Inside line -- Duncan Ricketts

ERA E-type GP1 racer

2004 was a good season for you…

Last year was just wonderful. It was just one of those years when it all went right. We went to Australia with R12C in February and won five races. I’d never raced R12C before, so that was brilliant. I had wins at Cadwell and Silverstone in R3A and in GP1 at Donington in September. That was only the second ever win for GP1 in over 50 years. I also did Shelsley and got down into the 36sec bracket.

What about the win at Goodwood?

I was fourth in GP1 at Goodwood, which I was pleased with. But then I won the Brooklands race in the Dixon-Riley. That was unexpected as we only finished it the day before. I’d crashed it about seven years ago at Cadwell when a track-rod failed and we only just got it to Goodwood. But it fell into place.

What are you doing to GP1 for ’05?

We went testing with GP1 at Silverstone late last year and I was down to 1 min 11 sec, which is the quickest I’ve ever had the car around there. I’ve done some chassis work over the winter and I’ve finally installed a dyno in the workshop, so I will have a bit more power.

Can you get it close to your rivals?

The car should be going better than it’s ever gone and it would be good to make the car competitive in the big VSCC races. The E-type doesn’t feed back like other ERAs, but I reckon it’s now going to be as good as it will ever be. I may not make the first VSCC Silverstone meeting in April — I prepare the car myself and it’s a big commitment.