In 1976, Alastair Caldwell watched as a #11 car with Marlboro, Texaco, and Goodyear decals won the Formula One World Championship. Nearly 50 years later, he watched as a truck that previously had the same number and stickers defend Kyiv from one of Russia’s largest drone attacks.

Caldwell was part of Driving Ukraine’s convoy of donated off-road and emergency vehicles to Ukrainian troops in July, bringing them from the United Kingdom to Lviv. He drove a Toyota Hilux across Europe that sported decals also present on the McLaren M23 that James Hunt drove to the 1976 title; while the truck didn’t have the same white-and-red livery, instead being silver, it still bore Hunt’s number and sponsors. The truck also featured the British and New Zealand (birthplace of Bruce McLaren) flags as well as Ukraine’s.

As McLaren’s team manager from 1974 to 1978, Caldwell oversaw two driver’s titles and a constructor’s crown with Emerson Fittipaldi in his first year and Hunt in ’76.

After being turned over to the AFU, the Hilux’s livery was replaced with camo and a machine gun was mounted. From there, it went to a mobile fire team based in Irpin. These squads use technicals like pickup trucks and other off-road vehicles armed with machine guns and anti-aircraft weapons to shoot down incoming drones.

“It’s a fantastic operation,” Caldwell told BBC Radio Berkshire. “They do a fantastic job. They get the trucks there and they have their own workshop in Lviv and they immediately paint them camouflage instantly. As soon as you get there, they do it. They convert them and give them out and they give them direct to the troops, they don’t give them through any organization. They have contacts with the military who want these things and they come and get them and off they go.”

On August 27–28, Russia launched a massive drone barrage on Ukraine’s capital city, targeting civilian infrastructure and resulting in at least 23 deaths and over 60 injured. Irpin’s mobile fire team, whose hometown is right by Kyiv, got to work in shooting down as many of the Shahed drones as they could.

The 11-foot-long Shahed is Russia’s primary loitering munition and thus the main adversary that mobile fire teams face when responding to these waves. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in June that roughly a third of these drones are shot down by said squads, while the AFU has also been ramping up production of interceptor drones.

“The big ones are kind of like little airplanes, and they can actually shoot them down old-fashioned style, with searchlights and guns mounted in the back of a truck,” Caldwell continued.

One of the trucks that was part of Caldwell’s caravan was hit by a Russian drone in mid-August. All four soldiers inside escaped with minor injuries.

While July was Caldwell’s first time participating in a Driving Ukraine mission, he previously sponsored their past campaigns. He became acquainted with founder Fynn Watt via the latter’s father Angus, whose Greatworth Classics vintage car restoration company has worked on Caldwell’s Porsches.

Caldwell has also auctioned some of his classic car collection, with the proceeds being split between Driving Ukraine and Thames Hospice.

He was honored by the Lviv City Council with a gold medal for his contributions.

Featured image credit: Alastair Caldwell