Thierry Boutsen: On a different plane
When compiling a list of famous Belgians, I think instantly of Georges Prosper Remi, better known as Hergé, whose Tintin stories have long been favourites of mine. Then there’s Eddy…
Were someone to achieve something similar today, their accomplishment would likely be obscured by a blizzard of hype. But it was different then. Taken out of context, Eric Thompson’s World…
Standing on a piece of dull Aberdeenshire countryside, shivering against the wind as it blasts off the North Sea, you might not at first realise that there was anything of…
Stirling Moss Inaugural Goodwood Meeting, September 1948 The place was pretty bleak, but it was a lovely meeting. We went with our Cooper 500 in a horsebox, me, my…
The mantelpiece at his home in Monaco has been creaking, these past years, under the weight of invitations to appear at what the Germans call ‘old timer’ events all over…
"Thierry was a very smooth and stylish driver, a quiet man, not that forceful, and a very gentlemanly person who was always a pleasure to have in the team. "He…
Big breath. I have to go there. The matter has to be raised. So best get it out of the way, no point pussyfooting around the edges. So I look…
Everything changed for Clay Regazzoni on March 30 1980. The accident at Long Beach that left him in a wheelchair ended a grand prix career that had lasted for 10…
Over the decades every top racing driver has lost a potential victory in unfortunate circumstances, but few have suffered a greater blow than that experienced by John Love, an underdog…
The story of Brooklands and its creator Hugh Locke King has been made well known, not least through these pages, but perhaps his wife Dame Ethel has not had enough…
This is the man who started as a marshal at Goodwood, won his first ever race in a Lotus 7, caught the attention of Enzo Ferrari with his natural flair,…
He'd nursed his slick-shod car in shine and rain for 54 laps — but now hail was a distinct possibility. "By climbing the pit wall fence you could see the…
How difficult is it to win in Formula 1? Ask Toyota. For the eight seasons and 140 races that the world's largest car company contested between 2002 and 2009, not…
Heard the one about Laffite at Dallas in 1984? In protest at the early hour of first practice, he turned up in his pyjamas. At Montreal one year, he arrived…
The DFV was the world’s most successful F1 engine – but it was much more than that. For more than 30 years it, and its derivatives, won in almost every…
Bonneville Salt Flat is a door to the outer limits – a place of strangeness where almost anything can be imagined, almost anything can be achieved. Sahara hot in the…
"It was the best track in France; better by far than everywhere else we went like Rouen, Reims and Paul Ricard." The words belong to Jackie Stewart, a man not…