The Spanish motoring press loses one of its great references: farewell to Paco Costas

Galician (Bueu, 1931), as versatile and restless as few others despite his usual air of calm and composure, Paco was one of the great pioneers of motoring journalism in Spain and the one who turned it into a true benchmark in a medium as demanding as television. He did so across various programmes, but most especially with “La segunda oportunidad” (“The Second Chance”), the iconic 1970s show that quite literally taught many Spaniards for the first time about the terrible consequences of getting things wrong behind the wheel.

“It is more important to be a prudent driver than a very skilful one, because the latter goes faster than he should and ends up causing accidents.” Paco was a staunch advocate of road safety throughout his long professional career, which always revolved around the automobile world in many different guises and across numerous media outlets. Television, print, radio, internet… Paco’s byline appeared across virtually all the most important media, sometimes regularly, sometimes occasionally, but he will always be remembered for his work on TVE: “Cuatro tiempos” (“Four Strokes”), “La segunda oportunidad”, “Grand Prix: Así es la Fórmula 1” (“This is Formula 1”), “Seguridad Vial” (“Road Safety”), “Así fue, así lo cuenta” (“That’s How It Was, That’s How It’s Told”), and more.

Throughout his career Paco showed that road safety is not incompatible with a love of speed. Although he was a great connoisseur of the Formula 1 world, his great personal passion, to which he devoted a good part of his career as a commentator and several highly regarded books, Paco always knew how to put road safety first in his work as a motoring writer, helping to create a whole current of thought among the younger professionals in the sector. That current still survives today, visible in the constant calls for caution, prevention, respect for traffic rules and the importance of proper vehicle maintenance, and its greatest expression lies in the need to understand how to manage and face difficult situations calmly when we drive a car.

Paco dabbled in many things in the motor world. He was a young apprentice mechanic, a role he also had the chance to fill during his military service, an amateur racing driver and a businessman—he even owned a car dealership for a major brand—but above all he was always a great communicator and a wonderful person§h21§ and, for those of us who had the chance to know and deal with him in life, a good friend. Rest in peace.