Nick Fry
Encyclopedia
Nicholas Richard "Nick" Fry, (born 29 June 1956 in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

) is the Chief Executive Officer of the Formula One
Formula One
Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...

 constructor Mercedes
Mercedes GP
Mercedes GP Petronas Formula One Team, the trading name of Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Limited, is a British-based Formula One racing team and constructor, owned by Mercedes-Benz and racing under a German licence since the 2010 season....

. He is the former Chief Executive Officer of both Brawn GP
Brawn GP
Brawn GP Formula One Team, the trading name of Brawn GP Limited, was a Formula One motor racing team and constructor, created by a management buyout of Honda Racing F1 Team. It only competed in the 2009 Formula One World Championship, with drivers Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello. The team...

 and Honda. He also served as the same in British American Racing
British American Racing
British American Racing was a Formula One constructor that competed in the sport from 1999 to 2005. BAR began by acquiring Tyrrell, and used Supertec engines for their first year...

, replacing Prodrive Automotive Technology
Prodrive
Prodrive is a British motorsport and automotive engineering group based in Banbury, Oxfordshire, England. It designs, constructs and races cars for companies and teams such as Subaru, Aston Martin and Ford...

 chairman David Richards
David Richards (racing)
David Pender Richards CBE is the chairman of Prodrive and Aston Martin, and a former team principal of the BAR and Benetton Formula One motor racing teams. He lives with his wife, Karen, in Warwickshire and has three children....

 after Honda
Honda
is a Japanese public multinational corporation primarily known as a manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles.Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, as well as the world's largest manufacturer of internal combustion engines measured by volume, producing more than...

 increased its share in the team in late 2004.

Fry achieved his first victory as a manager/chief executive of a Formula 1 team when Jenson Button
Jenson Button
Jenson Alexander Lyons Button MBE is a British Formula One driver currently signed to McLaren. He was the 2009 World Drivers' Champion.Button began karting at the age of eight and achieved early success, before progressing to car racing in the British Formula Ford Championship and the British...

 took the chequered flag at the 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix
2006 Hungarian Grand Prix
The 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on August 6, 2006 at the Hungaroring, Budapest. It was the 13th race of the 2006 Formula One season...

.

Fry joined Prodrive as Managing Director in January 2001, upon the persuasion of David Richards
David Richards (racing)
David Pender Richards CBE is the chairman of Prodrive and Aston Martin, and a former team principal of the BAR and Benetton Formula One motor racing teams. He lives with his wife, Karen, in Warwickshire and has three children....

, where he has been responsible for leading Prodrive's expansion into outsourced engineering services. Within four months of his appointment, Prodrive Automotive Technology had a full order book for 2001 and major steps had been taken to grow the company in the UK and beyond with the acquisition of the Tickford
Tickford
Tickford is an automobile engineering and testing company with a history of coachbuilding and tuning and is famous for such products as the 140 mph Tickford Turbo Capri.-Early years:...

 Group. This expansion saw Fry become Group Managing Director overseeing both the company's engineering and racing operations.

In January 2002, he was appointed Managing Director of BAR F1 in addition to his Prodrive responsibilities.

His career in motoring started with the Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford also owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK...

 in 1977, as a graduate trainee from the University of Wales
University of Wales
The University of Wales was a confederal university founded in 1893. It had accredited institutions throughout Wales, and formerly accredited courses in Britain and abroad, with over 100,000 students, but in October 2011, after a number of scandals, it withdrew all accreditation, and it was...

 with a degree in Economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...

. Working first in Sales and then Market Research, in 1978, he was moved to Product Development as Product Planner. He helped develop a variety of models over the next 12 years, including several performance models like the Ford Escort Cosworth
Ford Escort RS Cosworth
The Ford Escort RS Cosworth was a sports derivative of the Ford Escort. It was available from 1992-96 in very limited numbers.It was instantly recognisable due to its large "whale tail" rear spoiler...

, the RS200
Ford RS200
The Ford RS200 is a mid-engined, four-wheel drive sports car produced by Ford from 1984 to 1986. The road-going RS200 was based on Ford's Group B rally car and was designed to comply with FIA homologation regulations, which required 200 road legal versions be built...

and others. He also spent a spell at Aston Martin in the early 1990s whilst the company was under Ford ownership, overseeing the development and launch of the critically acclaimed DB7 model and switch from manufacturer of handbuilt-only vehicles at the traditional Newport Pagnell site to a higher-volume producer at a new factory operation at Bloxham.

Following this spell at AML, he returned to Ford in 1995, taking over as director of Service Engineering within the Customer Service Division, his time there being most noticeable for an early TV appearance in a combative appearance opposite Ann Robinson on the BBC's Watchdog programme, robustly defending Ford's handling of a safety recall campaign for brake servo assist pumps in its diesel car range.

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