Patrick Neve

A one-time pupil at the Jim Russell driving school, Neve later worked as an instructor to finance his own racing activities, but gained enough success in the school’s Merlyn to set himself up for a successful year in 1974, winning the STP Formula Ford championship in a Lola T340.

Moving up to Formula 3 in 1975, Patrick drove well enough in the Safir to gain a test with Brabham and a drive with the RAM team in ’76. After a couple of non-championship races, he was bundled out of the car by de Villota’s banknotes in Spain, but raced in Belgium before departing for a one-off drive with Ensign.

The following year could have seen him make his breakthrough; he led a Formula 2 race at Silverstone until suspension problems dropped him to third place and then spent an unhappy Grand Prix season with the post-Wolf Frank Williams team running a March. The relationship ended in acrimony after the Canadian GP, and Neve’s career never really recovered.

After an abortive attempt to make the grid in Belgium in 1978, his planned season of Formula 2 with Kauhsen fell through when the German’s sponsors pulled out, leaving the Belgian to race the unsuccessful Pilbeam. Thereafter he appeared only occasionally in BMW Procars and touring cars.