Arrows was the archetypal underdog of Formula 1 in a span of time that crossed four decades. But in 1989, its striking A11 almost hit the target, as Damien Smith recounts from a special team reunion

PHOTOGRAPHY: LEE BRIMBLE

Man in the middle: Ross Brawn and Derek Warwick are reunited with Jackie Oliver, who worked wonders on a tight budget to keep the team afloat for years

The Arrows glides down the pitlane, in silence for the last few metres as Derek Warwick cuts the Cosworth. The belts are undone before it’s stopped and he lithely pops from the cockpit just as he used to, as if he was half his age.

There’s a reason for his speed. Warwick brushes helping hands away and walks briskly straight to the garage, without a sideways glance – and disappears into the loo. Was the reunion all too much? Is he overcome with emotion for his old racing life? Not exactly. “He’s feeling queasy,” says his old boss Jackie Oliver, with a knowing look. “It happens when it’s been a while.”

Warwick emerges ashen of face but still cracking that big familiar smile. And he’s straight into debrief mode (old habits, and all that). “Lovely gearbox,” he rattles off. “The car feels brilliant, really neutral.

I wasn’t pushing, obviously.” No, it didn’t look like it! “The brakes were good too, really good. It’s amazing how much pull the engine has out of the corners, even if you let the engine revs die. It responds – you forget how much. But then I thought, ‘You know what? I feel a bit sick.’”

Remarkably, Warwick reckons this is his first time back in a Formula 1 car since his final season, in 1993 – 30 years ago. That’s a surprise because no one ever loved driving racing cars, or specifically being a racing driver, more than Derek Warwick.

Today, he’s clearly relished becoming reacquainted with an old flame, and one of his favourites too: the Arrows A11 from 1989. To our delight there are two of them here, the other driven by seasoned historic racer Nick Padmore – all thanks to enthusiastic Belgian owner Jean-Lou Rihon, who has brought both back to life, to be reunited here at Donington Park for the first time at a proper circuit since Warwick and old mucker Eddie Cheever were going at it in the final months of the 1980s.

So what do we have? No9 is A11/02, driven by Warwick through most of 1989 and once by Martin Donnelly; no10 is A11/03, primarily Cheever’s car, but also driven by Donnelly (even though he made just the one GP start for Arrows. We’ll explain later). Both look pristine.

“A youngster’s dream,” is why Rihon bought the first one, no9. “My calculation was that buying a carbon-fibre chassis F1 was safer than earlier aluminium cars, with an added bet that there will soon be a race series for them.”

There’s talk of that, but no solid plan as yet. “There are so many cars of that era in storage, museums and garages that there really is scope for an organiser to launch a successful series,” reckons Rihon. “And the Cosworth engine is easy and relatively cheap to maintain, with plentiful parts.”

“He’s feeling queasy... it happens when it’s been a while”

The restoration is the work of two Arrows old boys, Kevin Drew and his mate Andy Thackham. Drew worked in the team’s subassembly department during the 1990s Footwork era, while Thackham is a veteran from the days of the Oliver/Tom Walkinshaw alliance.

He was in the pitlane in Hungary 1997, when Damon Hill came so agonisingly close to what would have been the sole Arrows F1 win. So these cars mean something to them.