The veterans of FORMULA FORD

With an average age of 77, Rick Morris, Stuart Kestenbaum and Don Hardman are the grandees of British domestic Formula Ford racing. Paul Lawrence got them together to talk about their life-long passion for this category

- Paul Lawrence

Racing drivers Rick Morris and Stuart Kestenbaum and team owner-cum-chief engineer Don Hardman are three of the most experienced guys you'll ever find in a national racing paddock. They share a passion for Formula Ford 1600 that goes back decades, and they're still as active as ever and loving their racing at a time of life when some of their contemporaries are reaching for the pipe and slippers.

Don't underestimate this trio or think that this is motor racing's equivalent of Last of the Summer Wine. Morris and Kestenbaum continue to be serious and committed racers, and Hardman knows more about engineering a quick Formula Ford than most people ever will.

Morris is the most experienced of the trio and can trace a career in Formula Ford back more than half a century. Though he was a relatively late starter, Morris was soon mixing it with the very best. And in those days, the very best meant Ayrton Senna, Nigel Mansell, Derek Warwick and more. He was a works driver in the 1970s and scored countless victories, including a famous one that he'll never forget when he beat a young Senna at Silverstone by leaping the chicane at Woodcote on the last lap. It was a lesson that Senna, then known as Ayrton Senna da Silva, never forgot as guile and cunning outfoxed unbelievable raw ability.

Kestenbaum has been racing in Formula Ford since the 1980s and in his formative years was team-mate to Swiss ace Alain Menu. Kestenbaum has had his cars run and maintained by Hardman ever since 1989, making it one of the longest-running team-driver partnerships in national racing.