Australia loses a legendary engineer

Australian motor sport lost one of its quiet engineering geniuses last weekend when the innovative Peter Holinger died a week out from his 77th birthday.

As a driver, Holinger was four-times national hill-climb champion in cars of his own design.

He worked with the small team that developed the Repco Brabham F1 cars that went on to win the world championship.

But he is best known for designing and producing racecar transmissions from his workshop in Melbourne.

His gearboxes were been part of the success of the brutal Nissan GTR and rapier BMW 3 series factory touring car teams here and internationally.

More recently, Holinger's robust sequential gearboxes have been a mandatory fitment in V8 supercars.

He will be missed for his brilliant engineering and his personable ways.

Photo: Holinger driving his championship-winning Repco-Brabham Hillclimb car