We spoke to Bobby mid-way through the Revival weekend, ahead of qualifying, when his most extensive experience of the car had been during pre-event testing. “It’s obviously early days as far as running it is concerned. We’ve done a test day here at Goodwood that didn’t go terribly well; we had a suspension problem. A leaf spring on the rear collapsed, which Martin described very accurately. That put an end to our testing at Goodwood. Then we went testing at Blyton and got a good day’s running, but I’m still not confident we got a good set-up there. The car was visually better and sounded better because it was squealing its tyres and rolling around. The mechanics knew it was better by the end of the day. I’m about to find out this afternoon where we are, we have a stiffer front bar to try today which should be a step in the right direction. I’m sure it’s there or there abouts. I don’t think we’re going to win it but I’d be very happy with a top six on Sunday.”
The Martin referred to above is Brundle, who Bobby shared the car with for the two-driver RAC TT Celebration race. “I haven’t driven with Martin Brundle before,” he says. “I was given a choice of about six or seven drivers and he was one of them. It was a no-brainer, he’s a safe pair of hands. He’s very experienced obviously and he’ll do a good job, and be quick and bring it back in one piece. That’s my main priority. When you’re an owner it does change your perspective.” As it transpired, they drove a clean race to finish a respectable fifth from eighth on the grid. It won’t be the last we see of the snakeskin Cobra.
Photography by James Lynch.