FOX ON THE RUN
Motor Sport Magazine|June 2024
Jean Alesi made his name in this Eddie Jordan-run F3000. Now the man who put his name to the car, Adrian Reynard, has driven it for the first time.
Damien Smith 
FOX ON THE RUN

Reynard in a Reynard? This we’ve got to see. Especially as the car in question is peak Formula 3000, the long-defunct Formula 1 feeder that roamed Europe as a gloriously open chassis and engine category between 1985 and ’95 before the dreaded one-make malaise set in. Company founder Adrian Reynard, in Jean Alesi’s Eddie Jordan Racing, Camel-liveried, 1989 championship-winning 89D at Donington Park? Yes!

“I’ve never driven an F3000 car or anything bigger than a Formula Atlantic,” says Adrian with a hint of out-of-character nerves. He’s 73 now, but looks great on it and is preparing to indulge in another season driving one of his own Formula Ford 2000s in the well-supported Historic Sports Car Club series. “I’ve actually built a brand new-old-stock FF2000 for this season,” he says, “a 1981 car. Brand new chassis built to my drawings which I found. Ken Thorogood built it for me in Norfolk. It’s almost ready.”

So is the vibrant yellow F3000, which is brightening a dull East Midlands day. That 3-litre Mugen V8 cuts a crisp note too as it warms in the pitlane. They’ve aged well, this generation of single-seater that pitched Reynard against long-established March and Lola, with an added dose of Ralt and (briefly) Dallara, along with a bevy of independent engine tuners before one-make control became de rigueur. It’s a cold day, and this old-school analogue beast looks ready to bite, on a filming day organised by Adrian’s son Sam, who is making a documentary about his father’s company and its place in the wider motor sport story. Adrian promises caution. Probably wise.

This story is from the June 2024 edition of Motor Sport Magazine.

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This story is from the June 2024 edition of Motor Sport Magazine.

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