Born in December 1936, he attended Queen Mary's School for Boys before becoming an apprentice at the National Gas Turbine Establishment (NGTE).
[2] In 1965 he followed his ex NGTE colleague Robin Herd to McLaren, working as his assistant.
[3] In 1971 he became chief designer at McLaren, responsible for various models including the Indianapolis 500 M16 and world championship winning M23.
[3] When McLaren merged with Ron Dennis's Project Four in 1980, Coppuck departed, rejoining Herd at March.
[3] The following year he founded Spirit with March's Formula Two team manager John Wickham.