FEATURE : DADS AND LADS
Robert Tusting ( Lenham )
Like father , like son
The HSCC is fortunate to have a host of father and son pairings among the competitor ranks . Paul Lawrence chatted to a few of them to find out what is special about dad and lad racing . In a future issue , we ’ ll take a look at some other family connections within the HSCC racing fraternity .
Robert and Ben Tusting Historic FF1600 , Classic F3 and Guards Trophy
Robert : Age : 63 Lives : Bedford
Ben : Age : 32 Lives : Bedford
Robert Tusting says : “ Benjamin is 32 . He still thinks he ’ s young and he ’ s young compared to me ! He works in the family business which is manufacturing leather . We ’ ve been going since 1938 and I ’ m still working , though I ’ m trying to retire . So , we ’ re fifth generation family in the business now .
“ My father used to take me to Silverstone club meetings . I ’ d done some karting years ago with my dad but I thought I ’ d never go racing until about 13 years ago when I had a go in a Radical and my godson was doing Formula Ford 2000 , so that ’ s how we got into that .
“ Benjamin thought that looked good fun . He didn ’ t fancy karting but wanted to have a go at racing . I think he won his first race as a novice , so he did well . It ’ s obviously in the genes !
“ We both did Formula Ford and I ended up being quite quick and we were up the front together . One season we had a knock at Snetterton and then he shoved me off at Cadwell and then we had an almighty
Ben Tusting ( Martini Mk31 )
shunt at Oulton Park . After that we said we ’ d never race against each other .
“ It ’ s good fun sharing the Lenham in the Guards Trophy : it ’ s a social thing and the camaraderie is good . But I spend most days with him . It ’ s like when my father and I used to go kart racing . We ’ d put it in the old works Transit van and mother used to say : ‘ well , at least it ’ s a different place to argue !’ It ’ s good to have a shared passion .”
Andrew Hibberd ( Brabham BT18 )
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