For Ho-Pin Tung, it felt as if he had never been away. At the Goodwood Festival of Speed, the Dutch driver got back behind the wheel of the BMW Sauber F1.07 this weekend, almost twenty years after he had already performed demonstrations with the same Formula 1 car. Even before he had driven a single meter, the car already made a deep impression. “I swear to you: when they start that engine, the ground shakes.”
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It was a special reunion for Tung, who had already performed demonstrations with the BMW Sauber in 2008 and 2009, including in Shanghai and Warsaw. “Last week during the shakedown at Zandvoort, I got into the car and asked Ernest Knoors, who prepared the car with his company Parabolica, whose seat it actually was,” Tung tells FORMULA 1 Magazine. “That can be a problem if the size isn’t right. We turned it around and it said ‘RK’ on it. It turned out to be Robert Kubica’s seat. I used that one back then as well and it still fit perfectly. That was really funny.”
Although Tung remained active in international motorsport for many years after his Formula 1 period, including in prototypes and GT cars, a Formula 1 car remains in its own category according to him. “After that time, I raced for about fifteen more years in all kinds of beautiful racing classes. But when you get back into a Formula 1 car, you realize how special such a car really is. As soon as they start it in the pit box, you literally feel the ground shake. Unbelievable how much power is in it.”
According to Tung, the magic is not only in the performance but precisely in the details. “When you start driving, you notice how refined everything is built. How the pedals feel, how systems work, and how much attention has been paid to every component. In other racing classes, a certain budget is worked with. Those are fantastic cars, but somewhere concessions have to be made. This BMW Sauber comes from a time without a budget cap. Then you see how much perfection is possible. Those final details ultimately cost the most time and money. That’s why you immediately feel again why Formula 1 is the absolute top of motorsport.”
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Like clockwork
All this happens at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, an event that according to Tung has now become as iconic as the cars that appear there. “It’s a fantastic event. The visitor numbers are unbelievable. And when even the reigning world champion Lando Norris comes here to give a demonstration with his McLaren Formula 1 car, that really says everything about Goodwood’s status.”
For Tung, it is not the first time he has given a demonstration here. In 2017, he was also here, shortly after he had won the LMP2 class of the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Jackie Chan DC Racing and also finished second overall. “The Porsche that won Le Mans overall that year was also at the start here for the famous Hillclimb. During their first run at Goodwood, the gearbox failed. We immediately looked at each other and thought: imagine if that had happened during Le Mans. Then history would have looked very different.”
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Today, Tung really pushed the BMW Sauber hard at Goodwood. After his demonstration run, he stepped out of the car with a broad smile: “It runs like clockwork,” he jokes with a wink, referring to the scorching heat that has hung over the Festival of Speed for days. A fitting conclusion to a reunion with a Formula 1 car that almost twenty years later still manages to make the same impression.
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