FEATURE : DAVE KARASKAS
Another 70s battle with the Porsche of John Williams
“ My wife Adelaide said : ‘ Well , you know , you ’ re going to have to do a season in Historic Formula 1 ’. So I bought Bob Berridge ’ s Arrows A4 . Then Adelaide said : ‘ Well , one year will just be a learning year so you ’ d better do two years . But it turned out that I finished third in the championship in the first year , and not quite as well in the second year . My finances came mainly from my wife Adelaide who inherited some money from her grandmother .
“ When I started , I lived on a council estate in East London and worked in a factory and I had no money at all . From the money I earned I gave my mother £ 10 a week housekeeping money . There was £ 5 for petrol in the car and taking my mechanic out drinking . I would buy him beers and I ’ d cuddle a half pint all night ! The rest of it went on race cars and that ’ s pretty much always been the case .
After Formula 1 , Dave ’ s wife of 24 years Adelaide became ill and she eventually passed away . “ When she got ill , I decided I was going to retire from racing . But that was in 2005 . As it happened , I snuck off and did another F1 race that year , so I couldn ’ t completely give it up .
“ But then , in about 2013 , I ’ d been doing F3 Cup for a few years and it was getting pretty competitive . I was getting a bit old and everyone was calling me the old man . So I thought I ’ d had enough and I was going to retire . Ted O ’ Day said to me : ‘ So when you retire , what are you going to race ?’ He said it would have to be an A series engine because he understood those and he was going to mechanic for me .”
Dave started off with a Sprite , but Chris Alford was selling his well-known MG Midget . “ That reminded me how
The Midget was out of breath on the straights
“ I want to race at least until I ’ m 70 . I was 21 when I started .”
frustrating it was driving a Midget , which is great fun to drive , but everybody just passes you on the straight .”
Next came a return to single-seaters with a Formula Ford 2000 Crossle 51F . “ I ran that occasionally in URS Classic FF2000 and I also took it down to Pau a few years ago and that was a really good weekend .
“ Then the chance of the TVR came along so I could play at the front end of 70s Road Sports and I got it in 2017 . We won the class championship last year in a shortened season . I want to race at least until I ’ m 70 . I was 21 when I started as I was a very late starter . Another two years will make 50 seasons . It ’ s much more fun than having holidays but try telling my wife that ! I got remarried to
Alex and she loves racing .” Dave is now retired from his main career as an electrical engineer . He did an apprenticeship with the British Oxygen Company and worked in the electrical maintenance department . These days , he works at Silverstone as an instructor for the Silverstone Drive Experience
“ There ’ s hundreds of things I don ’ t like about going racing , with all the effort of getting the car here and getting it prepared . But once you get in the race , there ’ s just so much magic . Just going out there and having a good battle , and as long as you have a fun race out there , makes it all worthwhile .”
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FOOTNOTE After this feature was completed , the TVR was badly damaged at Mallory Park so Dave ’ s future plans are now uncertain .