DICK BENNETTS: ENGINEERING GENIUS WHO HAS WORKED WITH THE VERY BEST
There isn’t enough space, within these four pages, to write down all the drivers that West Surrey Racing boss Dick Bennetts has worked with. From Niki Lauda and Ayrton Senna to British Touring Car Championship king Colin Turkington, the roll call reads like a who’s who of motor racing stardom.
The analytical Kiwi, known for his meticulous attention to detail, has been at the forefront for four decades and has been a multiple title winner in single-seaters and in tin-tops too. From a grounding with Ron Dennis at McLaren to landing the British Formula 3 crown with Senna, Bennetts has experienced the highest highs that the sport has to offer.
He took time out of the flat-out Team BMW BTCC preparations for the hectic 2020 season, which will blast off with four rounds in five weekends inAugust, to ponder the Motorsport News readers’ questions.As is to be expected, he answers each one comprehensively.
Question: “How did you first become involved in motorsport?”
Richard Smith Via Twitter
MN: Also, what was the journey that brought you to the UK?
“I was working for a company inAuckland in New Zealand called Performance Developments Ltd. I had moved up from my home town of Dunedin because there was not much motorsport where I came from. I really enjoyed it inAuckland, and then I met this chap David Oxton. He was the Formula Ford champion and his prize for winning the title was a trip to England to take part in the Formula Ford World Cup in 1972, which was at Brands Hatch on the Grand Prix track. We came over six months earlier to check out which would be the best chassis to use. We went around all the other circuits to scope out the opposition and work out how the other drivers raced. We worked out who you could trust and who you couldn’t trust. We had a bit to learn about the set-up too, because in New Zealand, Formula Ford cars were racing on slick tyres but over here they were on Firestone Torino tyres. I had done
