In the driving seat with Richard Dunwoody
What most people know about Richard Dunwoody MBE is that he's the most successful jockey in English National Hunt Racing history with 1,699 wins (including two Grand Nationals and the Cheltenham Gold Cup) to his credit.
What many people don't know is that Richard is also an avid enthusiast of horsepower of the four wheeled variety, having competed in Formula First, Porsche Supercup and desert Rallies.
Richard talked exclusively to ntl about his passion for cars and motorsport.
Q: You're obviously well acquainted with horsepower of the four legged variety but where did your initial passion for the four wheeled variety stem from?
RD: Well I've always really been a big car addict for as long as I can remember and a relation of mine is Peter Gethin. Peter was running the driving school in Goodwood and he invited me down back in 1996 for a Formula First day in the middle of winter and I really enjoyed it. I'd been to grands prix before that but that was my first real taste of racing participation and that gave me the bug.
Q: How did you come to compete in events such as the Formula First UK Championship, Porsche Supercup and World Cup Rally across the Sahara?
RD: I raced Formula First for two seasons and Robbie Kerr, who now races for Great Britain in the new A1 GP series, won the championship in my first year I competed and then I was team mates with Danny Watts. I finished fourth and fifth a few times in my second year so it was good fun, although I had an injury and struggled a bit. Because I got my International licence, I was invited to drive in the Porsche Celebrity Championship and it was good although I was off the pace and would have liked to have been three or four seconds quicker. I would like to have had more time in the car which wasn't possible. I've also sat in a Rally car with Colin McRae and recently Martin Phaff invited me to drive at Rockingham once a year in the Ginetta Racing Championship. I'd like to do a full year again some time but it's just a matter of raising the budget and finding the time because I'm away for a lot of the summer doing riding holidays.
Q: You also drove, and wrote a book on the 2004 Gumball Rally called 'Our Gumball Rally'. What was that whole experience like?
RD: Gumball was fantastic and a huge event. I did it in 2004 and I did it with an Irish journalist called Clement Wilson and we since wrote a book about the whole experience called 'Our Gumball Rally'. It was exhausting, probably the most knackering thing I've ever done and sitting in with Clement was probably the most dangerous thing I've ever done! Clement wrote the car off in the end. We had a smash in Morocco and we got it back to Barcelona but we weren't able to take it any further. I have to say that the Volvo V70R was a fair car to do it in as it was both quick and comfortable. For all they say about the Volvo Estates, it was a good car to do it in.
Q: Is the adrenaline rush and intensity comparable in any way to National Hunt Racing?
RD: One was a job and motor racing has always been a hobby so it's nice to see the sport develop at grass root level and see young lads like Robbie and Danny coming up through the ranks.
Q: What's more dangerous - Horse Racing or Motor Racing?
RD: With steeple chasing you accept you're maybe going to have two or three falls a week and we had one fatality this year. I suppose the list of fatalities is about the same in both sports and the chance of fatalities is not much different. In horse racing you expect to get bumps, bruises and broken bones all the time whereas in motor racing you can go for three or four years without having a scratch on you.
Q: You're good friends with Eddie Jordan. What do you think of Formula One at the moment?
RD: I know EJ because I used ride horses for him when he owned a couple of horses back in the 80s, so I've known him for quite a long time and he's a really good guy. From what I've seen, as I haven't watched as much F1 as I did last year, it's really refreshing that Fernando Alonso has won the championship and David Coulthard, who I know quite well, has had quite a good year for Red Bull. To be fair, I think Schumacher's been brilliant for the sport and I hope that next year he can get right back amongst it and make it a battle between himself, Alonso and Raikkonen. When you reach Michael's age (36), whether you're a driver or a jockey, people can be very quick to write you off if the car is not performing or the horse not running up to form so I do sympathise.
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