FOX ON THE RUN

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 

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.