People

Ellen Bernfeld

Brought up in Britain's Lake District, Ellen Bernfeld became interested in archaeology while studying history in Portsmouth. After she graduated she went to work in the Oriental Antiquities Department at the British Museum and did her second degree at the nearby Institute of Archaeology. In her spare time she competed as co-driver to her boyfriend in road rallies around England in an unsponsored Ford RS2000. The pair enjoyed considerable success on the club scene but in 1979 they moved to Germany where he was posted by the merchant bank for which he was working. Ellen decided to give up her job at the British Museum and went to live in the spa town of Bad Homberg where she found work with a Japanese art dealer. After a few months she moved to work for a computer company and so learned to speak fluent German.

The pair returned to Britain in 1983 and Ellen then found work as Information Officer of the British Nutrition Foundation, an educational organization which was funded by the food industry. She tired of the job after 18 months and joined a new company owned by a friend which was being established to make short films and promotional videos for Rothmans. This was her first contact with professional motor sport as Rothmans was the sponsor of the factory Porsche sportscar team.

Bernfeld traveled the world as organizer and production assistant with a film crew and when that deal ended found work for a short period in a product placement agency, continuing her link with the film world. In 1987, however, she saw an advertisement for a job at Tyrrell Racing and applied to be a marketing assistant. The team was very small at the time and she found herself doing many different jobs. At the end of 1987 the team secretary left and she was offered the job, which she accepted for one year. At the time Tyrrell entered into a marketing alliance with McLaren and landed engines from Honda and backing from the German electrical firm Braun. Ellen worked as marketing assistant that year and, when the McLaren deal flopped, she was put in charge of Tyrrell's marketing for four months. When a new marketing manager was found she was thrust into the role of Press Officer - the first permanent Press Officer the team had ever had. In addition she continued to look after several of the team's sponsors until the end of 1993 when the Tyrrell Family decided to cut costs dramatically. She was one of the victims and, disenchanted with F1, went to work as a freelance press officer with Ford in the British Touring Car Championship and then with the Chrysler Viper GT team in sportscar racing. She also did some work with British American Tobacco in the World F1 Powerboat Championship and it was through this that she was offered the job as BAR Press Officer in 1999.