Richard Attwood: "Goodwood is a bigger challenge than Spa"

Richard of course is the man who knows, for few are as familiar with both circuits, in period and in historic racing, as he is. In a career spanning 60 years he has driven in Formula 1 grands prix and raced and won famous victories in sports cars, not least being part of the team that brought the mighty 917 home first to give Porsche its first Le Mans win in 1970.

These days he is content with where he began top-level competition – with BRM – and in trying to master the racing challenges that Goodwood still throws up at him.

“The thing about the Goodwood Motor Circuit is that the corners are all pretty much blind, which is so clever. The degree of difficulty in being really quick here is amazing. And to think the circuit was all originally just perimeter tracks around an airfield…”

Apart from being a regular driver at Goodwood at the start of his career – Formula Junior provided the breakthrough for him in the early 1960s – he has been a Revival stalwart, racing in all but one of them since the first 20 years ago.

Over that time he has driven a huge array of grand prix and sports cars, but it’s unlikely any are closer to his heart than the 1965 BRM P261 one-and-a-half litre F1 car that he co-owns…

Are you looking forward to the 2018 Glover Trophy?

I am. I was only sixth on the grid last year [finishing fourth] so am hoping for something better this year. It was a very wet race in 2017 year but everyone drove really well that day.

How’s your BRM going?

I would like to race the car more but the reality is I only see it once a year. It’s too expensive to run! If my wife got to know the true cost I would be in quite a lot of trouble. I think I need a sponsor…

But the big-valve engine we have now is 100 per cent and I have the handling set up the way I like it - better than it was in period. So we should be competitive. That will be quite a new thing for me, because while this may sound stupid, apart from the wet race last year I have never driven a fully competitive 1.5-litre BRM before, only 2.0-litre cars. I never drove the BRM in a grand prix, only in Tasman Series spec. 

I am going to have to drive the car in a way that I haven’t driven it before – more like a Formula Junior.  It will be a challenge.

Who will you be looking out for this year?

Well again, I see the other cars and drivers only once a year at Goodwood so I don’t really know them. I will take things as they come and just do my bit. If I was out to blitz the field I would be doing a lot more about it.

You say the Goodwood circuit is more difficult than Spa, are you still learning things about it?

When I first drove it 60 years ago I didn’t know which way it went. Today I know it well and for me it is just the same as it always was. What has changed is the way other drivers drive it, and many of them are now faster than me.  It’s like Mario Andretti always said, the more you practise, the luckier you get.

You were in at the start of the Goodwood Revival 20 years ago, what do you remember of it?

I remember thinking it was just like a Members’ Meeting – the original Members’ Meetings back in the 1960s. It’s bigger now of course – things always get bigger when they are so successful. But I still enjoy coming here very much. It is so prestigious to win a race at Revival and so many people spend such a lot of time, effort and money trying to win. It has become unbelievably competitive. All the  cars have got many seconds faster around Goodwood than they were in period.  I think the Glover Trophy cars are probably the only cars true to the speed they had in the day, which is great.

So you are lapping in about the same time today as then?

I have never been within three or four seconds of the 1965 joint Jim Clark (Lotus 25)/Jackie Stewart (BRM 261) Goodwood lap record. They used to test a lot at Goodwood which we can’t do so much these days. And they were world champions. Some drivers today might think they are champions too, but I don’t think they are. Jim and Jackie were exceptional drivers. 

So many cars at Revival you will know from driving them in period – including this year a couple of rather important sports cars: the Ford GT40 prototype and the Ford F3L in the Bonhams auction…

I was in at the start of the development of what would become the Ford GT40. I had been racing a Lola GT when Ford asked me to drive their new car. But at Le Mans in ’64 we had to retire; the car wasn’t fully developed, but would soon go on to be of course.

After the GT40 came the F3L. I was a fan of the car but a lot of people derided it. I thought it was terrific. A brilliant Len Bailey design, light weight, super slippery and a DFV engine. But in the late 1960s aerodynamics was hit and miss and the car needed more high-speed stability.

I drove the F3L only twice: at the Nurburgring which was much rougher than it is today and which didn’t suit the car, but I still qualified it fourth or fifth. And in the Gold Cup at Oulton Park where we got pole. It was easily the fastest car there but in the race something broke. The car was basically underdeveloped.

Your best Goodwood Revival memory?

Winning. But I haven’t done that for a while.

Any cars from the ‘60s you wanted to drive but never did?

Reality comes into this and I am quite a realist. But having said that I never did drive a Ferrari 250 GTO. At that time you either had to own one or be a top driver and although I might have hankered to drive one it wasn’t going to happen, and probably never will now. I have driven the 250 SWB in recent times, a car exactly as it was in period, and thought it one of the loveliest cars to drive. But then against the E-types and Cobras we were 10 seconds off the pace.  That was a shame, but to me that Ferrari was better to drive because it was so original.