Alf Francis

Francis was born in Danzig but left during World War II, first for Portugal, then by sea to Liverpool in the UK, where he joined the Polish 1st Armoured Division.

After World War II, he changed his nationality to British, and his name to Alf Francis.

At Rob Walker Racing Team, he maintained many Grand Prix cars including Cooper-Climax and Lotus 18, and helped developing the team's own Formula 1 car called Walker Special.

Working with transmission engineer and designer Valerio Colotti, he became a partner of Colotti-Francis, and moved to Italy.

In 1957 he authored his biography Alf Francis: Racing Mechanic with journalist Peter Lewis.