Few people embody the spirit of historic motorsport quite like Roald Goethe. A familiar face in endurance and classic racing circles, Goethe has built a long-standing reputation through his passion for historic cars and gentleman racing. Away from the paddock, the Goethe name is also gaining attention through his son, Oliver Goethe, who is currently making his mark in Formula 2 as part of motorsport’s next generation.
Roald was competing in Class E, the Niki Lauda class featuring 3-litre Formula 1 machinery from 1973-1976, in his personally owned Gulf-liveried Tyrrell 007 from 1974. I grabbed a quick word with the charismatic and friendly Roald Goethe after his FP session in Monaco.
After all those yellow flags and the red flag in the free practice session, how prepared do you feel for tomorrow?
“I feel prepared enough because I have done this before, but it would have been nice to get in a few more laps. It was quite slippery out there, a lot of oil from other cars.
But we get through it and tomorrow’s what counts.
The track was really, really slippery, not much grip in the first half [of the session], and in the second half we had all these full course yellows and all the flags unfortunately.
But no, ready for tomorrow.”
And obviously there is a great bit of racing heritage in your family, with your son Oli in Formula 2, and with us in Ireland having a big following of our own Alex Dunne. Oli had a great start to the F2 season in Melbourne. Would you be giving your son tips for Monaco when Formula 2 comes back here in June?
“He’s actually around here somewhere [chuckles].
It might be the other way around hahaha!
Those Formula 2 cars have much more grip and much more downforce, so my tips would not always be appropriate with those cars.”
This must create some interesting discussions at the family dinner table!
“Hahaha, correct!
God, it’s so difficult to overtake here already in these cars. I mean in those cars [Formula 2 cars], which are all the same performance level, and the drivers are all very good. There is nobody who doesn’t have talent in F2. Those kids have to take so much risk to overtake.”
If we draw it back, and there were equal cars, who would win, yourself or Oli?
“Haha, it depends what kind of cars, because heel-to-toe, clutch and gears, those guys are not really used to it. Maybe I stand a chance in this one [points to his Tyrrell 007], but anything modern, no way! He will eat me for breakfast [laughs].”
Saturday proved to be a strong outing for the charismatic driver, qualifying P9 from a 20-car grid.
On Sunday, I got a final word with Roald and his engineer just minutes before lights out on the grid, as a few droplets of rain could already be felt around Monaco.
Just a quick word, any thoughts about the rain?
Engineer: “I think it will hold off, blow over, be fine!”
Roald, you told me it was a bit slippery on Friday, does that help now with the chance of rain?
“Yep, well prepared now!”
Roald went on to finish P4 in his 1974 Tyrrell 007, gaining an impressive five places from his starting position.
From a disrupted practice session on Friday to an impressive charge through the field on Sunday, Roald Goethe once again showed the experience and character that have made him such a respected figure in historic motorsport, bringing his Gulf-liveried Tyrrell 007 home in a hard-fought and deserved P4 finish in Monaco.
