The former F1 team owner now racing pre-war machines

You would be hard pushed to find two more contrasting environments in the world of motorsport. The friendly paddock of pre-war categories here in the UK may bear little resemblance to the grandiose yet “cut-throat” Formula 1 conclave, but it is at these far more humble club events that you can now find one of F1’s more flamboyant team owners of recent years.

Vijay Mallya spent 10 years at the helm of the Force India F1 squad (nee Jordan, now Aston Martin) and is relishing being away from the corporate surroundings of the pinnacle of the sport. “This is a different world to Formula 1,” he says having just raced a 1939 BMW 328 at last weekend’s Donington Historic Festival. “It’s so much more relaxed, so much more fun driving all these different cars.”

He may be well known for his wide-ranging business interests that have spanned alcohol – he supplied Kingfisher beer to the Motor Racing Legends hospitality at Donington – to airlines (and his long-running tax dispute with Indian authorities), but Mallya has long had a passion for cars and has spent the past few years indulging in that far away from the F1 circus. Alongside the BMW, he has also raced the 1926 land speed record-breaking Sunbeam Tiger in recent seasons.

“I’ve had a collection of cars for quite a while,” he explains. “I started collecting cars in the late ’80s/early ’90s so I have a few that I can compete in and enjoy on the track, rather than just look at them in the garage.

“That’s the beauty of being in England because there are so many wonderful organising clubs – Motor Racing Legends here at Donington, then later in the year Vintage Sports-Car Club at Donington. It’s so much fun.”

And Mallya was clearly enjoying himself in Leicestershire. He had one of his strongest showings to date running solidly inside the top 10 in the opening stages of the Mad Jack Pre-War contest (named after 1935 Donington Grand Prix winner Richard ‘Mad Jack’ Shuttleworth) before handing over to his driver coach and prolific historics racer Chris Ward – who set the fastest lap of the race as he charged up to an eventual fourth.

“Yes, I need more seat time and more track time!” Mallya acknowledges. “But I had a gap of 20 years where I didn’t sit in a proper race car and now I’m slowly getting back into it. And I’m enjoying every minute.”

Mallya previously successfully raced Ensign F1 machines in India in the 1980s and Ward has certainly noticed the difference in his pupil since his return to competition. “Vijay seems to be getting better and better,” Ward reveals. “We do a couple of trackdays a month and we’ve started doing them in the BMW now – we started off in an MGB.

“At the end of the day, he’s enjoying himself and that’s what motorsport is about. The more they enjoy it, the better they’re going to be because they’re more relaxed and more confident in the car and the times generally come down as well.”

But it was not just Mallya who had fun at the wheel of the BMW at Donington, Ward thoroughly enjoyed his stint as well. “I would say it’s well ahead of its time and you can drive it pretty much like a modern car,” he enthuses. “It’s really responsive, it hasn’t got a huge amount of power so you can carry the brakes into the corner with a little bit of rotation and it drives itself cleanly out.

“I remember the days when there was Sir Frank Williams, Ron Dennis and Eddie Jordan and the whole atmosphere was team owners/team principals having a lot of fun off the track but competing fiercely on track – then there was an atmosphere much like this in club racing” Vijay Mallya

“It’s got little skinny tyres and it’s quite soft so going through the Craners you’re lifting an inside wheel and that felt a little bit like, ‘I’m not too sure about this!’ But you just get into it. I got the fastest lap, which I was very happy about.”

The partnership between Ward and Mallya is clearly working well and there is more potential to come across a range of hillclimb and race events Mallya has in his diary for this year. And, while Mallya retains an interest in F1, he is happy to now be free of the championship’s shackles.

“F1 has changed so much, it’s become so corporatised and cut-throat,” he opines. “I remember the days when there was Sir Frank Williams, Ron Dennis and Eddie Jordan and the whole atmosphere was team owners/team principals having a lot of fun off the track but competing fiercely on track – then there was an atmosphere much like this in club racing, with of course Bernie thrown in! But now it’s cut-throat, cold, without any emotion or warmth.”

The same certainly could not be said of the Donington paddock – especially when Mallya’s Kingfisher beer was flowing in the evening…

Mallya enjoys the relaxed atmosphere at historic events

Photo by: JEP