One of the most exciting motor racing stories to have emerged of late is that of Rene Arnoux and Patrick Tambay sharing a 575 GTC in the 2004 FIA GT Championship.

For the benefit of our younger readers, these two august gentlemen (now 56 and 55 respectively) were Ferrari F1 team mates in 1983, one of the most poignant and significant ever seasons for the Scuderia. This followed the appalling season in which Gilles Villeneuve was killed and Didier Pironi suffered the injuries which ended his F1 career. Tambay joined the team after Villeneueve’s death and is credited with helping to pull them together sufficiently to win the Constructors’ Championship that year.

Arnoux joined him for ’83. A wild man, a tyre-burning out-and-out racer whose wheel-banging battle for second place with Villeneuve, whilst driving for Renault, denied his team-mate Jean-Pierre Jabouille much of the TV glory which he deserved when taking Renault’s first (modern) GP win in the 1979 French GP, after years of struggle. This was not only Renault’s first win, it was the first win for a turbocharged F1 car, which started the death knell (albeit protracted) for the Ford Cosworth DFV. It was also the last season in which Ferrari won the F1 Driver’s title (Scheckter) until MS finally did it in 2000.

The 126 C2 & C3 that Arnoux and Tambay raced were essentially “English” Ferraris, designed by Harvey Postlethwaite (Ferrari having a long-established proclivity to recruit English drivers and engineers when they lose their way) and the C3 was also Ferrari’s first carbon-fibre car. Heady stuff for a British Ferrarista!

For the record, Arnoux won three GP and finished third in the Drivers' Championship whereas Tambay won one and took fourth place. Ferrari took their second constructors' title in a row. Tambay was replaced by Michele Alboreto for the following season and Arnoux was fired after the first race of 1985. Tambay later drove for Renault, but they were a spent force and he ended his F1 days with the disastrous Beatrice team. Arnoux sat out the rest of 1985 and joined Ligier in '86, staying until 1989 when his F1 career too petered out.

In the cold light of day, I put nostalgia behind me to search for more facts behind today’s story. If the “Google” translator can be believed, this is a Spanish initiative; Scuderia Cavallinó is based near the Circuit de Catalunya and is headed by Antonio Cano to promote young driving talent. They plan to compete at all levels, from karting, through National F3 to GT racing. Tambay and Arnoux are “professors” who will compete in European GT in one of two Ferrari 575 GTCs.

The other will be driven by Spaniards Javier Diaz (runner-up in the 2002 European Ferrari Challenge) and Carlos Palau (ex- GT champion of Spain) and a Ferrari 360 GTC to be driven by Iñaki Goiburu in European and National GT.

Arnoux and Tambay both have extensive sportscar experience, featuring in Renault’s successful Le Mans programme in the 1970s. Arnoux was also entered in a 333SP in the 1995 Le Mans 24 hrs, the car retiring after 7 laps with engine failure. He had better luck in the Maserati Trofeo race at Monza in September 2003, finishing on the podium in third place.

Tambay was Can-Am Champion and drove the Jaguar XJR-9 with success, but has latterly been better known a TV commentator and Deputy Mayor of Le Cannet, a suburb of Cannes. Both Arnoux and Tambay have competed in the Paris-Dakar.

As always in motor racing, the really interesting question is: “Who is paying for it and why?" A figure of € 8 million is mentioned on the web. Maybe, given recent articles on Ferrari’s customer base click here, one could argue that Arnoux and Tambay are ideal role models...

When it comes to grand schemes in motor racing, experience teaches caution. However, the prospect of Arnoux the wild man and Tambay the sophisticated racer sharing a 575 GTC is one to be savoured. Let us hope it happens.