Читать книгу Classic After-Dinner Sports Tales - Jonathan Rice - Страница 10

Racing driver who competed at Formula 3, Formula 2 and Formula 1 before going on to become one of the leading sports car drivers of his generation. He won two World Sportscar titles (in 1985 and 1986), five victories in the Le Mans 24 Hours and three in Daytona 24 Hours, between 1975 and 1987.

The car that didn’t make it.

A well-respected racing driver was invited by the designer to test a particularly poor-handling racing car. After a few laps at a modest pace at Silverstone, the driver pulled into the pits, climbed out of the car, removed his helmet, looked at the designer and, with his broad Aussie accent, said, ‘John, you are a bloody genius!’

John was overcome with excitement that this star driver thought his car so good!

‘Really Frank?’ the designer said.

‘Yes John, you have two cars here, one at the front and one at the back’…and he strolled off.