Joanna Moss

Joanna Moss, motorsport aerodynamicist and engineer.

Career

Joanna Moss graduated in 1991 from the University of Hertfordshire with an Honours Degree in Aeronautical Engineering and joined Jaguar Cars as a prototype engineer. Three years later she got the opportunity to work in Motorsport for Lola Racing Cars as an aerodynamicist. She then designed the 1995 Japanese F3000 car, 1995 and 1996 European F3000 car and for the U.S. the 1995 and 1996 Champ Car. For the 1996 Champ Car season, she worked as liaison engineer for the Champ Car team Tasman, attending many of the races. After three race wins with Tasman, she reurned to the U.K. to find Lola Cars in financial difficulty after a failed Formula One attempt. She then moved to Toyota Team Europe based in the German city of Cologne as head of aerodynamics for their 24 hours of Le Mans Sportscar. Working for Andre de Cortanze and designing the car in the Dallara windtunnel, the car made its first appearance at the famous French circuit in 1998. Named the Toyota GT-One the dramatic shape caught the imagination of the media, competitors and fans alike. However, after over 22 hours of running, the front running Toyota GT1 of Thierry Boutsen, Ralf Kelleners and Geoff Lees retired from first place with a gearbox problem. In 1999, after qualifying in both the top spots, a series of race incidents left the last remaining Toyota in second place. Despite not taking the ultimate Le Mans crown, the competitiveness of the car along with the professionalism of the team, led Toyota to enter Formula One Championship. They retained the services of both Andre de Cortanze and Joanna Moss.She worked the next two and a half years on the Toyota F1 Project, before leaving Germany as Head of Aerodynamics at Reynard Motorsport based in brackley, UK. She worked on the Champcar and Sportcar projects for this well known team ,however, in 2002 the Company filed for bankruptcy. Joanna then went on to work in British Touring Cars (BTCC), joining the Vauxhall works team Triple Eight Race Engineering. Here she worked not only in aerodynamics but also Race Engineered one of the cars herself. Two British Championships were won before she left the company to join the metrology company Mitutoyo. Here she worked with the Motorsport Teams, improving their inspection processes and quality whilst leaving the weekends to continue to race engineer young and upcoming driver Luke Hines.