tommallett

When I left Nottingham with a slight winter sniffle I wondered whether I was making the right choice. Undertaking a 110 mile round trip after work to go and see a 20 minute talk by an old racing driver seemed like a long way to go in my perilous condition. Fortunately the food that was put on was more than adequate and the collection of old and new Porsches worth the trip alone.

The real reason I had gone though was to hear the stories Richard Atwood of Porsche racing fame. He was very good, but on this occasion he was the instrument that David Piper played. While Richard Atwood was the professional racing driver it was the Oxfordshire farmer who regaled the best stories and the man that I went to have a chat to afterwards.

You know you are speaking to an interesting man when he rebuffs the observation that he should have kept his 250GTO bought new from the factory with the repost that he has had 5 anyway and has still got a host of Ferrari’s that he’s raced on top of his 917 Porsche.

All this made me think I was born in the wrong era. Which modern day racing driver could take part in the making of a film such as Le Mans and reminisce about Steve McQueen appearing on a motor cycle over their heads to drag a group of top drivers back to the pits to take part in some more full speed-ahead film?