TV’s Tony Jardine in Goodwood thriller saloon car race thriller Little green Austin A35, ‘Mushy Pea’, puts two peas on a podium in giant killing act One of the crowd’s favourite cars at this year’s sell out Goodwood Revival (1-3 Sept), ‘Mushy Pea’, had fans cheering again in the classic St Mary’s race for pre-1957 saloon cars. Coming home just inches behind a mighty Jaguar in two enthralling races, the Austin A35 finished second in each to claim the runners up position overall.
Rae Davis, of Rae Davis Racing, and his co-driver, former ITV and now Sky Sports presenter Tony Jardine, established the avid fan following for the original red Austin A35 - nick named the ‘powerful peanut’ by fans - after it won the 2004 Goodwood St Mary’s race, just edging out the more powerful Jaguar, Alvis, Ford Zephyr and Zodiac cars. Now the re-incarnated pea green A35, painted that colour in deference to sponsor Castrol Classic Oils, has punched above its weight once again, to keep the crowd on its feet.
Davis, who watched driving partner Tony Jardine start from the front row of the grid in blinding rain and wind alongside two former grand prix drivers and Le Mans winners Jackie Oliver and Derek Bell, was praiseworthy of the media man’s driving performance in the first race, “Tony was nervous about the conditions and the exalted company around him but he made a great start despatching Jackie Oliver and Indy 500 winner Bobby Rahal’s Jaguar at the first bend.
“Then he toughed it out with Australian Touring Car legend Peter Brock to grab third behind former European Touring car champ John Fitzpatrick, in a giant Austin Westminster, and five times Le Mans winner Derek Bell in a Jaguar Mk 1. He picked them off one by one to take the lead, which had the crowd cheering like mad in the grandstands opposite us in the pits. I think it was one of his best drives, even though he lost the lead on the penultimate lap to Derek Bell as the track dried a little, he drove exceptionally well in difficult conditions.” Tony Jardine took up the story, “The first part of the race was very wet, which was why the big cars were struggling in the slower corners, sliding all over the place. They just looked like big boats in front of me, but I was able to slip by their moorings. As the line dried towards the end, the Jaguar started to haul me in, lights ablaze. I nearly lost control twice at Woodcote bend as I went into a couple of zig zag tank slappers off the grass, and that’s when I had to back off a fraction, but our engine was still strong thanks to Classic and Modern Engine Services.
“Derek actually passed under a yellow flag on the straight, which he apologised for afterwards, but it didn’t matter - we had all enjoyed it so much that John, myself and Derek were laughing like crazy about our track antics as we received our laurels from a stunning Marilyn Monroe look-a-like.” Rae Davis started the second St Mary’s race in sixth position, but in similar fashion to team mate Jardine, passed the opposition one by one in a gripping race until he was on the tail of the leading Jaguar, now driven by Bell’s team mate Grant Williams. Rae tried every which way to pass as the huge crowd were now on their feet, urging him on, but he had to settle for second over the line by 1.4 seconds.
Davis finished second and ‘Mushy’ had its second pea on the podium.
