Inside line -- Max Mosley

Former Clubmans racer

Did you enjoy the Clubmans racing 40th celebrations?

It’s wonderful to see the cars again and it is fantastic that Ray Mallock made an original U2 Mk6B available for me. It’s almost identical to the car I raced, except it’s got a slightly different engine — a twin-cam instead of a pushrod Ford. But in all other respects it’s exactly the same. And it’s nearly 40 years old!

What do you remember of your Clubmans days?

A great deal. I remember all the main people like Tim Goss in the Lotus 37, who I’ve just met again today, Howard Heerey in his Chevron B2, and a whole lot of people who are still around motor racing in one way or another. Then a lot of people came later in Clubmans and went on to feature in Formula One, like Harvey Postlethwaite and of course Patrick Head. But they weren’t quite my contemporaries.

But you didn’t race your Mallock only in Clubmans did you?

I took the mudguards off my Mallock U2 and did the F2 race at Crystal Palace in 1967. I sat in the collecting area that day with Bruce McLaren and people like that. It was quite an eye-opener.

What is the appeal of these cars?

Clubmans has kept going all these years because the performance per pound is so good: it’s probably the quickest car anywhere in relation to its price. Driving the car was very nice, just like it was nearly 40 years ago. It would be nice to spend a day and try and go quicker in one, but I’m too old for all of that now!