Catching the Motoring “Bug”

I was blessed with car-friendly parents and grandparents. My mother, who took part in several rallying events as a driver, was an only child and had been influenced very much by my grandfather’s love of motoring.

I remember one day my grandfather arrived driving a wonderful Ferrari 365 GT 2+2. I have really great childhood memories of him. In 1978 or 1979, he took my brother and me to Le Mans for the first time and introduced us to the pinnacle of sports car racing. It was a rather epic journey as my brother and I spent most of it under the tonneau cover of a 6.5-liter Bentley and, when we arrived, we were allowed to take part in demonstration laps of the Le Mans circuit. All the photos of Le Mans from reading magazines came to life in my mind as we went by unforgettable landmarks. As we drove along the Mulsanne for the first time, other drivers faster than us went by and I remember my brother and I punching the back of the driver’s seat shouting “Faster, faster!” I also remember thinking I would love to return one day as a competitor. It was such a huge adventure for me, as an eight-year-old boy, driving all this way from Scotland to Le Mans.