport-related companies.
These included 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.
He was also responsible for the creation of the one-make Supercar Series that is still operating after more than 14 years. This was followed by his latest creation, the new Masters V8 Series.
There had been whispers about this ambitious project in the halls of (horse) power for some time before the eventual announcement. Built for a one-make racing series, the APV347is embodies two-door GT styling with power from a five-litre V8 engine rated at 335kW channelled through a five-speed Tremec gearbox to the rear wheels by way of a limited-slip differential.
Meticulously constructed, it's a left-hand drive with a robust tubular spaceframe chassis and monocoque front section all encased in a glass-fibre body with an overall weight of 1050kg.
The club extends its sincere sympathy to his wife Annette and daughter Christen. He will be missed.