The Flying Carrot – 700 and Counting!

Mister Formula Junior, Duncan Rabagliati celebrated his 700th race start at the Algarve Classic Festival (see report Page 36)  in his trusty Alexis HF1 ‘Flying Carrot’.  Having campaigned the bright orange front-engined Formula Junior since 1989, Rabagliati’s record adds up to an average of 20 starts per annum for some 35 years.  Incredible!  His daughter Sarah, who has inherited her father’s commitment and enthusiasm writes:

Photo James Wadham

“Dad never set out to be a racing driver, he has just always had a passion for the rare and obscure, and a desire to preserve as much history as possible, whether in paper form or a chassis with or without wheels!  In some ways, this makes his achievement last weekend even more extraordinary, when he lined up on the grid in Portimão, to take the start of his 700th race in his Alexis Formula Junior.  Dad had always followed Alexis cars, as a lover of the underdog marque, and after having heard of this car, and a subsequent visit to see it in a London Mews,  gave himself an early Christmas present on 15th December 1979.  Still at this point, he had no intention to race himself, and it wasn’t until 1989, that he had his first race in the car, at Lydden Hill.  Four years later he founded the Formula Junior Historic Racing Association in 1993, and the rest, as they say, is history.”