"I raced one"

This former BTCC ace got a career leg-up after being asked to drive a 962 at Le Mans in 1990, but it’s not his favourite Porsche memory…

“At the beginning of that year, I did a few World Sports Car Championship rounds in a Porsche 962 [for Strandell Convector Racing]. In the run up to Le Mans I got a call from Tiff Needell asking me if I’d be interested in doing the 24 Hours for Alpha; I’d drive alongside Tiff and David Sears. There was Jaguar, Mercedes, Nissan and so on for what was a vintage year; nobody knew who was going to win. I had food poisoning days before the race and lost half a stone just from the driving. The 962 was a nice car; fast but not intimidating. It was my first Le Mans and to finish third set me up for a professional career.

“To be honest, though, another race that year was more satisfying. I drove [for SCR] in an Interserie event at Zeltweg, Austria. I had an epic dust-up with Bernd Schneider’s Kremer 962. He won the first heat with me behind him. I was first in the second race and won overall on aggregate. Nobody expected anyone other than Schneider to win and the organisers couldn’t find the
British national anthem. By the time we got on the podium, Schneider was wearing jeans and a T-shirt…”