PUB

DOWN THE WITH ANDY JARVIS

Cheltenham Classic Racing Car winner

He was involved from an early age “I started in the HSCC office at meetings when my mum was helping Brian Cocks and my brother Brian and I were selling racer numbers and dishing out timesheets from the age of six.”

He tried Formula Ford “I didn’t go into karting; I went into Formula Fords and did a couple of seasons at Castle Combe. Then I decided to do historics about 10 years ago and started with a Porsche 924, which is the car that my brother now races. Then I had a Porsche 928: we lived close to 928 expert Paul Anderson and it seemed like the right thing to do and I sold the 924 to Brian. It was good fun but it was just like throwing money away.”

He got a Palliser “I’d always wanted a Lotus Elan because my dad raced an Elan, but I couldn’t afford one so I bought the Formula Atlantic Palliser instead. I had a go in a Formula Ford 2000 for a season and then traded that for the Palliser. It was Nick Overall’s car and before that was owned by Chris Alford, so it is well known.”

This season has gone well “The Palliser is basically an underrated Brabham and I couldn’t afford a Brabham. The performance you get for the money is very good and this year has gone very well as I’ve won the Classic Racing Car series. We reckon that’s the first title for a Palliser since Vern Schuppan won in Formula Atlantic in 1971. Classic Racing Cars is a really friendly series and the racing is fair. A Lotus twin-cam engine will last more than two seasons.”

He has a one-litre F3 car “I’ve also got a March 703 one-litre F3 car. It is the ex-mo Nunn car that came back from the States, where it had sat in a barn since 1973. We tested it last week and it is going well and we think we’ve cured most of the issues we had with it. I’m hoping to race that next year and I can race it in Classic Racing Cars as well.”

Family is on the way “I’m a bit hesitant about plans for next year as my wife Nicky is about to have a baby. I don’t think I’ll be doing a full season. But she’s keen on racing and doesn’t want to stop coming just because we’ve got a child.”