Originally posted by Jordan
GILES - how did you manage to pull that off?!? I would LOVE to do something like that! 
OK, I'm assuming you're talking about the BTCC thing, so I'll just mention that the Knockhill experience was on a dealer-organised track day.
Back to Silverstone. Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin...
Back in - ooh - 1994-ish, Gabriele Tarquini was sweeping all before him in the British Touring Car Championship in an Alfa Romeo 155. At the same time, my father was involved in a sadly aborted plan to build a 2.75 mile race track at Forrestburn, which is roughly half-way between Glasgow and Edinburgh. He was also involved in the initial plans regarding Rockingham in England.
Anyway, one of the guys involved in the Forrestburn project was a mad Alfa fan and also loved Tarquini. Since at the time, the BTCC was owned by Alan Gow, who was pretty much a figurehead, in the Luca di Montezemolo mould, the championship was being run (at the races anyway) by a woman called Jenny Birrell. Who is a friend of the family.
So, Dad said he could get this guy to meet Tarquini, and that the best place to do it was at the drivers' parade at Silverstone, so we all went along, and found our way to the drivers' parade holding area.
Now at the same time, it was the Italian GP at Monza, and Herbert had qualified the Lotus-Mugen 4th, which he'd done with some pretty nifty drafting. He'd of course said that it was a fantastic result, and that it meant he could win the race, which was odd, because the Lotus of that era came with 65 seats and a conductor.
But back to Silverstone... We're waiting for the parade to kick off, and Jan Lammers says to Tiff Needell "**** this, I'm going to see what's happening", and off he goes to the Volvo motorhome. He comes back full of stories about how Irvine had knocked Herbert off at the first corner.
By now, most of the cars are loaded, and Jenny Birrell shouts at me "Who do you want to go with?" I said Tiff because I knew he was the only BTCC driver my mates had heard of, so she bundled me into this Nissan Primera road car, which was driven around Silverstone with Tiff sitting on the roof dangling his legs out of the sunroof.
At the end of the lap, we came back in to the paddock, and he asked me who I was. He knew my father (as Dad was creating trouble in the British Racing Drivers' Club at the time), and we wished each other luck for the future.
It was pretty cool actually! Now my interest in the BTCC is sustained by Matt Neal, another family friend, who is driving one of the Egg Sport Vauxhalls this year. He's only just hauled himself off the bottom of the
giles-guthrie.com Fantasy Formula One league, but that's OK, because he's doing rather well in BTCC, and I suspect that's more important to him!
Hope you all enjoyed that little story! :sleep:
