combination in the 956/962s has become one of the iconic images of the era. David’s own business built 20 Porsche 911 RCs for rallying which were successful, Rothmans buying six. The name Prodrive had been adopted by this time.
Initially running out of a unit at Silverstone, with Eddie Jordan as a neighbour, Prodrive then moved to Banbury, Richards instructing the builders to construct the factory so that it faced the M40. In time it was to become a landmark and when it was recently replaced, Prodrive got permission for its new premises to have similar prominence. The late 1980s and early 90s saw BTCC success, firstly with BMW then Alfa Romeo and Ford.
In 1989 Subaru started a relationship with
Prodrive that was to be definitive for both organ- isations. For a small company like Subaru, dominance in rallying went beyond marketing value; it raised the morale of the whole company and allowed it to attract better engineers. In Colin McRae Prodrive found a real superstar whose fame went beyond the world of motor sport. One observation that David made at Brooklands was that in the first year of a new relationship manufacturers stay away, leaving the job to the experts, but in years two and beyond, manufac- turers’ managers become more ‘expert’ and their presence greater. Rally success continued with Richard Burns and then Petter Soldberg.
Why do blue Subarus have gold wheels? Well at the beginning of one season Speedline provided the team with gold-coloured wheels for the Monte Carlo Rally. After the rally Richards wrote to the Subaru president apologising for the error that would not be repeated. The reply came that all the advertising had been prepared with gold wheels and that Prodrive were never to change it. David Richards also told a story of being summoned, with Colin McRae, to an FIA disciplinary meeting in Paris with the rally star
BTM TALKS NEWS
s 2016 slips quietly away and the New Year arrives, I think we can all reflect on just how 2016 has been so successful for both the Museum and the Brooklands Trust Members. I don’t intend to take up valuable space by looking back at what a fantastic year 2016 has been for the Talks Team, rather looking forward to the 2017 programme, but more of that in a moment.
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being accused of dangerous driving by perform- ing stunts. In the meeting the formidable FIA President Jean-Marie Balestré sat silent for a while, eventually bursting into life asking why was McRae there, he was only doing his job!
Prodrive and Richards have had various involvements in F1. The first was a request from the Benetton family to train Rocco Benetton as team manager to replace Flavio Briatore. The problem was that Rocco was a playboy and never at the team’s base. Through his Rothmans connections, Richards’ next F1 involvement came when he was asked to sort out the BAR team, owned by BAT who by then owned Rothmans. This was a five-year deal, the team finishing second in the third year of the contract. At that stage the team was bought by Honda and Richards’ involvement ended. Finally Prodrive nearly got involved in F1 in 2008 with a proposal to use a McLaren chassis as a junior team, but Williams blocked the relevant rule change and the deal fell through.
Le Mans involvement started in 2000/1 when a rally customer enquired about doing sports car racing. Prodrive bought a second-hand F550, stripped it, rebuilt it and raced it at La Sarthe the following year, with Colin McRae as one of the drivers. More recently the involvement has been with Aston Martin, commencing with a début class win at Sebring in 2005. It was to take another two years before class victory in the French 24-hour classic.
Thanks for the evening should go not only to David Richards for sparing us time from his busy schedule but also to Steve Cropley, without whom this event (and others) would not happen. Our talks have even had recent mentions in Steve’s Autocar diary. We look forward to 2017 and many more special visitors lured to Brooklands from his extensive motor industry contacts.
Gareth Tarr News
Since the last edition of the Bulletin we have held three fantastic evening talks: The Donald Campbell Story with Phil Holt; Hunt@40, the celebration to mark 40 years since James won the F1 World Championship and finally An Evening with David Richards hosted by Steve Cropley. All these were incredibly well supported and thanks to all of you who attended one or more of them. Full reports of these events can be found in this
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