Get a dirty-rich dad if you want to race

JUAN Fangio was sponsored by Juan Peron for the whole of his spectacular career.

Formula Vees in action.

JUAN Fangio was sponsored by Juan Peron for the whole of his spectacular career. For younger readers, Juan was the husband of blonde actress Eva, who Andy Webber (no relation to Mark) and Tim Rice, made the star of the musical Evita. Juan Fangio (every male is called Juan in Argentina) was voted the No 3 greatest F1 wheelperson of all time by an Autosport panel of 217 drivers.

A few dodgy rulers like Juan and his mates Mr A. Hitler and Mr B. Mussolini used car racing as a propaganda tool. In his book Juan Fangio — Motor Racing’s Grand Master, Karl Ludvigsen points out that Peron wanted to make Argentina self-sufficient as a car producer, no longer relying on the American plutocrats for Fords and Chevrolets. Hmm. That must be what happened to the Australian car industry.

Anyway, this year is the 80th anniversary of Fangio’s first race in an American plutocrat’s Ford Model A and it’s the four-month anniversary of Daniel Ricciardo’s first F1 win at the Canadian Grand Prix. Dan has the potential to be the next Fangio. He is very talented, intelligent and has a feel for the mechanicals. But as in the rest of life, in motor sport talent is not enough. You need money as well. Luckily, he has his father — Joe Ricciardo is chairman and founder of the publicly listed GR Engineering. So when Dan went overseas to race in Formula BMW it cost Joe and other sponsors $420,000 a year. Shifting up to Formula 3 meant $800,000 a year. The starting price for a F1 drive is somewhere between $4 million and $50m.

Most F1 teams need you to bring your own money or sponsorship. Even the high-profile teams use a combination of a paid driver and a pay-to-drive driver. So while Mercedes, one of Mr Hitler’s favourite car companies during the last big one, pays Lou Hamilton around 25 big ones, the drivers with names you struggle to remember are not earning a brass red bull.

But all is not lost.

If you want to race but don’t have a lazy $10m then Formula Vee is the answer. For $20,000 you can buy a new car with the compulsory Volkswagen 1600 engine (another gift to the universe from Mr Hitler) and be competitive.

Wollongong’s Tim Brook will never be another Fangio or Daniel Ricciardo. These days unless you’re in F1 by 20 you will never be there. But after the compulsory career in karts he stepped into Formula Vees eight years ago and is now leading the national championship. Like most racers in Australia, he pays for his racing by coaching mature, but still extraordinarily sexy, persons like your columnist, to faster lap times. He says he doesn’t get car sick often.

Finally, it’s shed-a-tear day. Yes, our sport has finally gone completely mad. The first race in the Formula E series kicks off today in Beijing with F1 legends’ sons like Nelson Piquet, Nicolas Prost and nephew Bruno Senna, as well as real people like Jarno Trulli defecting to the quiet side. Unfortunately, proper car companies like Audi and Renault have also gone over.

Readers, stay away from these companies lest you get shocked into driving one. Fortunately, the closest these atrocities get to our shores will be Malaysia. Electric engines in racing cars? What would Juan, Juan, Eva, Dan, Tim and Adolf say?

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