SIMPSON HITS 50 MILESTONE
A stalwart of british motor sport for 50 years, bob simpson is still going strong.
Very few drivers can claim to have spent half-a-century continuously competing in motorsport – even fewer still can boast credentials of having raced in the same series for all those 50 years.
But Bob Simpson is one of them, as 2018 marks 50 years since he made his debut in the 750 Motor Club’s 750 Formula having first been introduced to the series when he watched it during the 1960s at Brands Hatch.
From beating Damon Hill to a Driver of the Day accolade and being presented with a trophy by three-time Formula 1 world champion Jack Brabham, Simpson has seen and done it all including being very successful.
“I’d always taken an interest in it [motor racing] from a teenager I suppose, watching Stirling Moss, Jim Clark and Brabham,” he says.
“My dad was always interested in it and his father, although I never met him, he used to be a mechanic at Brooklands. So he [Bill] always followed motor racing and I just sort of carried on really.
“We used to go to Brands Hatch spectating in the ’60s, we used to be down there most weekends. I thought we could probably manage to do that [compete], I’ve only ever done it on a real tight budget, it’s only been a hobby as such it’s not been anything other than that.”
A hobby it may be but it’s one at which Simpson has had considerable success with since his first meeting at a wet Castle Combe in 1968 using an Austin-based car.
With ever-changing regulations and constant evolution of the cars, Simpson has adapted and clinched four championships across four decades – all in machines of his own design and all dubbed a Simpson Special.
“I’ve only made four cars, none of them have ever lasted very long,” adds Simpson. “One of them went on to win the championship a few times once we’d sold it. It ended up being a bit of thorn in our side because it kept beating us!”
His first triumph came in 1978, the first year for the second Simpson creation before he won the title again in 1980.
During that season he and his dad – who competed alongside him in the early years – created their third car which would eventually go on to claim title honours in 1989 as well as countless wins and podiums.
Simpson says: “The ’80s were really good times for us, not topping the Formula but we were racing at the sharp end, big grids – 30 people at least on the grid – and in the ’80s we were never really out of the top three in the majority of the races.”
In 2003, he clinched what remains his most recent title and last for the Reliant-powered cars as the 750 Formula switched to Fiats for the following season.
“The first 10 years were the hardest, learning how to keep the cars going and keep the engines going more than anything else because we were running a Reliant engine for a load of years,” recalls Simpson.
“It was quite a fragile little engine so it took us a long time to learn all the tricks to keep that engine going and of course now, because we’ve moved onto the Fiat, it’s a lot easier for people to keep them going. It’s not so tricky as a Reliant used to be.”
But does the 71-year-old have any regrets about never competing in another series or different types of cars? “I’ve no desire to move to faster cars or anything like that,” he says.
“It’s a matter of trying to get myself and my own car going as quick as I can. I’ve no desire to change formulas, I’ve not really had the money to do it anyway.”
So far in 2018 Simpson has competed in five rounds of the 750 Formula Championship, taking a best result of fourth place four times during the course of the season.
He sits fourth in the standings after the latest races at Cadwell Park last month.
And Simpson is showing no signs of stopping a hobby which is as much about the racing as it is about the family atmosphere at each event.
“I’m still really enjoying my racing, the atmosphere in the paddock is brilliant, I enjoy going to the race meetings as much as anything else, I seem to get motivated [going to them],” he says.
“Being in the garage is the thing that takes the motivation [away] most of the time, doing silly little jobs.
“I was a plumber and electrician, I’ve not had any connection with the motor trade. I do it as an amateur hobby, it’s been kept as a hobby and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it.” ■