Dr George Gillespie, CEO at MIRA proving ground, has been awarded an OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in the UK’s New Year Honours List. He was recognized for his services to international trade, following his continued commitment to building business overseas. Having accompanied Prime Minister David Cameron, on a trade visit to China in December 2013, Dr Gillespie has visited Japan, India and China – amongst other countries – during 2014 in a bid to build long-term business relationships between international markets and the UK.
Meanwhile, in a career spanning 33 years of testing and developing many seminal Jaguar cars, the achievements of 94-year-old former test driver Norman Dewis have also been recognized and rewarded with an OBE. Dewis OBE helped to develop 25 significant cars for Jaguar including the Le Mans-winning C-type and D-type racing cars, the XK 140 and 150 sports cars, the 2.4/3.4 and Mk II saloons, plus the Mk VII and Mk VIIM models, the E-type (including the Lightweight E-type), the XJ13 mid-engined prototype, the XJ saloons, the XJ-S and the XJ40 models.
