Charsley has held the position of manager for Lola's activities in North America since late 2008. The Huntingdon based race car manufacturer and provider of services to the motorsport and automotive sectors confirmed his promotion ahead of this weekend’s Le Mans 24 Hours.
46 year old Charsley has an extensive CV in motorsport, embracing experience in F1 with Arrows and Brabham; Group C with John Fitzpatrick Racing, Dauer Racing and PC Automotive, the latter of which ran Lola Executive Chairman, Martin Birrane, as a driver in 1988; NASCAR Cup as team manager with the Birrane-led Team Ireland in 1991 and 1992 and 10 years with the Mecom Group, overseeing the early years of Danica Patrick's career in motorsport.
Commenting on the news of Charsley's appointment, Lola Cars Group Executive Chairman, Martin Birrane, said: "Stephen has impeccable contacts within the motorsport world and his experience in the USA ensures that we will have an effective and dynamic presence at decision making levels in various motorsport series for the company."
Charsley, who is at the Le Mans 24 Hours this week, said: “Lola is a truly iconic company. Their reputation and status in North America is second to-none and I now intend to make my own contribution to their illustrious and successful history within a variety of racing disciplines."
In its 53rd year of business, Lola is one of the longest established and most successful constructors of racing cars in the world, keeping itself at the forefront of design and technology by investing in commercially available state-of-the-art facilities including Computational Fluid Dynamics, Finite Element Analysis, a 50% scale wind tunnel and a 7 post aerodynamic suspension and chassis set up rig. The company is equipped and has the skills to carry out any major motorsport programme for a manufacturer from F1 through every category of motorsport.
Having built more customer racing cars than any other constructor in the history of motorsport, Lola now also services the aerospace, marine, automotive, defence and communications industries with a complete design and build capability in advanced carbon composites.
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(Article taken from http://www.lolacars.com/newsstory.asp?NewsId=333)
