A NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM… but not the film starring Ben Stiller and not a big gothic building in New York stuffed with dinosaur bones. This was Silverstone's museum, housed in the last remaining WW2 hangar (not that you would recognise it these days) . It was mid September ,and the star was Le Mans winner and long-time F1 driver Derek Warwick , on stage to be interviewed by journalist and broadcaster Simon Taylor in front of an audience including a lot of faces from his career - sponsors, team bosses, mechanics and on track rivals. No wonder he said the evening made him nervous! .
Derek's authobiography was published a few months ago, subtitled NEVER LOOK BACK (an ironic title … that's exactly what he did , both in print and on stage), and this was the third in a series of evenings promoting it.
I had a small part to play in the book as it includes a couple of photos I supplied . In fact during the talk a pair of big screens showed various images to stimulate the conversation and one of mine was among them (below) .
However I am jumping ahead as prior to all of this the museum was opened up for all those attending . For an hour we wandered through the dramatically lit exhibits ; cars , engines, drivers suits and crash helmets, trophies and other momentos telling (more or less) the story of the circuit. Being a modern museum this one isn't simply set up to let you look, there are the kind of audio visual displays that I guess are intended to appeal to the ‘younger generation’, those who might find just looking at great racing cars a little static. Who knows. Entry was via one such display of light and sound that included a considerable time stood around bathed in red light. This rather evoked the movie. 2001 A SPACE ODYSSEY. I had the distinct impression HAL the deranged computor was about to tell us something we didn't want to hear at any moment. I know it's a bit disingenuous but frankly I could not see the point of such trickery and quite why the cars portrayed on the screens were surrounded by actors posing as drivers, crews, spectators and photographers is anyone's guess. They could simply have used real film of real events and real people… but then I'm clearly the wrong generation for this kind of thing.
But the cars on display were indeed lovely. Although not all wrere quite what they seemed. There was a wonderfully battered Cooper-Norton F3 car from the mid 1950s with it's crumpled metal panelwork bashed back into shape with splits screwed and bolted back together. It looked great as did the E Type ERA bathed in light behind it (below) . A stunningly attractive car,, the ERA, but when you got close it was a fibreglass and dexion ‘replica’ …
The most striking thing for me was seeing so many cars I remembered watching in action back in the day and then looking at the dates and working out how many DECADES ago that was! Steve Soper's HEPOLITE TWR Rover Vitesse was one such…I saw that win on its BTCC debut here in 1983. 41 years ago…
And Johnny Herberts Reynard reminded me of his domination of the British F3 series in 1987, back when success in that series was the fastest route to an F1 drive if you didn't have a massive bag of cash to buy a seat. Behind it was the Sierra Cosworth RS500 that Dick Johnson ran here in the RAC Tourist Trophy, the same year , a round of the original iteration of the World Touring Car championship. The straight-talking Aussie superstar stunned everyone with his pace, running away from the Texaco Sierras that would win the series, untill a technical issue got in the way. 37 years ago… Gulp.
Nigel Mansell's back to back F1 and Indycar title winning cars were displayed together, apparantly for the first time(below). I never saw him drive the latter but in the 1992 Williams I vividly recall how terrifyingly fast he was taking Stowe corner when I watched qualifying for that seasn's British GP. I'd never see an F1 car driven that much faster than the opposition.
And on the subject of Indycars there were several on display, the most appropriate being A J Foyt's 1978 Coyote Ford. That was from the year when Indycar ran a couple of events at Silverstone and Brands. My dad declined to take us along on the basis that “they don't run in the rain and it always rains at Silverstone” and of course it did and the event was postponed. My cousin went along and had to go back again (was it the following weekend?) when the rain abated and the race went ahead. My dad felt vindicated but it was the only time these cars and drivers (AJ Foyt, Danny Ongais, Bobby Unser etc etc) raced in Britain . An “I was there” moment…except I wasn't!
And before I had time to properly take in the collection of Barry Sheene's Suzuki Grand Prix bikes , squeezed in next to a gorgeous 1970 BRM P153…
…it was time to head back upstairs for the talk to begin. And beforehand to get a few things signed and pose for a selfie or two …
The talk was very engaging, ranging from almost surreal tales of his slightly mad Uncle Stan's exploits in parking a helicopter(!) to the dealing with the most hard nosed of team bosses, Bernie Ecclestone and Tom Walkinshaw. The candid description of the driver he ‘learned the most from’…but not about actual driving, Toleman F1 team mate Brian Henton, was quite…um… illuminating !
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There was some amusing banter with the audience but the mood darkened when the subject of his younger brother Paul was inevitably raised. Paul was killed in a crash at Oulton Park in the summer of 1991 aged 22. He'd dominated that season's British F3000 series to such a degree that he eventually became it's posthumous champion.
33 years on and the subject still genuinely upsets Derek. There were tears in his eyes when talking about Paul (right, at an early season test with Derek watching) and he paused a few times to regain his composure. You could have heard a pin drop… It was a stark reminder of how cruel this sport can be. Which was something I wrote about in a blog concerning Paul back in 2022(click here) But from that dark eposide has emerged a lot of work on improving the safety at British circuits and in recent years Derek has been the driver steward at a great many Grands Prix, handing out the penalties to transgressors.
After a Q&A to end the event, I had a chat with the erudite Simon Taylor, who I know from hillclimbing, shook hands with Derek and thanked him for an entertaining evening
I then walked into another friend from Prescott who had by chance parked right next to me in the middle of the Mall-sized car park. There were a lot of familiar faces present and if I missed saying hello to anyone I do apologise, it was quite crowded at times!
A really good evening and very impressive museum which deserves a longer look around at some point.
1968 Lotus 56 Gas Turbine 4WD Indy Car
Lewis Hamilton's Title Winning Mercedes Watches Over The Foyer
Alan Baillie's three-tim Monoposto Championship Winning Viking & Martin Hines' ZIP Kart
Future British F1 champion Rupert Keegan's F3 March. Sadly Rupert hmself died a couple of days after this photo was taken
1922 Bentley 3 Litre Indy 500 Car
Some Warwick items on display
