• Interview - Richard Dunwoody

I've always really been a big car addict

Richard Dunwoody with Eddie Jordan at the 2001 Australian Grand Prix © Sutton Images

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What most people know about Richard Dunwoody MBE is that he's one of the most successful jockeys in English National Hunt Racing history with 1,699 wins, including two Grand Nationals and the Cheltenham Gold Cup to his credit. What many people don't know is that he is also an avid enthusiast of horsepower of the four-wheeled variety, having competed in Formula First, the Porsche Supercup at the British Grand Prix and World Cup rallies.

"I've always really been a big car addict for as long as I can remember and a relation of mine is Peter Gethin," recalls Dunwoody. "Peter was running the driving school at Goodwood and he invited me down back in 1996 for a Formula First day in mid-winter and I really enjoyed it. I'd been to grand prix before that but it was my first real taste of racing participation that gave me the bug.

"I raced Formula First for two seasons and Robbie Kerr, who now raced for Great Britain in A1GP, won the championship the first year I competed. I was with Danny Watts' team-mate the second year and I finished fourth and fifth a few times but unfortunately trying to combine horses and racing cars at the same time wasn't that conducive to driving too well! I also had an injury the second year which didn't help much either.

"I've also had the great honour of sitting in a rally car with the late Colin McRae and Martin Phaff invited me to drive at Rockingham once in the Ginetta Racing Championship. I'd like to do a full year again but it's just a matter of raising the budget and finding the time because I'm away for most of the summer."

It comes as no great surprise that Dunwoody is also a huge fan of Formula One and his passion for the sport stems from a former girlfriend who worked for not one but two Finnish F1 world champions.

"My girlfriend at the time, Emma Heanley, used to work for Keke Rosberg down in Monaco and was also Mika Hakkinen's personal assistant. Through my relationship with Emma I started to go to a few F1 races and it all just went from there really. One of Emma's ex-boyfriends also used to drive for Eddie Jordan in Formula 3, which is how I got re-introduced to Eddie, whom I used ride horses for when he owned a couple back in the 1980s. He's a really good guy and I look forward to watching him again on the BBC this season.

"The first Formula One race I attended was the 1996 Monaco Grand Prix, which Olivier Panis won. It was an incredible race because the lead changed so many times. It looked for a long time that Damon Hill would win until he retired. I think only four cars finished the race in the end, so it was incident packed to say the least!" Although the 1996 Monaco Grand Prix is one that will live long in the memory, Dunwoody highlights an even more dramatic finish to a grand prix as the best for pure drama.

Richard Dunwoody enjoys a different kind of horsepower at a charity karting event © Sutton Images

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"I watch a lot of the races on the television but it's hard to pick my favourite. There was the 1997 title decider at Jerez when Jacques Villeneuve clinched the drivers' title after Michael Schumacher tried to take him out. But for sheer drama, I'd have to go for the 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix when Lewis Hamilton clinched the title on the penultimate corner. It was edge of the seat stuff all race and great for him to do it having come so close the year before."

If the 2008 season provided the most dramatic finish in the history of the sport, the 2010 season is arguably the most eagerly-awaited in the sport's long and distinguished history, due in no small part because of the return of seven-time world champion Schumacher to the sport.

"I'm really looking forward to it," adds Dunwoody. "He [Schumacher] obviously had a neck injury from racing bikes but I'm sure he'll be as fit and focused as he's ever been and I'm hoping his car will be competitive. In a way, having had a couple of years out could make him even fresher and hungrier to succeed."

Dunwoody himself retired from National Hunt racing in 1999 due to the potential danger of long-term damage to his neck. But he does not expect fitness to be a factor for the ultra-motivated 41-year-old German.

"Reaction times may slow with age but the guy has kept himself immensely fit so I'm really looking forward to seeing him back. In jump racing you expect to get bumps, bruises and broken bones and fall around 40 times a season so not many guys last into their early 40s. But car racing is more like flat racing because you look at some of the guys in touring cars and some of them are going on into their 50s and seem to have been around for years. When you reach Michael's age, whether you're a driver or a jockey, people can be very quick to write you off if the car is not performing or the horse not running up to form so I hope he has a competitive machine."

The other reason why 2010 is shaping up to be such an intriguing season is because of the tabloid-titled 'Battle of the Brits' which sees tHamilton and Jenson Button face off against each other at McLaren.

"Lewis v Jenson will be an interesting battle and they seem to be getting on well enough. There will be times when the press will be trying to stir things up between them during the season but the biggest challenge will inevitably be to beat your team-mate. Lewis is ultra, ultra competitive so it will be interesting but I think Lewis will come out on top by the end of the year."

So who does Dunwoody pick to win this clash of the titans in 2010? Somewhat fittingly for one of National Hunt Racing's greatest, the winner will not come from any of these three but from one of Maranello's famous 'Prancing Horse' drivers.

"It would be a fairytale if Schumacher did come back and win it," concludes Dunwoody. "But Ferrari has one hell of a strong line-up this year and I think the winner may well be Fernando Alonso or Felipe Massa. It would be another fairytale if Massa came back and won the championship and nobody would deserve it more after what's happened to him."

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