How to Get a Formula One Ride

Canadian Bill Brack was running a Lotus 41 in 1968, as well as the “Hot Wheels” Mini Cooper, and I acted as his sponsor-hunter and team manager. The toy company Hot Wheels was our sponsor. We did displays introducing the new products all across Canada, in fact we basically introduced the Hot Wheels line of miniature cars in Canada. All we had was a couple of college students working for us and a station wagon. The college students would set up the Hot Wheels display. None of this would have happened without the support of the then-president of Mattel who was an English guy and a car nut. There were Hot Wheels contests where we would set up ramps and have races toward a championship. After all these events, we declared a champion and had the champion come to the Canadian F1 GP at St. Jovite, courtesy of Mattel and Bill’s Lotus Canada operation and dealership, Sports Cars Unlimited, to meet the winner’s heroes.

At the time, Bill told me he’d like to have a ride in an F1 car at that race. You have to remember that, at the time, Bill was the most successful Lotus dealer in North America, and one of the largest in the world. At any rate, Bill talked to Colin Chapman and Chapman told him to talk to Andrew Ferguson who was the team manager at the time. Bill asked me to talk to Ferguson because he was aware he had difficulty selling himself. So, I talked to Ferguson but Ferguson was reluctant. Colin had emphasized how difficult and dangerous F1 was and that Bill was very valuable to Lotus. I replied that Bill was invaluable to him as the most successful Lotus dealer in North America. I made the point clearly and emphatically. Chapman agreed that it was in Lotus’s best interests to keep Bill happy. So, we paid $6,000 for the ride. By the way, I’ve heard that today, McLaren charges $1,000,000 for a one-day test!