Inside line

Peter Hardman

The Earl of Oversteer

How did you get into historic racing?

I’ve been very lucky over the last 12 years or so since I started racing the Aston [DBR1]. I met Harry Leventis on a track day and it went from there. I raced a Prosport for him first. Then Tim Samways had done a restoration on the Aston Martin and they invited me to race that. Then we had a Ferrari 330LMP for the Shell Historic Ferrari series…

Is racing your main job?

I’m a racing driver; it’s what I do. My priority is motor racing. I do some one-to-one instructing, but probably only seven or eight days in the year.

Which is your favourite car to drive?

The Ferrari 412P is great to race and I’m very lucky to be able to drive it. Driving the 206 is good fun. But the car I really like is the 246 Dino, the sportscar. It just works so well. Considering there is three years’ difference between that and the Aston Martin— 1957 to 1960— it’s night and day, and it’s probably got 60bhp less. The Ferrari has no real power, but its handling and speed off the corners makes it so easy to drive.

What about a favourite event?

Obviously Goodwood. We’re all spoilt now. But some of the driving standards are diabolical. It’s not touring cars and you shouldn’t be swapping paint. It doesn’t matter in modern cars, but these historic cars are so nice you don’t want to damage them. Goodwood is a very fast track where you need to leave a margin for error.