Stuart Peter Rolt
1939 – 2023
I was privileged to know Stuart for over 40 years.
He was born in West Sussex and he was around 15 years old when his first car came into his life, it was an Austin 7 and straight away began a lifetimes work and interest in all things mechanical. Whilst still at school he would spend every available hour in the garage and his mother found the only way to get him in for a meal or to tell him that she and Phoebe were about to retire to bed was to pull out the fuse which supplied the garage.
He attended Midhurst Grammar School and after gaining A levels in the sciences he joined ICI in Hatfield, carrying out research into early plastics. He always had a couple of plastic cups in his workshop that he had made during this time.
Stuarts understanding of internal combustion engines was total and his knowledge of physics and what happened to air and liquids at various pressures was phenomenal. He was able to answer all questions with total ease and explain in terms that we were all able to understand and appreciate.
His ability to work out problems from first principles was simply brilliant.
His ingenuity and the skill to make standard engine components perform spectacularly well was sheer genius.
He had a large but simple lathe and a small milling machine in his workshop from which was able to machine components to the finest tolerances. The apparent ease with which he worked these machines was simply great to witness.
His dynamometer was typical Stuart as it had been cleverly modified to deliver very accurate results at a level that Heenan and Froude had not thought of. Many of us made use of this great facility.
Over the years that I regularly called in I have witnessed on his dyno:
F3 1172 Screamers / Coventry Climax / Austin 7 – including mine /
BRM V8’s and I seem to remember an H 16 / VW Scarab formula Vee /
Toyota F3 / Cosworth DFV / Fords / BMC / Formula Junior / Any so many more.
Stuart kept a complete record in a series of ledger type book of every engine he had ever worked on, recording part numbers, dimensions, timing, dyno results and any modifications that were carried out.
Stuart chose to live a simple life with his work to keep him stimulated and his cats for 24 hour company.
He read prodigiously and on a very wide range of subjects. In fact he was interested in everything and could recall and talk in great details about all subjects, such a pleasure and a privilege to spend time with.
In my humble opinion he is simply irreplaceable.
Stuart thanks for everything
Peter Pearson
Since writing this I have come across the following that could have been written by Stuart as it is so appropriate and accurate.
“I decided that it was always better to work things out from first principles. One of my most important sayings, as a result, is that “it is better to be uninformed than ill-informed”. After all, if you are uninformed your only option is to sit down and think about a solution. If you think hard enough, it is conceivable that you might get to the right answer “
This was actually written by Keith Duckworth, the brains behind Cosworth Racing Engines.
Interview with Nick Turley
