Richard Tarling Formula Ford
Former Palmer Audi champion returns to his racing roots, but this time just for fun... By Paul Lawrence
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TECH SPEC 1970 Macon MR8 Engine: 1600cc Ford Kent Power: 108bhp Top speed: 130mph Gears: Four forward plus reverse
PAUL LAWRENCE
t is nearly 20 years since Richard Tarling was one of Britain’s most promising young singleseater drivers. Now, after a break of 15 years, the Henley-on-Thames resident is back racing for fun in the incredibly competitive Historic Formula Ford 1600 Championship. After a brief dabble with karts as a teenager, he rode junior motocross until hit by injury and then went to the Jim Russell School at Donington Park in about 1994. As soon as he was old enough he did some Formula Ford Kent racing and then pitched into the hugely competitive Formula Vauxhall Junior. “I was second or third in my first car race,” he said. “It was the Justin Wilson era when I was in Vauxhall Junior.” Tarling then graduated to Formula Palmer Audi and won the title in 1999, but lacked the funding to take his career further up the single-seater ladder. Like many of his contemporaries, he quit racing and concentrated on business and then a young family. Eventually, he decided he could afford to return to racing and, now in his mid-30s, started racing purely for fun. “I’d always wanted to race again for fun because towards the end of my career it started not being fun,” he said. “In historics there is much less fighting between drivers. It’s more gentlemanly but still competitive.” Initially, he tackled some modern Formula Ford racing at national level and even had the chance to race the unique South African Assegai 1500cc Formula 1 car from 1962. However, it was the sheer level of competition in Historic Formula Ford that really captured his imagination and with this year’s HSCC championship celebrating the 50th anniversary season for Formula Ford, Tarling joined the leading pack first in a Jamun and then in a Macon MR8. “The plan for 2017 was to go back to what I started doing, racing Kent Formula Fords,” said Tarling, who was on the pace from the very start of the season. “It’s good fun and it is much easier to just jump in and go with the older cars.”
www.msauk.org / Autumn 2017
01/09/2017 14:38