In or out? Did Theo Paphitis’ Ford Zodiac make it to the St. Mary’s Trophy?

The car in question is owned by Theo Paphitis of Dragons’ Den fame, and it was limped to the sidelines by Indycar driver Tony Kanaan during Part 1, which is for the professional drivers, earlier that day. Part 2 of the St. Mary’s Trophy is for the cars’ owners, and when we met him Theo was peering into the engine bay and asking all the right questions of the gathered mechanics to see what his chances of getting his stint behind the wheel were. There was no certainty either way.

“We’re trying to find out what the cause was,” said Paphitis. “We know the symptom, we’ve got a rod that’s bent in three different places, so must have taken quite a whack. So it's whether we can get it back up and running to be competitive tomorrow. That's motor racing, sadly. You can do everything you like but there are so many different variables. It’s normally bulletproof except when a professional Indycar driver drives it! Tony’s a great driver, and they would have looked after the car.”

Paphitis chose a Ford Zodiac around five years ago, having previously raced a Ford Anglia and an Austin A35. The big Ford appealed in part because his friend Kerry Michael had been racing a similar machine for five years prior, and that’s the one that’s parked next to him in the paddock today. But the camaraderie of having the same car as his friend wasn’t the only thing that attracted Paphitis to the Ford.

“It’s such a beaut and it’s not something you see very often,” he shared. “In period, they were hugely competitive cars. It handles really well. It’s not quite a Cortina, it's not a million miles off but it's a good handling car for a big car.”

The Zodiac followed in the wheel tracks of Paphitis’ two previous classic saloons. “I had an Anglia first. The great thing about that one was the chassis went one way and the body went a different way, so you were never really sure where you were going. I enjoyed it, and really that was a car I learned on. And then we had an Austin A35. Now, that was an experience to behold.” He sold that one after a wet meeting at Silverstone when a number of them rolled.

Kerry Michael bought his car around ten years ago, and it was already in race specification. In fact, it had been competing since the late 1970s, starting out in the pre-’57 Classic Saloon Car Championship. Successfully, too; drivers Terry Healy and Alan Mills were Champions in 1980, while its subsequent owner Tom Luff chalked up outright and class wins. It had previously been on the front row of the St. Mary’s grid on three occasions.

“Initially we raced it as it was,” said Michael, “and then five years ago we stripped the whole car and rebuilt it at the same time as building another one for my friend, Theo. So we rebuilt mine and built his from scratch then.”

The Zodiac’s history in the St. Mary’s Trophy was a big part of the appeal for Michael. “I wanted something that was eligible for the St. Mary’s. I’d raced the Lotus Cortina for a number of years in the European Historic Touring Car Championship, that was my go-to car. But it wasn’t eligible for this race, so that’s how I ended up with the Zodiac.”

For many years both Zodiacs proved reliable, but they suffered problems during their last two Revival outings which prompted engine rebuilds. The aim was durability rather than performance, though, and these days front-row performances now elude the Zodiac because the competition has become faster. “Our pace is the same as it’s always been, but everybody else seems to have gone a bit quicker so we’ve been well down the pecking order this weekend, which was quite a surprise.”

Like Paphitis, Kerry’s car is also being shared with an Indycar driver. In Part 1 of the St. Mary’s Trophy, Scott Dixon maintained 21^st place on the grid to finish in the same position. As we know, Tony Kanaan didn’t fare so well. His mechanical retirement came on lap 11. 

The two owner drivers had different hopes for Sunday’s Part 2. “My goal is to do a little bit better than our pro driver,” said Michael. “Well, not to do better, but to get as close as we can! Scott is a lovely chap but he can also drive! I’m doing my best to keep up.”

Paphitis, meanwhile, was simply hoping that his car would fixed in time to race. “The first thing in mind at the moment is to get it back up and running, get it out on track for tomorrow,” he said. “We’ve got some weather conditions coming in, which doesn't help this baby. It won’t enjoy that. I think tomorrow is going to be an interesting day.”

As it transpired, the mechanics worked their magic and Paphitis was able to get to the grid, but the Zodiac wasn’t in the best of health and he crossed the line at the back of pack. At least this Dragon wasn’t out.

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Photography by Toby Whales.