DEREK WARWICK INTERVIEW

APRIL 2006

Many thanks to Kevin Connor from the CVM Group who has allowed me to publish this interview with Derek which took place prior to the start of the 2006 GP Masters Season.

The Hampshire (UK) based company, which specialises in the supply and funding of lease vehicles throughout the UK, has signed up to a 12 month sponsorship deal with GP Masters. This includes the supply of vehicles to GP Masters to complement their existing growing fleet and signage on Derek Warwick's car.

CVM - What preparation are you doing ahead of the season?

Derek - Fitness training is top of my list at the moment, with the G forces that the car generate & the temperatures that we expect I believe that fitness could well be one of the deciding factors over the course of the race. We can all drive (well most of us), so the ability to keep the lap times consistent may well be down to physical fitness.

CVM- Do you find GP Masters as intense as F1 was when you were racing?

Derek - There is a different atmosphere, In F1 there was always so much pressure on you to succeed & always some young up & coming driver to take your place. We on the other hand have all proved ourselves already to a certain extent. We all want to show we still have it though and that adds a different type of intensity. I expect we will start to see the old egos come to the surface once we get another race or two under our belts and the pecking order starts to develop.

CVM - Are the other drivers still as competitive as they were in their F1 days?

Derek - It's probably too early to tell. Some of the drivers have never really stopped racing so they still have the edge and have not really dropped any pace since the F1 days. Others are only going to get quicker. I haven't done much racing since the touring car days but to get back in a proper single seater with 650 bhp is always going to extend you if you haven't done it for a while.

CVM - Who is likely to be the main competition?

Derek - Mansell was quick in Kyalami and I expect that he is likely to be up there throughout the series. All the drivers in this series are quick, most didn’t get the chance to prove themselves & will try to do so this time around in identical cars. Because we haven’t been able to test since Kyalami some of us might be a bit rusty, but after this race we are able to test & then there will be a definite pecking order. I am just going to concentrate on my own performances. I was competitive in Kyalami but will be looking to get quicker with every race. Hopefully anyone who finishes ahead of me will be pretty close to winning.

CVM - What is the car like to drive?

Derek - Unbelievable, I think to get a second chance to drive a F1 car again at 50 is fantastic. The car doesn’t have any of the gizmos of F1, it’s a raw Grand Prix car with 650 bhp, so you will see the cars locking up brakes, big oversteer & hopefully when we can test a bit more things like “push to pass” buttons to make the racing even closer than it is now.

CVM - Are you familiar with the tracks that you will be racing on?

Derek - Losail is a fairly new track so all of us will be racing there for the first time. All the reports say that the complex is fantastic, and that the track encourages competitive racing. There looks like there are plenty of places where it should be possible to overtake and with excellent grandstands anyone going to the race should have a fantastic time. I have raced at Monza, Silverstone & Spa on many occasions and know the tracks well. With everyone knowing these tracks I expect that there will be plenty of no holds barred racing. It will also provide the best comparison of the GPM car compared with the F1 cars that we used to race.

CVM - Is there a particular race that you are looking forward to?

Derek - As much as I enjoy all the travel it's hard to beat your home race so for me it has to be Silverstone on August 13th. The whole weekend should be fantastic. There will be a big crowd in and the atmosphere will be awesome.

CVM - Any bad feeling likely to break out between any of the drivers?

Derek - I would like to think that we are all old enough now to avoid all that sort of thing but we are all very competitive people & there’s always something going on out on the race track that you don’t see & let's say we have still got good memories. You have to realise that some drivers find it very difficult to race effectively without being pretty keyed up, a good example of this is Andrea de Cesaris he’s always been very quick but some drivers need all there ability just to drive the car & has nothing left to cope with other things that might be going on around them. This can lead to frayed tempers pretty quickly, especially if someone pushes their luck and ruins your race or causes a crash.

CVM - You were very much in the hunt for a podium place in the inaugural race in Kyalami in November although a little off the front two. What do you need to do to bridge the gap to win races this season?

Derek - At Kyalami I qualified out of place & got held up by Lammers & Patrese so the two leaders got away, I also found out afterwards that I was not revving the engine enough so hopefully I can put that right at Qatar.

CVM - How do you know CVM & Kevin & Mark

Derek - I got to know Kevin when I had the garages in the UK, we did a lot of business with them & our friendship grew from there. I also owned a small office block & Kevin & Mark was looking to move & they took over the ground floor. We still do business with them from Jersey, it’s very difficult to find a company that does what it says & CVM have never let us down.

CVM - Thanks Derek, we look forward to seeing the race in Losail.

Derek - I’m really looking forward to it & hopefully will give CVM their first win in the GP Masters.

Thanks, once again, to Kevin at CVM to allow me to publish their interview with Derek and we are all looking forward to a successful season for Derek in the GP Masters in 2006.

The CVM Group will be providing information on the GP Masters as the season progresses so their website will be well worth visiting (click on logo below).