THE NOMINEES
1 Tommy Byrne Year: 1981 Car: Van Diemen
RF81
While Tommy Byrne was already in slick-and-wings at the time, Van Diemen boss Ralph Firman had been let down by lead driver Ayrton Senna, who had ‘retired’ back to Brazil. Ralph phoned his former works driver Byrne and invited him back into the fold to go and win the Festival. The Irishman delivered and it was another staging post on his burgeoning career (at that point).
2 Johnny Herbert
Year: 1985 Car: Quest FF85 Johnny Herbert had been knocking hard on the door in Formula Ford in 1985 in the unfancied Quest chassis, although he had not won a British championship round through the year. It looked unlikely that he would win the Festival too when he crashed in practice and had to start from the back of his heat with a 10s penalty. No bother, the Essex ace powered through to win.
3 Eddie Irvine
Year: 1987
Car: Van Diemen RF87 Rising Northern Irish star Eddie Irvine had not a lot of cash but a lot of ability and determination, which led Van Diemen boss Ralph Firman to partfund his Formula
Ford season in 1987. Irvine scooped the UK crown with eight wins and took full advantage in a wetbut-drying Festival final in October to do the double.
4 Vincenzo Sospiri
Year: 1988
Car: Van Diemen RF88
After fluffing his start in the final, charismatic Italian Vincenzo Sospiri, in his John Village Automotive-run Van Diemen, eventually selected first gear but he had already been swamped. However, his comeback drive was the stuff of legend and he diced mightily with his rivals to return to top spot. It was one of the best finals ever.
5 Dave Coyne
Year: 1990
Car: Swift FB90
Formula Ford’s Mr Marmite, Dave Coyne, finally landed the big one in 1990 when he claimed the grandest prize of all. Having overcome a mid-event penalty, the 10-year veteran of Formula Ford racing staved off all of the upand-comers, including the late Fionn Murray and Jean-Christophe Boullion to take Swift’s only Festival triumph.
6 Mark Webber
Year: 1996
Car: Van Diemen RF96
New South Wales driver Mark Webber had a torrid British Formula Ford Championship campaign and was beaten to the crown by Van Diemen team-mate Kristian Kolby. So the Festival was time to set things right, and he tamed the miserable conditions at Brands to put the record straight and begin his career trajectory.
7 Jenson Button
Year: 1998
Car: Mygale SJ98
This was a slugfest. The Van Diemen twins of Dan Wheldon and Marcos Ambrose took the fight to Jenson Button in his Haywood Racing machine and ganged up to try and shut him out of success. Wheldon was leading, but backing up Button into third-placed Ambrose proved folly, because Button prevailed in the three-way skirmish to underline his future potential.
8 Anthony Davidson
Year: 2000
Car: Mygale SJ00
Although beaten to the British title by James Courtney’s works Van Diemen, Anthony Davidson produced the drive of his career (up to that point) to fend off a train of cars including Courtney, Robert Dahlgren and Mark Taylor to bring his car – which had suffered damage in the constant attacks from behind – to the flag in first position.
9 Joey Foster
Year: 2003
Car: Van Diemen RF03
It had been a year of slim pickings for Joey Foster in his Continental Racingrun Van Diemen in terms of race wins, but the Cornish flier used his nous and consistency to finish second in the standings. There was only one more thing to tick off, and he took the fight to the works cars at Brands Hatch and pulled off a fairy tale win with an inch-perfect defence from the jostling pack behind.
10 Nick Tandy
Year: 2007
Talk about controversy: this was a bout of the heavyweights, Callum Macleod (Jamun Rcing Services Mygale) and Nick Tandy (JTR Ray GR07) and there was no love lost between the pair. Contact in the final on lap two showed that tempers were being frayed. A further clash (under the safety car…) led to on-the-road winner Macleod eventually being penalised and Tandy handed the victory. It was certainly memorable.