It almost seemed impossible when Dave Coyne removed his crash helmet and emerged from the cockpit of his racer for the day. His chosen machine was usually a Formula Ford car, and Coyne wouldn’t look the same as all the waif-like teens climbing out of their own cars.
Regularly, they would all be roundly trounced by a car dealer who was far more advanced in age than them and, bluntly, far more round too.
Coyne’s path through single-seaters was a patchwork one as he juggled his business life with grabbing any motorsport opportunities he could. Formula Ford was his heartland and he drove for all three of the leading constructors – Van Diemen, Reynard and Swift – in the halcyon days of FF1600.
His victory in the 1990 Formula Ford Festival Final at Brands Hatch remains among one of the greatest climaxes to the event as he held off a fierce attack from Jean-Christophe Boullion and Fionn Murray throughout the tense race.
There were bit-part appearances in Formula 3 that shone an all-too-brief spotlight on the latent ability he had behind the wheel. He was a winner in British F3000 in 1991 as well, which brought about a sliding doors moment that, via an International F3000 cameo, could have led him to grand prix racing.
Sliding doors – or, more accurately closing ones – is a theme for Coyne. Without the deep pockets to put himself in exactly the right place at the right time, the doors to Group C, the British Touring Car Championship, IndyCar and even Formula Nippon in Japan all creaked ajar briefly before slamming shut again.
Since the top-flight drives wound down, Coyne has dabbled on the short ovals and has more recently found a happy home in historic racing. And, we are grateful for the fact he found time to tackle the Motorsport News readers’ questions and take a long walk down memory lane.
Question: What prompted you to go racing in the first place?
James Hilton
Via email
Dave Coyne: “I had a friend who used to race karts and I would go with him at the weekends to Blackbushe. I had a go a couple of times and my friend’s father told my dad he should buy me one as he thought I seemed to be quite quick, and it all went from there.
“I took up karting and it wasn’t long until I was semi-professional and I didn’t really go to school much after that. From the age 14, I was off around European racing. I raced for Martin Hines’s team. I was 1978 European Kart champion.
“Inevitably the move to cars came and my dad helped get me a Merlyn Formula Ford car and I progressed onto the tracks.”
MN: Was there always the plan to make a career out of motor racing?
“In the beginning, after my first few years on the tracks, I thought it might happen. I used to work for [Ferrari road car dealership] Maranello Concessionaires just after I
