Freddie Cooper
Lead Designer
Freddie (or “Federico”, the Italian translation of his name that Kirkus usually uses) may or may not be related to the legendary designer of racing Minis, John Cooper. However it’s certain that the connection has done Fede (as Kirkus also sometimes calls him) no harm at all in his career to date.
Freddie doesn’t just trade on his name, however. He is a top flight designer of engines, brakes and gearboxes, with a skill level that would be right at home in the World Motorsport Championship (WMC).
Unfortunately his suspension and wing skills blow big, meaty chunks, which makes him far less useful in the Asia Pacific Super Cup (APS) where his engine skills are wasted as long as engines remain spec parts. In the European Racing Series (ERS) he can design 3 out of 4 parts capably as long as the team principals avoid the sort of brain explosion that would lead to wings being developed. In the APS he could design only 2 out of 5 parts capably. In WMC he would do slightly better since his engine skills would come to the fore again, meaning that he is 50% capable in that series.
Freddie joined the team shortly after its founding in 2016, and was the first new staff member hunted by Kirkus. Signed on for a 3 year contract, he is up for renewal at the end of 2018.
Freddie works in the team’s level 1 Design Centre, which he constantly bitches about. Kirkus has told him that a level 2 centre will be built for the 2019 season.
Freddie’s biggest strength is his ability to ramp up gearboxes and engines relatively rapidly. His biggest weakness is constantly moaning about how we need to replace our mechanics, who in turn moan about how we need to replace Freddie. I’m amazed that either of them still do that as it causes Kirkus to throw the office furniture at the walls, which in turn causes me to run out of the office and hide out at the test track for a couple of hours.
Freddie used to be married, he thinks (Episode 26, the Interseason), but he can’t really remember because he hasn’t been home since the week after the second Black Sea race of 2017. He would like long walks on the beach and candle lit dinners under the stars, but he never really leaves the Design Centre these days so that’s more academic than actual.