Steve Cropley
MONDAY
Ford Mustangs are everywhere. There’s a Pony Car Weekend coming up at the British Motor Museum in Gaydon. The cover star of the latest Classic & Sports Car is a beautiful early convertible and the looming Goodwood Members’ Meeting (next weekend) will feature a new race called the Ken Miles Cup for pre-1966 notchback models – in which none other than Ford president and CEO Jim Farley will race with another famous V8 expert, Steve Soper.
Under the circumstances, it seemed right to abandon myself to the hype and head for the Goodwood practice day to see some of these cars in early action. They were terrific and there were plenty, including four prepared by legendary hot Fords business Alan Mann Racing. Soper was there, effortlessly stroking his beautiful blue car around in the sun, but Farley (who races GT40s, ’Stangs, Cobras and his own Lola) won’t get a chance until the race weekend. I grabbed a word with Soper, as calm as ever, who looked forward to a “very open” race but reckoned the car might have a top six chance. Great racing ahead.
TUESDAY
Crazy coincidence. Into my inbox falls news from Formula 1 expert and comms guru Matt Bishop, talking rather excitedly about a talented 18-year-old Australian open-wheel champion, Patrick Heuzenroeder. It seems Patrick has won everything relevant over there and has arrived to take his chances in the UK – under the eye of David Brabham, Le Mans winner and son of Jack. Now, Autocar isn’t a big race mag, so the main story will go elsewhere, but the surname Heuzenroeder isn’t exactly common and set off an echo in my head. The last time I heard it was in the outback Australian town where I was brought up, where Heuzenroeders were the big local butchers, specialising in multiple varieties of succulent sausages. Bishop enquired, and it turns out racing Patrick has direct family links to my family’s sausage provider. Small world. That will make me watch his race career with interest.
THURSDAY
Anniversaries are a disease in our business, but I make a very large exception for last week’s 50th anniversary of the official launch of the Volkswagen Golf, which came along and changed the world. I’d just arrived in auto journalism in 1974, so I especially remember the furore about air-cooled VWs disappearing for good (actually, the transverse, front-drive Passat had already arrived, if my memory serves).
The best thing about the Mk1 Golf is how it looks now. The simple, beautiful lines and proportions a
