Why a lost F1 hope is still in demand aged 65
There's a saying among retired folk that life begins at 60, but endurance specialist Alain Ferte has never used the 'R' word. Some 40 years since his crowning glory in F3, he's still a driver in demand and gunning for more 24-hour racing success this weekend
When the farcical track conditions at the 1985 Belgian Grand Prix caused drivers to abandon practice and call for the event's cancellation, the supporting Formula 3000 teams and drivers were left with a conundrum. Should they too abandon ship, or accept Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone's offer of a live TV slot the following day and hope that the promised fixes to the circuit would materialise?
In the end, Ecclestone got the outcome he wanted and the F3000 race went ahead, with a history-making front row of two brothers leading the field away on a newly-laid surface that Autosport described as "like the wet on slick tyres".
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James Newbold is Autosport's Plus Editor, responsible for coordinating website feature content.
In a sign of things to come, having completed his Politics and International Relations degree at the University of East Anglia in 2015, he left his graduation ceremony early to catch the last train to Brussels for the following day's Spa 24 Hours.
After a period as a freelancer, he joined the Autosport staff in 2018 and won the Motorsport UK young journalist of the year award. He initially edited Autosport magazine's Performance and Engineering supplements before joining the website team in his current role in 2020.
A keen enthusiast of anything that can be categorised unusual or niche, he enjoys unearthing little-known stories across all branches of motorsport, but has spent most of his career covering sportscars and is a regular part of the Le Mans 24 Hours reporting team.
He lives with his wife and children in Plymouth, England.
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