Meeting the Mansells

Written by Katie Friday, 10 December 2010 07:52

As promised, here’s what we got up to when we got the chance to meet the man behind racing’s most famous moustache. It’s not often you get the opportunity to meet a true racing legend, but oh boy did we get lucky this summer. This year Nigel Mansell and his sons, Leo and Greg, teamed up with Beechdean Motorsport and set their sights on the LMS and, in particular, the 24hr du Mans. Racing a Ginneta-Zytek Z09R the team created quite a stir.

So many Speed Chills members we chatted to were really excited to see one of the greats back on the racetrack. So we couldn’t quite believe our luck when they invited us along on the Friday to help out in the pit lane! We got to meet the team who were all such nice guys, and the free Beechdean ice cream didn’t go down too badly either… Best of all, Nigel, Leo and Greg found time to come and say hello and have a photo with us. I think it’s safe to say my Dad would have happily donned my Speed Chills tee and mini to be in my trainers that day!

We also had the honour of accompanying the car out onto the grid for the start of the race on the Saturday. The atmosphere was incredible and the crowd were amazing! Unfortunately, a puncture followed by a rather spectacular crash meant that they had to retire far earlier than seemed fair after all their hard work.

We got to catch up with the team again in September for the Silverstone 1000km. With a win in Hungary under their belts (not bad for only their third race!), Greg and Leo managed to claim a strong 7th place finish at Silverstone – what a brilliant finale to their 2010 season. We hope we have the pleasure of seeing you again soon.