Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

When Dario Franchitti first went to the Indianapolis 500, he tried to approach it like any other motor race. But as he admits during his lunch interview with Simon Taylor in the May issue of Motor Sport, he couldn’t help being affected by ‘The Brickyard’. The size and scale of the place, the buzz surrounding the town through the month of May, how much it mattered to everyone around him: he knew this was special, and for a driver with a rare passion for racing history and an obsession with Jim Clark, Dario couldn’t avoid the magical draw of America’s greatest race.

That it remains in 2011, despite the scars of the split that almost destroyed the sport of Indycars. The ‘500’ was the glue that kept single-seater oval racing intact in an era dominated by NASCAR. The race – the event – was quite simply too big to go down.

This May Indianapolis will celebrate the 100th anniversary of a yearly occasion that fired a nondescript Midwestern city into the consciousness of any true sports fan anywhere in the world. It is a landmark that we at Motor Sport felt compelled to celebrate – which is why we have dedicated a sizeable chunk of the May issue to the wonderful history of the race.

So why should a British magazine get so excited about an event in which 33 drivers only turn left around a four-corner rectangle for 500 miles? Read Robin Miller’s article on his own personal relationship with the Speedway to find out. The determination, strength and humour of the racing spirit is the oxygen that gives life to our magazine, and Robin’s piece is high on it! At the Speedway, it’s so strong you can taste it, as John Cooper, Colin Chapman, Jimmy Clark, Graham Hill, Jackie Stewart, Nigel Mansell, Dan Wheldon, Franchitti and many others from ‘over here’ found out when they travelled ‘over there’.

Britain’s relationship with the 500 has ebbed and flowed over the century, but it’s always existed. Take the Speedway’s great historian Donald Davidson: you wouldn’t know it speaking to him now, but he’s a Brit. But on his first visit to the Speedway in 1964, he knew he’d found his true home. As the locals found out, no one has more understanding and knowledge of the race, and he was the obvious choice to put a 100 years of racing history into context.

Now, that sounds like the subject of a doorstop-sized book, so how could we distil it into a magazine article? Donald thought long and hard. What he came up with – the greatest, most dramatic finishes in the 500’s history – does so beautifully. Even if you’re an Indy doubter, I’d urge you to read it.

The British theme continues via Ian Wagstaff, who has written a recent book on the subject. We’ve steered clear of the rear-engined revolution of the 1960s because so much has already been said, as any regular reader of Motor Sport will know. No, too obvious for us! So Ian tells the story of the second British invasion of Indianapolis that in its own way changed the shape of the race as much as the pioneering years of the mid-60s.

Add the interview with Dario and another with the Unsers – the first family of the 500 – and I hope you’ll find it does justice to 100 years of incredible speed and action.

Now, I know US oval racing is not everyone’s shot of bourbon. So as usual there is plenty more in the May issue to keep you reading for the month. Nigel Roebuck is typically forthright in his assessment of Formula 1’s recent entanglement in real-world politics, and as usual he puts the Bahrain debacle in context beautifully by reflecting on previous occasions when the sport has found itself on dodgy ethical ground. Then there’s his description of the Cuban Grand Prix – a race at which Juan Manuel Fangio found himself being kidnapped. Writing about it in 2011, it’s hard to imagine it actually took place. Fernando, count yourself lucky…

Nigel also sits down with Stirling Moss to revisit what many consider his greatest race, the 1961 Monaco Grand Prix – yes, another anniversary, this time just a mere half-century ago. We also print an edited version (God, he’d go mad at us for cutting his copy!) of Denis Jenkinson’s original race report for Motor Sport and reproduce some of his beautifully neat and detailed notes from the weekend when Moss beat the ‘Sharknose’ Ferraris.

Alan Henry talks to Ron Dennis about his formative years in team management, in Formula 2 during the early 1970s; Patrick Head recalls the breakthrough years of the Williams FW07; and Tiff Needell opens his personal scrapbooks to show us his collection of racing photos that he snapped from the spectator banks of the 1960s – when his love of the sport took hold.

And if that’s not enough, don’t miss our free supplement* on the Motor Sport Hall of Fame, in association with TAG Heuer, which took place in London during February. It seems like ages ago already. Before we know it, we’ll be heading back to the Roundhouse in 2012 for the next one…

*Available in the UK only

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

The season of goodwill and peace among men has begun. Readers of Autosport magazine have named Japanese Grand Prix driver Kamui Kobayashi ‘Rookie of the Year’. Well now, there’s a nice surprise for fans of feisty racing drivers.

But should we be surprised? No, not really. He’s a cool guy; he speaks his mind and drives accordingly. Flick through the overtaking moves of 2010 and a white, barely-sponsored car with a Ferrari engine features strongly.

It has been said that Japanese racers would not make footballers because they can’t take corners. Yes, they have shown flashes of brilliance, but never consistently. But because they are brave they are flat out where others fear to tread, and this is exciting – as Kobayashi showed at the Spoon corner on many occasions during this year’s Japanese Grand Prix. Suzuka is not a place for the faint-hearted and Kamui was on fine form, staking his claim to be the first truly successful Japanese Formula 1 contender. Many have tried – we know who they are – and some thought this honour would go to Takuma Sato, who was also brave and feisty in a mid-grid car.

What is surprising is Kobayashi’s honesty and humour in a world that appears not to encourage such traits. How about this in a recent missive from the Sauber headquarters in Hinwil? Asked about his apparent ability to overtake other cars during a race, he said: “Because I am Japanese I have small eyes, so I cannot see the other guys. It was an interesting race at Suzuka, very nice for me, and for the Japanese fans. If I feel I can overtake, then I just do it, there is no secret.” I’ve never met Kobayashi, but I’d like to.

Rookie of the Year then, and a winter to work on his game. But first he’s off to Bali for a couple of weeks in the sun. Methinks this guy has what is known these days as a ‘work/life balance’. His ultimate wish, had he a magic lamp, is also interesting.

“In Japanese Mangas they have a ‘where do you want to go to door’,” he says, “and when you go through this door you are where you want to be. I’d like to find that.” So, all he has to do is find the door to, say, McLaren or Ferrari and through he goes. In his dreams. Would he be as quick as a Hamilton or an Alonso? I have no idea, but his way of racing has certainly won him a great many fans.

You will remember that people asked the same question of drivers like Rosberg, Mansell and Webber. Given a great car, would they get the job done? In modern times, more so than ever before, a keen intelligence is vital, an ability to do many things at once while travelling at high speeds.

This is all part of the excitement, the intrigue of sport. And it is this continuing curiosity that carries us from season to season. You never know precisely what will happen, and 2011 looks like being as thrilling as ever. Winter testing won’t provide the answers; the drama will unfold in its own time. And even then, there may be an own-goal in the final minute of extra time. Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber will be mindful of this. Maybe M Schumacher will be back with a dominant car. Now that would be interesting…

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

As I write, there is some uncertainty that the Korean Grand Prix – a race no one within the sport, save Bernie Ecclestone, seems to want – will actually take place. Deadlines for track inspections and signings-off have been missed (and not by just a few weeks, either), and for reasons not immediately clear the Korean organisers appear to be cut far more slack than is normal for Formula 1’s powers-that-be.

Given that there has always been minimal enthusiasm for this race in the paddock, many will be only too glad not to have to schlep to the Far East for the third time in a month. But the five World Championship contenders – or some of them, anyway – necessarily feel differently, for if Korea evaporates, only three Grands Prix will remain on the 2010 schedule.

If you’re Mark Webber, that won’t cause you too much concern, for you lead the World Championship by 11 points, and one fewer race means one fewer opportunity for the rest to catch you; if, on the other hand, you are Fernando Alonso or Lewis Hamilton or Sebastian Vettel or Jenson Button, you want as many chances as possible to do just that.

Be it three races or four, we are now into the red meat of the World Championship, and usually by this point in the season we are down to two, rarely three, protagonists. The fact that five drivers still have a shot is testimony to the extraordinary year F1 has had: three teams have produced cars good enough to win several Grands Prix: Red Bull has six, McLaren five, Ferrari four.

Whereas both Red Bull and both McLaren drivers have won races, however, only Alonso has won for Ferrari – yes, I know you can argue reasonably enough that Felipe Massa would have won in Germany, were it not for the ‘team orders’ imposed that day. But the fact is that, although Massa drove a fine race, only circumstances at the start – poleman Vettel delaying both himself and Alonso – put him in a position to win. Hockenheim apart, Felipe has not looked like a potential winner this year.

That being so, Ferrari some time ago opted to concentrate – in terms of the World Championship – on Alonso, and rival teams have criticised it for so doing. Never at Ferrari – even in the autocratic days of Michael Schumacher – is there an official number one driver, but usually someone, simply by being clearly quicker, becomes the de facto team leader, and the situation with Alonso and Massa reminds me rather of that in the mid-70s with Niki Lauda and Clay Regazzoni.

Going into these crucial end-of-season races, therefore, Alonso has one clear advantage over his rivals for the championship, in that he does not have to fight his own team-mate. His team’s decision is already taken, whereas Red Bull and McLaren still have both drivers in contention, and the time awaits when they have to put their emphasis on one, and require the other to play a supporting role. Red Bull has suggested that that time has not yet come, and McLaren has been even more bullish, suggesting that it would never favour one of its drivers over the other (even though this has not always been the case in the past).

Of course it may not come to that: while unlikely, it is not impossible that Webber and Vettel, Hamilton and Button will go off to Abu Dhabi still with at least a mathematical chance of lifting the 2010 World Championship.

In Singapore Massa, thanks to a gearbox problem in qualifying, started stone last, and therefore was never in a position to be of assistance to Alonso. As we know, Fernando’s superb drive brought him 25 points, but had Felipe started from a normal grid position he might well have been able to steal points from some of his team-mate’s rivals – if not Vettel, then certainly the hobbled Webber, who finished third.

Alonso has no real need to worry about Massa’s points tally, for Felipe is too far behind to become a factor in the title race, but of course he would appreciate it deeply if Felipe could keep a rival out of third or fourth place or whatever. Webber, on the other hand, has to worry about Vettel, and Hamilton has to worry about Button.

In 1973 Lotus won the constructors’ championship with seven victories in the 15 races, four to Ronnie Peterson, three to Emerson Fittipaldi. Tyrrell was runner-up with five wins – but all of them went to Jackie Stewart, who won the World Championship.

In 1986 Williams easily won the constructors’ championship with nine victories in the 16 Grands Prix, six to Nigel Mansell, three to Nelson Piquet. McLaren was runner-up with four wins – but all of them (together with a great many second places) went to Alain Prost, who won the World Championship.

Only three years ago McLaren drivers Hamilton and Alonso finished the season with 109 points apiece – but finished second and third in the World Championship behind Ferrari’s Kimi Räikkönen, who had 110.

In every case two ‘number one’ drivers won a lot of races – while another driver, in a slower car, nicked the title. If Christian Horner and Martin Whitmarsh stick to the bitter end with their policy of allowing their drivers to race each other, I will admire them for it. But then I’m not a sponsor…

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

Since becoming publisher of Motor Sport I’ve been asked on numerous occasions ‘do you have a strong knowledge of motor racing?’ The answer is no – that’s what the editorial team is for, surely? – although I do have a strong interest, passion and love of the sport.

Growing up through the 1970s and ’80s in a household with a father and brother that followed motor racing avidly, I either had to take an interest or opt out! My father worked in the tobacco industry and his employers were active sponsors of Formula 1 and other racing formulae, so we had many opportunities to attend races and visit circuits.

Most weekends in the late ’70s and early ’80s were spent at Donington Park, but until last weekend my only experience of a Grand Prix had been the 1987 British GP at Silverstone, where I saw Nigel Mansell overtake Nelson Piquet to win the race and then have to hitch a lift on a policeman’s motorbike on the slowing-down lap. A British win at a British circuit raised many emotions and a swell of support in the crowds saw us all clambering out of our seats, across the barriers and running behind Mansell back to the pits.

Fast-forward a frightening 23 years to my second trip to Silverstone, and last Friday I was invited by Virgin Racing to join the team in the paddock for practice – and what a fantastic day I had.

My first jaw-dropping moment came as I walked with my host through the gathering crowds at the entrance of the F1 paddock and turned right into an ‘avenue’ of team motorhomes – something akin to a Manhattan skyline, each block towering above me, shiny and bright, all perfectly aligned. How different from my previous GP visit when team trailers were literally that – Winnebago-style with picket fences to mark the boundaries, patio tables and chairs defining team territory.

On arrival at Virgin Racing’s motorhome, I met some key members of the team and their two drivers, Timo Glock and Lucas di Grassi. All were very welcoming, putting me at ease straight away. This was to set the tone for the rest of the day.

I was given a tour of the garage, a visit to the pitwall and a review of the new GPS systems, and was shown the new nosecones that the team were to use in practise. As 10am drew nearer the tension in the garage rose – the swarm of mechanics dressed in black and red busied themselves around their respective cars, waiting for the OK to get them started.

I was given a pair of ear defenders and permitted to stay in the garage throughout the practice session – and I was rooted to the spot. It turned out that the ear defenders were linked to the team radios, providing a fabulous first-hand opportunity to witness the team dialogues and dynamics. I stood, watched and listened as two crews worked in synch on all aspects of preparing the cars and drivers for practice. When Glock’s car encountered problems and had to be stripped right back and seemingly re-built before he could sample the new-look Silverstone circuit the mechanics all worked together, keeping their cool, to ensure they maximised the time Glock had left in the first session. After lunch, I returned to the garage to watch the team at work – the relationships between chief mechanic, chief engineer, driver and the pitwall – an enlightening experience. Even the levels of cleanliness, the constant polishing of the garage floor and sweeping each time the cars were out was interesting to see – a new sponsorship opportunity for Mr Sheen maybe?

After a day out I often ask my daughter ‘which was your favourite bit?’ and she often replies ‘it was all so good, no bit was better than any other!’ Well, I will borrow her sentiments – it was a fantastic day. Thank you to Virgin Racing for their invitation and a wonderful opportunity to view the behind-the-scenes work of an F1 team.

Dafina Keys, Motor Sport‘s publisher and very good tea maker

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

Sixty years ago, the world was still recovering from the ravages of a world war. But it’s always remarkable how quickly people return to normal life after such devastation. By 1950, Grand Prix racing was already very well re-established, even if the cars (and most of the drivers) dated back to the immediate pre-war era. As a new decade began, the time was right to launch the first World Championship.

At the Bahrain Grand Prix last month Formula 1 acknowledged its heritage by celebrating the diamond anniversary of the World Championship in fitting style. All the living World Champions bar two (Kimi Räikkönen and Nelson Piquet) congregated at the desert circuit, along with a collection of fabulous cars from the past 60 years. Such a gathering is unlikely to ever happen again.

As F1 marks the anniversary, we at Motor Sport have decided to do the same. We’ve chosen this, the May issue, because it was on May 13 1950 that Silverstone hosted that landmark Grand Prix, the first to carry the weight of World Championship status.

To celebrate, we pooled some of the best motor racing writers to tell the story of 60 glorious years of GP action.

Doug Nye kicks things off with an overview of the 1950s. Now, as he says in his article, Doug was only a young child when the World Championship was born, but he was always a “good listener”. There is no better authority alive to look back at the decade of Fangio, Hawthorn, Moss, Mercedes and so on.

Into the 1960s, and Eoin Young takes up the story. The Kiwi was smack in the middle of it all back then, working with his mate Bruce McLaren and as a respected journalist, among other things.

We chose Alan Henry to tell the story of the 1970s. AH built his formidable reputation in the decade of flares and fuel shortages, enjoying friendships with the likes of Ronnie Peterson and Niki Lauda.

Our own editor-in-chief Nigel Roebuck covers the 1980s, an era as volatile as any he has known in the sport. It was the decade of the ‘superpowers’ – Villeneuve, Prost, Senna, Mansell and those magnificent turbos. For Nigel, the memories are recalled with a clarity as if they were yesterday.

Seasoned newspaper journalist Maurice Hamilton steps up for the 1990s and regular Motor Sport man Adam Cooper brings the story right up to date with the most recent decade. The ‘magnificent six’ put 60 years of F1 history into context just perfectly.

To complement the story of the decades, Simon Taylor lunched with the man who has started more Grands Prix than any other (except Rubens Barrichello, who took the lead in the longevity stakes two years ago). Yes, it’s Riccardo Patrese. He’s a true Italian gent, who tells us of his racing life, from enfant terrible to respected veteran. Former editor Simon Arron also makes his first appearance in our pages since 1996 to bring us the story of those Bahrain 60th anniversary celebrations.

It’s been a pleasure and a treat putting this issue together. There was a palpable sense of excitement in the office as each of the decade features landed and we began to build the pages. We hope you enjoy reading it as much as we enjoyed making it.

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

Jim McGee is happily retired and living in California these days. McGee was one of the most successful Indycar crew chief/team managers. Over the years his cars won more than 90 USAC, CART and Champ Car races.

McGee made his name in the late ’60s as Mario Andretti’s chief mechanic with Clint Brawner’s team, and for a few years in the ’70s he ran Penske’s Indycar team. But he spent most of his career running Pat Patrick’s successful Indy-based team, winning the Indy 500 with Gordon Johncock in 1982 and Emerson Fittipaldi in ’89. Patrick sold his team to Bobby Rahal and Carl Hogan in 1991 and McGee stayed on to manage the operation as Rahal’s new team won the ’92 CART championship.

In 1993 Carl Haas hired McGee to run Newman/Haas Racing and manage the arrival to the team of Formula 1 World Champion Nigel Mansell. Mansell had had a spat with Frank Williams and decided to accept Haas’s offer to come and race Indycars in America. In turn, Haas decided that McGee was the perfect man to take care of the Briton and try to work some kind of peace between Mansell and Andretti. It was a tough job, but if anyone was up to it, it was McGee.

Mansell went on to win five races – four on ovals – and beat Penske team-mates Emerson Fittipaldi and Paul Tracy to the title. McGee recalls how impressed he was with Mansell’s driving: “It was amazing how he adapted and how quick he was. He was extraordinary as far as catching on to the ovals. He was like Rick [Mears].

“It used to upset Mario a bit because Nigel was quicker down the straightaway. Mansell was always quicker on the straightaway, even when we gave him some of the worst engines, and it was because he was able to straighten the car out by doing a lot of turning down in the middle of a corner so the car would come off really straight and the rpm would naturally be up because you weren’t scrubbing off any speed.”

McGee says Mansell was a very adaptable driver: “His driving ability was such that he could compensate for the car. It used to be a little frustrating from the engineers’ standpoint because they could do quite a few things to the car and he would still run the same speed. They would say they were trying to learn what the car wants so the driver has got to drive the car the same way all the time. But he had difficulty in doing that. It wasn’t his style.

“If the car was loose, he’d change his style. If it were pushing, he’d change his style. In a race it was great because if you had a car that wasn’t quite right he could get the most out of it.”

Whatever your opinion may be about the man, Mansell most certainly could drive a racing car. I’m sure he’s still totally capable today.

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

We all know that Mario Andretti was one of the world’s most versatile drivers, winning in Formula 1, Indycars and long-distance sports cars, as well as NASCAR stock cars, sprint cars and USAC dirt championship cars. He enjoyed a long career, racing successfully into his fifties, so what was his secret?

Ed Nathman was Newman/Haas team manager during the final years of Andretti’s career. Today, he is engineering director for Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing in NASCAR, running Juan Pablo Montoya’s cars. He says Andretti had a rare talent for reading the car and reporting his findings to the team.

“Mario was exceptional,” says Nathman (below with Jimmy Vasser in 2003). “You could put him in the car and right away he’d tell you what it was doing, and not many drivers can do that. I liked working with Mario a lot. He loved testing; Goodyear liked Mario for testing tyres because there was nobody like him.”

Donnie Hoevel worked for Newman/Haas for 22 years until 2007. He was Andretti’s chief mechanic during his final seasons racing Indycars and tells of the last tyre test Mario did for Goodyear in 1994 at Indianapolis. “They had every Goodyear engineer known to man out there and they all said they were disappointed because they all loved to do tyre tests with the old man,” he recalls. “There were times when they’d slip in a set of control tyres without telling him and he’d say, ‘Ah, you guys are trying to fool me! You can’t fool me. I know what you’re doing.’ There aren’t too many people who have that kind of feel.”

Peter Gibbons (below with Mario and Marco) was with Newman/Haas for 13 years until 2004. During this time he engineered Michael Andretti’s car and was Nigel Mansell’s engineer in 1993-94. He also engineered Emerson Fittipaldi’s Indycars in the ’80s and was Rick Mears’s race engineer at Penske Racing from 1989-91. Gibbons moved to Michael’s IRL team in ’04 where he’s now technical director. He says he’s never seen another driver with Mario’s relentless work ethic.

“It was just remarkable. He worked harder then anyone I’ve ever [seen]. Mears was so amazingly naturally talented that he didn’t have to work at it. Emerson worked at it, but Mario loved working at it. He was just phenomenal. He was a major contributor to our effort until the day he retired. Mario was the team. His contributions to our set-ups were incredible and he thought about it all the time. I never got the impression that Michael enjoyed doing it, but Mario just lived for it. He set the standard.”

Mario with Johnny O’Connell during testing at Road Atlanta in 2000

Bruce Ashmore, Lola’s Indycar designer from 1988-93, says: “Mario would be in the car at nine o’clock in the morning and, if you had to, he’d run every hour until six o’clock with the sun in his eyes. Yet he would run every lap the same so that the component you were testing was the difference that made the lap time. A lot of people in motor racing get it wrong. They want something to work because it was their idea. But that’s a mistake. Mario had the ability to cut all that out and just assess the part on its performance and how it fitted into the package.”

Adds Hoevel: “The guy treated you with the utmost respect. If you worked hard for him, he worked hard for you. He was the utmost professional and he’s a great friend today. I can call him any time. Mario’s pretty far up the pedestal. He drove as hard as he could all the way ’til the last day he got out the car.”

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

What a weekend we have in store. The Indianapolis 500 and the Grand Prix of Monaco. I do like the month of May.

So much is good about both Indy and Monaco. So much of these two events is what motor racing is all about. And yet they could hardly be more different. A high-speed oval and the narrow streets of the Principality. Both a feast for the eyes and ears.

I first went to Monte Carlo in 1974 and was instantly hooked. This race is pretty good on TV but, boy, it is absolutely intoxicating in real life. If you can describe Monte Carlo as real life. My Monaco baptism involved making a short film for ITN about the Hesketh team for whom one J Hunt was driving. Both he and the team were big news back then. Teddy bears, champagne, yachts, glamorous people and a large aristocrat paying the bills. Some of the events of that weekend are not for a family website. Let us just say that both JH and His Lordship knew how to enjoy their Grand Prix racing. Those were the days.

1975 Dutch Grand Prix, Zandvoort, Holland. James Hunt with Lord Alexander Hesketh, Anthony (Bubbles) Horsley and Harvey Postlethwaite.

I travelled to the race in the Hesketh transporter. I mention this because we got involved in a race with the Lotus truck on the final leg from Lyon to the coast. In those days the main paddock was across the harbour from the pits and it was important for the truckies to get the best possible parking slot. So there we were, two abreast on the motorway, the trucks on the limit of their limiters. Now the truckies fly to the races because of something to do with the European ‘working time directive’.

The thing about the Grand Prix of Monaco is that it IS spectacular, it IS theatrical, and it IS an unforgettable assault on the senses. The noise, as the cars rush between the buildings, is spine-chilling. The rush of colours, as the cars hurtle between the barriers, is simply breathtaking. And the judgement, the skill of the top drivers, has to be seen at close quarters to be believed. Back then you could walk the circuit, stand against the barriers, hear the squeak of tyres kissing the armco. And the tunnel was dark, very dark, the scream of the engines like monsters trapped in a cave.

If you haven’t been to this race, you have to go. Despite the changes to the circuit, and all the new buildings, it is still one of the greatest moments in sport.

And I believe the same can be said for the Indianapolis 500.

My introduction to the Brickyard came in 1993 following an invitation to study Mr Nigel Mansell and the Newman-Haas team as they went about their business. Not an invitation to be refused. You will recall that Mansell went to Indy as the reigning F1 World Champion and some of the good old boys were out to show him what was what when it came to motoring in close company at over 200mph. Indy is not for the faint-hearted.

But Mansell damn nearly won it. He was leading when out came the yellows and, listening in on a team headset, I got the impression that he wasn’t at all sure what to do at the restart. Desperate banter ensued between car and pitwall. At the green, he hesitated, and was swallowed up by the more experienced Fittipaldi and Luyendyk. They shot past him, one each side, and the huge crowd went wild.

There was some swearing on the radio. Then, six laps later and within sight of the chequer, he brushed the outside wall. Surely it was all over. No, this was Mansell on heat. There was anger and frustration in the cockpit and afterwards, having come home in third place, he claimed that Fittipaldi and Luyendyk had jumped the restart. ‘Our Nige’ had led 34 of the 200 laps on his first visit to this mighty arena. High drama.

And that’s what both Monaco and Indy are all about. Drama and spectacle. In spades.

Enjoy this month of May in the flatlands of Indiana and on the absurdly glitzy Cote d’Azur. Wonder what the weather has in store…

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

I have been on a secret mission. I feel a little like Tintin, travelling unexpectedly into unfamiliar territory again, briefed to separate the fact from the fiction. Unlike Tintin, I have no help from the resourceful Captain Haddock.

Anyway, my cover has been blown, the secret is out. Another well known motor racing magazine must have followed my tracks. So I am now at liberty to tell you that I send this dispatch from the Circuito Estoril in Southern Portugal and it is very hot in more ways than one.

I have spent the last two days with Nigel Mansell, his sons Leo and Greg, and the boys from the Chamberlain Synergy sports car team. What, you will ask, is the Mansell clan doing at Estoril in the heat of the Portuguese summer?

Well, as I said, it was a secret mission. No journalists, no photographers and no spectators. Only Motor Sport magazine, our sworn-to-secrecy photographer and the other teams taking part in a Dunlop test session. Nigel Mansell called this “ an exploratory experience” for him and his son Leo. Yes, Greg is here too, but he’s still a bit concussed after hitting the wall very hard at Mont Tremblant and he’s spent his time egging his brother on to go quicker than the ‘old man’.

Quicker in what, you want to know? In a Lola-AER 06/10 LMP1 sports car, that’s what. And let me tell you straightaway, this was much more than an “exploratory experience”. Mansells do not do things by halves, they do not – by nature – go about their business in a shy and retiring fashion.

Talking of retiring, that’s what Nigel did all those years ago, right? Wrong. I reckon he’s about to make another spectacular comeback, this time with his sons, in LMP1 sports cars. Heavy hints were dropped as often as the Dunlops were bolted onto the Lola. This evening, as the track temperature cooled to a mere 40 degrees, Nigel called for the new-generation rubber. He wanted three sets, please, and then he would show the manufacturer just how good is their new rubber. The next two hours were as electrifying as a tyre test can be.

And it was then that the call came through to team owner Bob Berridge from another magazine. We’d been ‘in camera’ for nearly two days and now the cat was out of the bag. Nigel, out of the car now having set the fastest time of the entire Dunlop test, took the call and told our rivals – well, not very much.

If you want to know the full and unexpurgated story of the latest dramas surrounding this extraordinary family, then make sure you see next month’s Motor Sport (out on August 1). My money, such as it is, is on Nigel Mansell making one last spectacular comeback before he finally slopes off to the golf course. Judging by his performance at Estoril, he has lost not one tiny tenth of his speed.

Perhaps more surprisingly, it was his son Leo who made the biggest impression. After two days at Estoril, the youngster was way less than a second off his Father’s best time. He’d never driven a sports car before, never seen Estoril and never sat in something with so much horsepower. It is very possible that Leo Mansell is on the verge of surprising a great many more people.

More next month. I’m off to cool down.

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

A showdown for the A1GP championship seemed an unlikely prospect, even if it was mathematically plausible. As the teams arrived at Brands Hatch 29 points separated the Swiss from the New Zealanders, the advantage very much with Neel Jani after an impressively consistent season.

As events unfolded at this wonderful racing circuit, looking at its absolute best in the Spring, it quickly became clear that Kiwi Johnny Reid was not going to get on terms with the championship leader. The black car never looked quite right all weekend and Jani did just what he had to do, taking the title with a steady drive to fourth place in the opening Sprint race. The excitement was all ahead of him, with Robbie Kerr (above) keeping his head and leading all the way from Jonathan Summerton and Adam Carroll, the Irishman having muscled his way past a cautious Jani at Paddock Hill bend on the opening lap.

What A1GP does really well is to put on a show for the people who have paid to come in. Add to that the attention to detail by Jonathan Palmer, the man behind the renaissance of Brands, and you have a great days’ motor racing. Just like it used to be. Alright, the A1 cars are not the most thrilling machines on the planet, but the new Ferrari-based formula should be that bit more exciting next season. After three years this series really has grown up, and developed into a thoroughly entertaining show.

The days of Mansell Mania came to mind as the cars formed up for the big race of the day. Not quite as manic, I’m pleased to say, but a similar swell in the grandstands. Union jacks everywhere, flying in the early summer breeze and draped over the fences, while all around the circuit the crowd cheered and waved as Robbie Kerr lined up alongside poleman Narain Karthikeyan. Team India, run by Mike Earle’s Arena Motorsport, had done a superb job with the car and their driver was having one of his good weekends, very neat and quick everywhere. We were in for a great race to finish the A1 season. This was Brands at its best, Alain Prost strolling down the pitlane as if he’d never been away.

To cut a long story short, Karthikeyan (above and below) on good form was too much for Kerr and even the safety car (a Ferrari of course) could not help Team GBR in front of their home crowd. At the pit stop Team India did a fractionally better job and just squeezed their man out ahead of Kerr by the snap of an air hammer. The crowd was jumping up and down – and you don’t see much of that these days at a motor racing event. There were groans when Adam Carroll threw what could have been a superb race away – dicing with Karthikeyan he broke his front wing and then, strangely, decided not to pit. The wing collapsed and he went flying off the road, lucky to recover and finish way down the field.

So it’s over for another year then and what a great finale. Congratulations to Brands and to A1GP – this was a fine example of how to entertain the fans. Lots of doughnuts in front of the grandstands sent them home happy, a wild one from winner Karthikeyan sending him into the barrier… ah well, they don’t need the car or the engine any more, do they? Next season A1GP rolls out the Ferraris and the opening race of the new season will be at Mugello, the beautiful circuit in Tuscany. Now that is something to look forward to, I reckon.

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

The passage of time means different things to different people. For a geologist, two hundred and fifty million years is a long time. For us motor racing nuts, seven weeks is a long time. That’s how long it is until the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne. And it seems more than fifteen weeks since we saw Kimi Raikkonen cross the line at Interlagos. Wonder what he’s been doing? World Champion seems to be a very low-profile achievement these days. Pictures of Kimi grinning, in public at least, are rare but perhaps they are on the walls of every bar in Helsinki. We didn’t hear much from Fernando Alonso during the previous winter did we?

What we need, to lift the general gloom that seems to be settling over Gordon Brown’s Britain, is a British world champion. Now it is a long time since we had one of those. At Silverstone the other day I bumped into the last man to do it for us while chatting with another man who could, and should, have done it for us. Both had what it takes, skill and grit, and both are great ambassadors for motor racing. Damon Hill, now President of the BRDC and no longer looking like a heavy metal star, is busy putting back some of what he took in 1996. Derek Warwick, also busy finding, and helping, young British drivers would have made a wonderful World Champion. He turned down an offer from Frank Williams in 1985, the seat went to Mr Mansell, and he became, yes, a British world champion.

It’s all about being in the right place at the right time. Even Gordon Brown knows that. And so does Lewis Hamilton. But we don’t want to go over all that again do we? I fear that ITV will have more than enough to say as we edge closer to the sunshine of south Australia. Thank goodness for Martin Brundle, always a source of knowledge and humour amidst the hysteria. I watch ITV for Brundle in the same way as I bought Autosport, until this year of course, for Roebuck. And unless Matthew Paris makes a move, I shall continue to buy The Times. I’d like to read Alan Henry in the Guardian but the rest of that newspaper makes no sense to me at all. Reading is one of life’s great pleasures, along with Grand Prix cars at Spa, or just about any of the Greek islands.

You can probably tell I am a virgin blogger, a big, fat book beating a blog any day. But we must move with the times. Wonder what Jenks would have made of blogging? It would have been tricky for him to have got himself on line, the great man’s home not being connected to a supply of electricity. But I digress.

Seven weeks, then, until we get some real clues about the new Grand Prix season. For me, Jenson Button will be the interest. If Ross Brawn does not make a material difference to the Honda team I will be surprised. It is said that Mr Capello will do the same for England. Time, probably a couple of years in both cases, will tell. And it’s time I got on with writing up my chat with Derek Warwick. You can read it in your magazine two months from now.

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine