Motoring with Paul Jolly: Size isn’t everything - especially when it comes to racing cars

There is an old adage that to sell on Monday, you need to win on Sunday. In the world of motor cars, this is certainly as true today as it was 60 years ago.

Why, otherwise, would so many major manufacturers be clamouring to get into Formula 1?

Audi may soon be represented but Porsche has yet to get there and the latest contender is, well, wait for it, none other than Cadillac!

Back in the day, our circuits were filled with every conceivable size and type of racing car imaginable.

The American entrants were simply vast such Ford’s Galaxy and Mustangs. We often saw ‘David and Goliath’ battles with Chevrolet Camaros up against Minis.

The American answer was simply ‘more power’ but this came with more weight.

A dear chum of mine is in the ‘100 Best Sporting Events’ tribute, racing his Escort 1600 against a 5.7 litre Camaro at Crystal Palace in 1971.

The Escort was on the Camaro’s rear bumper the whole 14 laps from the start until lap 13 when the big car over cooked it and went wide having lost his brakes.

The Escort won, followed by Gerry Marshall in his diminutive Vauxhall Viva.

John Cooper also found track success against the heavy US competition with his tiny rear-engine single seaters.

The bigger the engine, the bigger the brakes, tyres, suspension and fuel load. But keep it trim and nimble and you will run rings around the big old barges.

It was this notion that Colin Chapman was famous for. His mantra was ‘added lightness’.

My father and I attended an Earls Court Motor show to order a replacement Triumph motor car for him but I spotted Colin Chapman on his Lotus stand. We wandered over.

Dad went on the have no less than four Lotus Elans over the next decade.

These tiny sports cars were perfect for the London commute, argued my father, but I am sure the leggy blonde in the mini skirt who showed him the cars had more to do with it.

Funny old world. Maybe Triumph should have gone racing!