How Ryan is juggling Erebus engineer and CEO roles
Barry Ryan balancing Erebus Motorsport engineer and CEO roles
Ryan inserted as race engineer for Jack Le Brocq in 2025
Erebus boss last engineered full-time for Greg Murphy in 2011
Barry Ryan is enjoying being back in the race engineer seat, despite admitting it is a "big task" balancing his CEO and race engineer roles at Erebus Motorsport.
Erebus underwent a double race engineer change this year following the departure of George Commins and Tom Moore to Dick Johnson Racing.
Ahead of the 2025 season, Ryan and Wayne Mackie were inserted as race engineers for Jack Le Brocq and Cooper Murray respectively.
Mackie has been part of the Erebus fold since the end of 2017, leading the Greg Murphy/Richie Stanaway Bathurst wildcard in 2022, and Erebus Academy Super2 program last year.
Ryan is no stranger to race engineering, having worked at the likes of John Faulkner Racing, Kmart Racing, Holden Racing Team, Perkins Engineering and Kelly Racing before joining Erebus.
Aside from a brief stint as David Reynolds' engineer in the COVID-affected 2020 season, Ryan hadn't engineered full-time since 2011, when he was with the Kellys.
Now, Ryan is charged with leading Erebus, but is also Le Brocq's right-hand man on race weekends. He is also a constant in car repairs, notably leading the work after Le Brocq's Grand Prix crash.
While it may seem more work on his plate, Ryan is taking it in his stride.
“I hadn’t race engineered since 2011, when I was with Greg Murphy,” Ryan recently told a Young Timers Garage podcast.
“For nearly 10 years leading up to that, I was a race engineer. In amongst jobs, sometimes I was a race engineer and a team manager at the same time at Larry’s and a little bit at Kelly Racing.
“It’s not too daunting to me, but it’s a big task. There’s lots of stuff your brain’s got to focus on at different times.
“But when I'm at the race meeting, the last two rounds, I’ve really enjoyed it, working with Wayne.”
Ryan and Le Brocq have rekindled a partnership they took to Australian Formula Ford glory in 2012. Le Brocq claimed two top 10s in Sydney, but was undone by incidents and a DNF in Melbourne where at least two more top 10s were in the offing.
With an eye on the future, Ryan is mentoring rising data engineer Aidan Graham, who joined from Blanchard Racing Team in the off-season.
With Brodie Kostecki, Commins and Moore moving on, Ryan suggested that the team isn't planning on rushing Graham into a lead engineer role, saying: “People are probably thinking, why haven’t I given a young guy an opportunity.
“We really need to rebuild with these drivers, we’ve got new drivers. We’ve got a good young guy [Graham] ready to race engineer probably in a couple of years.”
