over the chicane kerbs on the last lap to snatch victory from Senna .
Through the 1980s and 1990s , there was less racing as the career of Rick ’ s son Stevie took off . “ I drove various things for a few years and I used to drive for a guy called Ian Schofield . My son Stevie became one of the best kart racers in Europe . But we couldn ’ t afford to continue at international level as it needed masses of money to go to Canada and New Zealand .
“ Stevie was 19 and Ian said get him in a car in South Africa where Ian was based . He ’ d never raced a car before and went to Kyalami in a Formula Ford Zetec . He was immediately successful and won a couple of races . I ’ d not done a lot of racing for a while . Stevie then moved on to works saloon cars for BMW and Subaru and in about 2004 Ian said to me that I might as well go and drive for him in South Africa as well .
“ That ’ s what I did until 2016 when I had a very bad cycling accident . I ’ ve always been a keen cyclist and I got knocked off my bike . I was in intensive care in Hertford for 10 days with 10 broken ribs , a punctured lung , two broken vertebrae and various other injuries . That curtailed the 2016 season . I did a couple of races for Ian in 2017 but then I got my car over here and I ’ ve been in Classic Formula Ford since then .”
“ I bought a Royale RP26 half and half with Alan Cornock , which was quite successful but I completely totalled that at Silverstone . So , we got the RP29 and luckily last year we won the Classic Championship . I ’ m a competitive person , as my wife will attest , but I ’ m also into the technical side and anything to do with how we make the car quicker . That was always one of my strengths : being able to make the car quicker .
“ I never had any money . I grew up on a council estate and my father was a sheet metal worker . I was never a professional racing driver . I got married in 1976 and bought my first house and I ’ ve always worked full time . That ’ s why I ’ ve got so much time for someone like Jonathan Palmer . Back in 1980 , Jonathan , James Weaver and I were three mates going round together . He
Silverstone 1980 was a doctor working 80 hours a week as an intern and preparing his car and going racing . He still works long days and keeps his finger on the pulse of everything . “ I do still enjoy racing . Perhaps I ’ m a couple of seconds slower than I was but I manage to keep up at times ! As long as I know where I ’ m going wrong and what the car ’ s doing wrong , I ’ m fine . If the car is right and I ’ m slow , I ’ ll probably give up . But I hope there ’ s a few more years yet .
“ We ’ ve got a great team with Don Hardman and Stuart Kestenbaum and we have a laugh and don ’ t take things too seriously . But when we ’ re out there it is still competitive , as shown by the accidents I ’ ve had . I can ’ t think of anyone who has been a proper gentleman in Formula Ford , except possibly Damon Hill . People like Johnny Herbert and co were all animals !
“ We worked out once that I ’ ve raced against a dozen Formula 1 drivers and seven Indianapolis winners . I met Adrian Fernandez in the toilets at Indianapolis and as we were weeing away , I was telling him that I ’ ve got a time sheet from a race at Brands Hatch that I won and he was 11th ! And this was the guy who won Indy .”
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