FEATURE : JOHN EVANS
Racing the Cooper T56 F1 car
BT4 with a 2.7-litre engine and which I ran for several years and Hi-Tech Motorsport ran both cars .” More than 40 years on from working together at the Midland Racing Partnership , John and Mick Mobberley renewed their old association .
“ Mick and his team helped me immensely and we had a good relationship . Then I had a year off due to health issues , and to get back up to speed I was at Donington for a test day and I met James Hadfield . He was driving a Royale RP24 , an orange one , which his father Simon had developed for him .
“ He didn ’ t want to sell it , but he did . And I said I ’ d buy it as long as they ran it for me , so I was running with both Hadfields and Hi-Tech at the same time . I then wanted a Historic Formula Ford , so I bought the Titan Mk6 . As with every race prepared car described as ready to go , it wasn ’ t . So it took six months to rebuild that .” It was a case of going full circle as John returned to racing the type of car he
“ I still love Formula Ford . That ’ s where I started ”
had first raced half a century earlier .
“ In the meantime , the generosity of Hadfields was immense . Simon lent me one of his cars and didn ’ t charge me for it other than the maintenance . That worked very well , for me , both his generosity and driving with the team . I then wanted to move into Historic
Formula 2 and I only wanted to do it if I got a I could get a March 782 . That was the car I ’ d got to have and I was lucky enough to find one at the time .” Clearly , that desire to race in Formula Atlantic back in the 1970s had never fully gone away . “ I did Brands Hatch last
July as my first race in the 782 . I had a seventh place and
I know a lot of people dropped out , but it was still seventh . The car broke down in the second race , because the throttle jammed open going into Clearways . When we discussed it , Simon was talking about rebuilding the injection . I said : ‘ well I don ’ t think it ’ s going that well , shall we do the engine ?’ So the engine came out and went to Ridgways . The car has had lots
of love thrown at it and will be ready for the new season .
“ I still love Formula Ford . That ’ s where I started and I ’ ve got to know lots of people and it ’ s social as well as competition . It ’ s just a pleasure to come and talk to everybody . A lot of the people in Formula Ford are in Formula 2 as well , so there ’ s a good crossover there . The March wasn ’ t ready for the end of season Finals Meeting at Silverstone and Simon stepped up again and said to use his Modus .”
The new season can ’ t come soon enough as John plans to race in both Historic Formula Ford and Historic Formula 2 . He ’ s reached a point in life where he can really enjoy his hobby . “ I have business interests that I have to keep interested in . But it ’ s not full time . It ’ s not full time running a business every hour of every day . Motor racing takes too much time ! We were aerospace tool makers and I employed up to 100 people and that was full on .”
Now , he ’ s looking forward to the new season and is happy to have a bit more time to spend on the sport he has loved for 50 years . “ I just love it . Racing been a big part of my life right through !”
Using the borrowed Modus at the Silverstone Finals
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