WEBVTT 1 00:00:02.679 --> 00:00:03.279 listener. 2 00:00:04.740 --> 00:00:09.381 G'day, it's Rusty here, all set for part two of our re-release of the Alan Jones feature episode. 3 00:00:09.441 --> 00:00:13.082 Remember the timestamp here if some of the stories seem a little dated. 4 00:00:13.122 --> 00:00:19.224 We spoke with him in March 2022 and he joined our library in the run-up to that year's Australian Grand Prix. 5 00:00:19.664 --> 00:00:25.926 As always, if you've landed here and somehow missed part one, jump back to the library and hit the gas on that one first. 6 00:00:26.326 --> 00:00:31.672 Some early life reflections, memories of his dad racing and Stan's influence on his own career. 7 00:00:32.132 --> 00:00:37.598 Going to the UK and the hard yards that Alan did to make a quit and eventually break into the scene. 8 00:00:38.078 --> 00:00:46.166 Working with the likes of Patrick Head and Frank Williams, absolute legends, during an era when F1 really started to go mainstream. 9 00:00:46.807 --> 00:00:48.831 Every once in a while I get a text from AJ now. 10 00:00:48.871 --> 00:00:51.035 They always make me smile. 11 00:00:51.075 --> 00:00:57.567 The intent of rerunning this episode is just to keep his story front of mind as a little 80th birthday celebration. 12 00:00:57.968 --> 00:00:59.171 Let's get back to the convo now. 13 00:01:02.255 --> 00:01:03.295 First of all, I love Bernie. 14 00:01:03.355 --> 00:01:05.436 I mean, Bernie gets shit-canned like you wouldn't believe. 15 00:01:05.917 --> 00:01:08.017 He has done some wonderful things for Formula One. 16 00:01:08.658 --> 00:01:11.059 And Bernie is a man of his word, I can tell you. 17 00:01:11.159 --> 00:01:13.180 If Bernie shakes your hands, that is it. 18 00:01:15.120 --> 00:01:20.963 What happened was I fronted down to Kyle Army for the South African Grand Prix. 19 00:01:21.803 --> 00:01:30.107 And when I arrived at the hotel and booked in, the bloke at the desk said, Mr. Eccleston would like to see you in his suite or his penthouse or wherever he stayed. 20 00:01:30.827 --> 00:01:32.188 I said, shit, what have I done? 21 00:01:34.429 --> 00:01:36.811 So I duly went up there and he said, I'll come in. 22 00:01:37.251 --> 00:01:39.212 And the first thing he said when I went in, he said, how do you feel? 23 00:01:39.913 --> 00:01:40.773 I said, yeah, fine. 24 00:01:40.853 --> 00:01:41.093 Why? 25 00:01:41.214 --> 00:01:42.214 He said, you don't look very well. 26 00:01:43.035 --> 00:01:44.135 This is typical Bernie. 27 00:01:44.235 --> 00:01:45.876 He has an unbelievable sense of humour. 28 00:01:46.437 --> 00:01:47.357 And I said, no, I feel all right. 29 00:01:47.377 --> 00:01:47.678 Why? 30 00:01:48.438 --> 00:01:58.707 And then he explained to me what was going on, that this senator, what's his name, Jesse Jackson, had threatened Beatrice. 31 00:01:59.347 --> 00:02:03.270 And when I used to drive the Beatrice, people had no idea who Beatrice was. 32 00:02:03.310 --> 00:02:05.352 I mean, it was the eighth largest company in America. 33 00:02:05.612 --> 00:02:07.414 I mean, it's bigger than BHP. 34 00:02:07.434 --> 00:02:08.174 It's huge. 35 00:02:08.875 --> 00:02:09.215 Anyway... 36 00:02:11.328 --> 00:02:19.210 Jackson said that at that car races in Kyle Army, where I'm pulling every black person out of the workforce. 37 00:02:19.910 --> 00:02:21.750 As you can imagine, there was thousands of them. 38 00:02:22.790 --> 00:02:25.671 So then Beatrice shit themselves, of course, and didn't quite know what to do. 39 00:02:25.711 --> 00:02:35.573 They didn't want to be seen to be bow-towing to this individual, and they didn't want all their workforce to be pulled out, which would have cost them absolute millions. 40 00:02:36.623 --> 00:02:39.266 So typical Bernie, he's come up with a solution. 41 00:02:39.806 --> 00:02:46.353 He said, well, I guess if the driver gets crook and the car can't race, no one can win. 42 00:02:47.511 --> 00:02:50.013 I said, yeah, that sounds, yeah, yeah. 43 00:02:50.433 --> 00:02:52.034 He said, what are your chances of winning? 44 00:02:52.194 --> 00:02:54.295 I said, well, if I start now, it might be all right. 45 00:02:54.936 --> 00:02:57.518 Because, I mean, the car was dreadful. 46 00:02:58.158 --> 00:02:59.919 And he said, well, I'll tell you what. 47 00:03:00.780 --> 00:03:02.281 How about we give you first place? 48 00:03:02.601 --> 00:03:03.061 No one knew. 49 00:03:03.481 --> 00:03:06.543 To this day, no one knows what Formula One, the prize money is. 50 00:03:07.524 --> 00:03:13.068 And he said, you can wait until everyone goes to the circuit tomorrow, quietly check out. 51 00:03:14.490 --> 00:03:18.476 go home and spend a week or two with your family in Australia and then just go back to England. 52 00:03:19.658 --> 00:03:21.381 And I thought, that sounds all right to me. 53 00:03:21.421 --> 00:03:22.542 I mean, because I definitely... 54 00:03:22.563 --> 00:03:24.165 I mean, the car was very uncompetitive. 55 00:03:24.926 --> 00:03:27.010 So to me, that sounded like a really good deal. 56 00:03:27.030 --> 00:03:27.310 So... 57 00:03:28.987 --> 00:03:40.436 That morning I waited until everyone went to the circuit and I checked out and Qantas being, well then, hypocrites, they wouldn't fly into South Africa because of the apartheid thing. 58 00:03:40.856 --> 00:03:46.501 But they knew damn well the people were flying from Johannesburg up to Harare and then getting on their flight to come home. 59 00:03:47.201 --> 00:03:47.902 which is what I did. 60 00:03:48.343 --> 00:03:56.154 So I flew up to Harare, stayed Saturday night there, I think it was, jumped on the plane the following morning and flew home. 61 00:03:56.895 --> 00:04:03.684 And then the press release was that I'd contracted this shocking virus and couldn't drive. 62 00:04:04.405 --> 00:04:10.488 And, you know, great strategy from a Bernie sense to play the chess pieces in that manner. 63 00:04:11.028 --> 00:04:12.489 He is such a lateral thinker. 64 00:04:13.009 --> 00:04:14.210 And, like, he is just... 65 00:04:14.830 --> 00:04:17.732 Someone said you've got to get up very early in the morning to beat Bernie. 66 00:04:17.792 --> 00:04:19.273 I said, no, you just don't go to bed. 67 00:04:19.653 --> 00:04:22.614 You know, he's an operator. 68 00:04:24.035 --> 00:04:26.476 Another question from a fan here, Mark Jones. 69 00:04:27.557 --> 00:04:31.879 The best car that you ever drove and recollections of it, is that the car we reflected on before? 70 00:04:32.449 --> 00:04:35.790 Oh, I'd have to say the 07, FW 07B. 71 00:04:37.231 --> 00:04:41.473 There's certain cars that you hop into, and a 935 Porsche, believe it or not, was one of them. 72 00:04:41.893 --> 00:04:44.054 You hop into them and you just feel immediately at home. 73 00:04:44.074 --> 00:04:44.934 You feel comfortable. 74 00:04:44.954 --> 00:04:46.055 The ergonomics are there. 75 00:04:46.835 --> 00:04:48.055 It just feels good, you know? 76 00:04:48.496 --> 00:04:51.917 And nine times out of 10, that's how it turns out. 77 00:04:52.377 --> 00:04:55.178 It's like you very rarely see an ugly car in the winner's circle. 78 00:04:57.079 --> 00:04:59.261 And I just felt at home with the FW O7. 79 00:04:59.281 --> 00:05:00.221 I could do anything with it. 80 00:05:00.281 --> 00:05:02.663 I mean, I felt pretty good in the 06 as well. 81 00:05:03.604 --> 00:05:07.807 And I probably prefer the 07 simply because it was more competitive. 82 00:05:08.307 --> 00:05:10.889 But that was by far and away my favourite car. 83 00:05:11.730 --> 00:05:16.273 You also drove, in a one-off sense, the six-wheeler that they made. 84 00:05:16.613 --> 00:05:19.155 You went off and tested it, I think, four wheels at the back, two at the front. 85 00:05:19.255 --> 00:05:20.836 What did you think of that car? 86 00:05:20.856 --> 00:05:25.780 I think you'd been to maybe Las Vegas the weekend before and jumped on a plane and went back over and tested that in Europe, didn't you? 87 00:05:25.840 --> 00:05:29.621 Yeah, I was at Las Vegas and I was lucky enough to win that Grand Prix. 88 00:05:30.202 --> 00:05:33.863 And Frank said, I want you to come back and drive the six-wheeler at Donington. 89 00:05:33.883 --> 00:05:36.524 Because at that stage, I told him that I wanted to knock it on the head. 90 00:05:37.444 --> 00:05:39.645 And I said, oh, Frank, I don't want to go, mate. 91 00:05:39.685 --> 00:05:41.166 I just want to go home, you know. 92 00:05:42.086 --> 00:05:45.848 And particularly at that time of the year, I knew that England would be freezing bloody cold. 93 00:05:46.628 --> 00:05:49.890 He said, oh, come on, come back and have a drive it and see what you think. 94 00:05:50.211 --> 00:05:55.815 And I think he was hoping that I'd hop in it and think, oh, this thing's a bit of a tool, you know, blah, blah, blah. 95 00:05:56.615 --> 00:05:59.538 Anyway, to be honest, I didn't feel any difference at all. 96 00:06:00.378 --> 00:06:01.979 It's not like it had better grip. 97 00:06:01.999 --> 00:06:04.781 It's not like it had put its power. 98 00:06:05.222 --> 00:06:06.323 I just didn't feel any different. 99 00:06:06.943 --> 00:06:09.844 The only thing I felt was the bloody motorhome was freezing cold. 100 00:06:10.604 --> 00:06:14.545 I stayed at a motel where I had to put boiling water over the lock of the car so I could unlock it. 101 00:06:15.125 --> 00:06:18.886 And I'm thinking, this is all the reasons I want to go home, you know. 102 00:06:19.006 --> 00:06:19.766 So that's what I did. 103 00:06:20.106 --> 00:06:20.966 Had it been different? 104 00:06:20.986 --> 00:06:25.407 I mean, let's say some of that extraneous stuff that was, you know, wearing you down. 105 00:06:25.547 --> 00:06:27.168 But had the car been competitive? 106 00:06:28.128 --> 00:06:29.890 You have been tempted to change your mind? 107 00:06:30.210 --> 00:06:30.850 Oh, I think so. 108 00:06:31.030 --> 00:06:36.534 I mean, like any driver, if you hopped in the thing and thought, this is going to give me an unfair advantage, I'm down for a bit. 109 00:06:37.195 --> 00:06:54.768 It's like you said at the beginning of this podcast, had we have had social media, in one respect I hated it, but certainly if we would have had mobile phones and cable TV and things like that, I probably would have done another couple of years because I know this sounds very stupid, but... 110 00:06:55.428 --> 00:07:04.270 You'd go back to a hotel, particularly if you were doing testing at Rickard in winter, and you had to stop at 3 o'clock, 2.30, 3 o'clock, because it was getting dark and cold and everything. 111 00:07:04.850 --> 00:07:06.010 So you'd go back to the room. 112 00:07:06.050 --> 00:07:07.330 I was never a big book reader. 113 00:07:08.030 --> 00:07:09.310 So, you know, what do you do? 114 00:07:10.391 --> 00:07:19.672 Had I been able to put on cable TV or jump on the mobile phone and talk to my mates, I'm sure that would have given me a bit more encouragement to stay on for another couple of years. 115 00:07:19.952 --> 00:07:21.693 But they're the little things that wear you down. 116 00:07:22.113 --> 00:07:23.693 Like you've got to go down to the foyer. 117 00:07:24.453 --> 00:07:27.937 Give the bloke a piece of paper with the phone number that you want to call in Australia. 118 00:07:28.337 --> 00:07:31.300 Sit on a couch while he tells you to go into booth number three. 119 00:07:31.600 --> 00:07:32.361 You know, it's all that. 120 00:07:33.562 --> 00:07:35.244 Yeah, that used to get me down. 121 00:07:35.724 --> 00:07:37.386 Was there a class of racing? 122 00:07:37.406 --> 00:07:39.108 I mean, you mentioned the Porsche there before and so on. 123 00:07:39.128 --> 00:07:45.254 Was there a class of racing a couple of fans have asked that you would have liked to have done more of or perhaps tried that you didn't get into? 124 00:07:46.594 --> 00:07:49.657 Well, I tried IndyCar, and that was why he hated that. 125 00:07:50.799 --> 00:07:52.100 I like racing the Porsche. 126 00:07:52.801 --> 00:07:57.226 I did Le Mans twice in a Porsche and a Toyota. 127 00:08:00.013 --> 00:08:09.000 Look, I've got to say that my first and only love was Formula One because I was always, they're bred for a purpose, they're designed for a purpose, everything else has been modified. 128 00:08:09.180 --> 00:08:12.423 And whilst I say all that, I like driving the Can-Am car. 129 00:08:12.883 --> 00:08:15.385 I really enjoyed that because that had a heap of downforce. 130 00:08:16.766 --> 00:08:18.147 America's got some great circuits. 131 00:08:18.308 --> 00:08:21.150 I mean, Road Atlanta, Laguna Seca. 132 00:08:21.610 --> 00:08:23.351 I mean, it's got some fabulous circuits. 133 00:08:23.391 --> 00:08:33.717 I look at some of the circuits America's got and I look at some of the circuits we've got, Winton, you know, some of those circuits, Winton International, and they're shocking. 134 00:08:33.977 --> 00:08:36.859 You know, they're just dreadful little go-kart tracks in the middle of paddocks. 135 00:08:38.520 --> 00:08:45.488 you know like Phillip Island's really good, Bathurst is really good although not suitable you know for a powerful open wheeler. 136 00:08:46.008 --> 00:08:52.956 But we have very few really good circuits whereas America's got a heap of them and I used to love racing there. 137 00:08:53.336 --> 00:08:54.918 It's a dangerous game and 138 00:08:55.718 --> 00:09:03.620 you know, there are moments perhaps where you cheat death or you, you know, what was the worst crash for you, the one that sort of sticks in your mind? 139 00:09:04.360 --> 00:09:06.801 You sound like the managing director's wife at a dinner party. 140 00:09:06.841 --> 00:09:07.321 No. 141 00:09:07.541 --> 00:09:10.002 They always used to ask me those questions. 142 00:09:10.502 --> 00:09:20.304 And depending on how pissed I was or how bloody, or how nasty I wanted to be, I used to say, oh, well, I had my arm ripped off once, you know. 143 00:09:20.324 --> 00:09:22.105 But you never worried about the danger. 144 00:09:22.165 --> 00:09:23.965 This is clearly what you're talking about here, did you? 145 00:09:24.726 --> 00:09:31.051 No, I didn't really, no, because at the beginning of the year, I'd make sure all my insurance was in order. 146 00:09:31.552 --> 00:09:35.836 I had all the best equipment I could get in terms of clothing and all that sort of stuff. 147 00:09:35.956 --> 00:09:43.563 I made sure that my wife and Christian and everything was all organised if anything ever happened and just got on with it, yeah. 148 00:09:43.863 --> 00:09:45.404 I mean, that's not to say I didn't sort of get... 149 00:09:46.237 --> 00:09:48.078 scared or apprehensive on the odd occasion. 150 00:09:48.118 --> 00:09:50.160 Like, you know, there was the odd occasion. 151 00:09:50.200 --> 00:09:52.522 But I never used to get the butterflies all that much. 152 00:09:53.002 --> 00:09:55.684 Every now and again I would, and I wouldn't even know why. 153 00:09:56.965 --> 00:09:59.407 You know, you'd be there saying, shit, what am I doing here? 154 00:10:00.208 --> 00:10:00.368 Or... 155 00:10:01.425 --> 00:10:04.387 But nine times out of ten, I didn't know. 156 00:10:04.467 --> 00:10:05.227 I used to just... 157 00:10:06.028 --> 00:10:11.351 I had stupid little, like... What's the word you... Superstitions. 158 00:10:11.371 --> 00:10:12.291 Superstitions, yeah. 159 00:10:12.631 --> 00:10:16.634 I mean, strangely, I used to like seeing an ambulance before the race, the start of the race. 160 00:10:16.954 --> 00:10:17.314 Really? 161 00:10:17.434 --> 00:10:17.614 Yeah. 162 00:10:17.955 --> 00:10:20.216 And I used to say stupid things like ambulance. 163 00:10:21.196 --> 00:10:22.697 Now, don't ask me what all that's about. 164 00:10:23.117 --> 00:10:25.219 And maybe it was just a distraction, you know, way of... 165 00:10:26.239 --> 00:10:31.563 And, you know, the red underpants, of course, and hopping in from the left-hand side of the car. 166 00:10:31.743 --> 00:10:33.244 So there was all that nonsense going on. 167 00:10:33.324 --> 00:10:35.365 But otherwise, no, not really. 168 00:10:35.526 --> 00:10:37.447 Pretty significant sliding doors moment. 169 00:10:37.567 --> 00:10:42.170 Am I right in saying you were meant to be on the plane with Graham Hill too when he passed away? 170 00:10:42.390 --> 00:10:45.092 You were meant to be going testing and that changed at the last minute maybe or something? 171 00:10:45.192 --> 00:10:46.033 Yeah, I was. 172 00:10:47.613 --> 00:11:01.862 They had designed a brand new car and they were going down to Paul Rickard because that's where most people went for testing at that time of the year in England because the chances of it being dry, you know, were a lot better than anywhere else. 173 00:11:02.142 --> 00:11:03.603 And they could drive the transporter there. 174 00:11:03.623 --> 00:11:04.763 They didn't have to fly anything. 175 00:11:05.564 --> 00:11:08.646 Yeah, so I was meant to be going down there to drive the new car. 176 00:11:09.466 --> 00:11:13.869 And I was having a party at my place in Highgate in London 177 00:11:14.869 --> 00:11:18.431 And I had a phone call from John, who worked for Marlborough. 178 00:11:19.031 --> 00:11:22.853 He said, oh, AJ, he said, because he heard all noise in the background, he said, did you get a party? 179 00:11:22.893 --> 00:11:23.353 I said, yeah. 180 00:11:23.693 --> 00:11:27.035 He said, oh, mate, Graeme Hill's just been killed with Tony Bryers and everybody. 181 00:11:27.875 --> 00:11:37.940 And he could have knocked me down with a feather because Tony Bryers, brilliant young up-and-coming driver, the Australian designer, and Graeme. 182 00:11:38.300 --> 00:11:43.022 I mean, I flew back from the Nürburgring with Graeme, and... 183 00:11:44.455 --> 00:11:48.677 I'll never forget it because I'd got fifth, which was their best result so far. 184 00:11:49.197 --> 00:11:52.758 And he said, oh, come on, come back with me, which I did. 185 00:11:52.779 --> 00:11:54.779 I didn't completely shit him the whole way. 186 00:11:55.139 --> 00:11:58.121 He said, oh, Graham, there's a 707 just over there. 187 00:11:58.481 --> 00:11:59.241 Oh, thanks for that. 188 00:12:00.122 --> 00:12:08.045 He was just – let's just say I don't think he paid as much attention to his aviation as he did motor racing. 189 00:12:09.560 --> 00:12:37.487 and what happened was, you know, it's a common story, that they'd parked all their cars where he kept the plane, and they advised him to go on up to the next, and he said, no, I know this place, it's not the back of my hand, and he hadn't altered the altimeter to suit the different, whatever you've got to do, and literally just flew into the side of the mountain, killed a lot of them, and I could very well have easily been on that plane, because they rung me up at the last minute and said, AJ, don't worry about coming down to Rickard, Tony Bryse is going to do it. 190 00:12:37.907 --> 00:12:38.587 I said, yeah, okay. 191 00:12:39.347 --> 00:12:40.227 So there you go. 192 00:12:40.447 --> 00:12:41.588 Yeah, yeah. 193 00:12:42.588 --> 00:12:44.889 You talked about that fifth place result there a moment ago. 194 00:12:44.909 --> 00:12:45.809 That was Nürburgring. 195 00:12:45.849 --> 00:12:51.290 And I think you came from like 22nd or 21st to get that result, which was mighty. 196 00:12:51.550 --> 00:12:57.912 You would then go on later on to win at Hockenheim, the German Grand Prix, both classic legendary tracks. 197 00:12:58.012 --> 00:13:02.593 What was it like back in that era to try and, you know, be fast around those joints? 198 00:13:03.318 --> 00:13:06.759 Well, Hockenheim was obviously a lot easier than Nürburgring. 199 00:13:06.779 --> 00:13:09.000 I mean, Hockenheim's a pretty straightforward sort of a circuit. 200 00:13:09.020 --> 00:13:12.881 It's bloody quick, particularly that East Curve, or whatever they used to call it. 201 00:13:13.102 --> 00:13:14.602 We miss that now, I reckon. 202 00:13:14.622 --> 00:13:16.083 Yeah, well, we miss a lot of things, don't we? 203 00:13:16.443 --> 00:13:18.844 Put any silly bloody chicanes everywhere. 204 00:13:19.364 --> 00:13:20.924 But the Nürburgring was something else. 205 00:13:21.244 --> 00:13:23.065 I mean, that was just unbelievable. 206 00:13:23.085 --> 00:13:25.606 I don't think you could ever, ever know that place intimately. 207 00:13:26.006 --> 00:13:27.507 I don't think you could ever do enough laps. 208 00:13:28.467 --> 00:13:33.110 In fact, I went there about a week or four or five days early and hired a BMW. 209 00:13:33.190 --> 00:13:37.273 I won't say the hire car company, because they might still be after me. 210 00:13:37.674 --> 00:13:43.458 And at the way you start the laps, they used to charge five Deutschmark. 211 00:13:44.378 --> 00:13:51.303 And so I used to do as many laps as I can just trying to work out, you know, like... Just kept buying tickets all day. 212 00:13:51.383 --> 00:13:52.324 I did, yeah. 213 00:13:52.664 --> 00:14:02.591 Because there's certain landmarks that are famous now, like you come over Blind Brow of the Hill, and when you see this White Chapel, you know that there's a right-hander immediately after it, and all that nonsense, you know. 214 00:14:03.352 --> 00:14:11.298 So I'd been going around and around and around, and where you buy your tickets and where you queue up to go onto the circuit, you get all these people that want to come in and ride with you. 215 00:14:11.318 --> 00:14:11.758 Right. 216 00:14:12.227 --> 00:14:14.149 And that was all right. 217 00:14:14.169 --> 00:14:15.871 This young bloke kept on asking, can I come? 218 00:14:15.891 --> 00:14:16.612 No, no, mate, no. 219 00:14:18.474 --> 00:14:20.016 I just didn't really know what I was doing. 220 00:14:20.096 --> 00:14:21.437 I didn't know where I was going myself. 221 00:14:22.118 --> 00:14:26.142 Anyway, when I thought I'd sufficiently got to know it a little bit, I said, yeah, righto, mate, jump in. 222 00:14:26.202 --> 00:14:26.763 Come on, we're right. 223 00:14:27.263 --> 00:14:30.186 And I got about halfway around and shunted it into the armco. 224 00:14:30.987 --> 00:14:34.188 And glass was breaking and shit was flying everywhere. 225 00:14:34.228 --> 00:14:36.629 He was screaming, never to be seen again. 226 00:14:36.769 --> 00:14:39.350 He jumped out and disappeared like a rabbit. 227 00:14:40.450 --> 00:14:41.490 And then I had to wait then. 228 00:14:41.510 --> 00:14:42.491 I didn't quite know what to do. 229 00:14:42.551 --> 00:14:46.472 So James was doing the same thing and Donahue was doing the same thing. 230 00:14:47.192 --> 00:14:49.333 And so... James Hunt, Mark Donoghue. 231 00:14:49.353 --> 00:14:49.793 Yeah, yeah. 232 00:14:49.933 --> 00:14:53.114 I flagged them down and said, Jesus, mate, what am I going to do here? 233 00:14:53.594 --> 00:15:00.616 But there was a break in the Armco because it's such a long circuit that they put a break so you can drag the car off the circuit. 234 00:15:01.156 --> 00:15:07.078 And where that happens is like little huts where the marshals can either stay overnight or have their get lunch or whatever. 235 00:15:07.638 --> 00:15:11.819 So we decided to wait until evening, dark, and then we... 236 00:15:12.559 --> 00:15:16.721 We got the car off the track, and then we decided to wait until the evening, and then they came round. 237 00:15:16.741 --> 00:15:19.823 I think it was James or somebody that towed me, or I drove it. 238 00:15:19.843 --> 00:15:20.744 It was crabbing. 239 00:15:21.444 --> 00:15:22.004 Oh, no. 240 00:15:22.024 --> 00:15:25.186 Oh, yeah, and that was rooted. 241 00:15:25.206 --> 00:15:29.448 And drove it out of the circuit onto the road, got about 25 k's up the road. 242 00:15:29.468 --> 00:15:30.869 Oh, it appears to have had an accident. 243 00:15:30.909 --> 00:15:31.790 Well, no bloody dear. 244 00:15:32.110 --> 00:15:32.230 Oh. 245 00:15:33.731 --> 00:15:35.112 Bloody deer jumped out on me. 246 00:15:36.174 --> 00:15:43.601 And so James drove me back to the hotel and I rung up and said, oh, look, you know, shocking, one of your wildlife. 247 00:15:44.462 --> 00:15:47.065 And they said, well, is the deer hurt? 248 00:15:47.085 --> 00:15:49.748 And I said, no, very fortunate I was able to swerve and miss him. 249 00:15:51.111 --> 00:15:52.472 Anyway, the car was completely rooted. 250 00:15:52.872 --> 00:15:56.114 Anyway, they gave me a replacement one, which I thought was damn decent of them. 251 00:15:56.654 --> 00:15:58.536 But no, that was a funny day overall. 252 00:15:58.816 --> 00:16:01.017 Best form of defence's attack, don't they say? 253 00:16:02.438 --> 00:16:05.960 One here from... What have we got here? 254 00:16:05.980 --> 00:16:07.821 Sorry, this is a couple of questions from listeners. 255 00:16:07.881 --> 00:16:13.365 Lucas McEntry says, the three quickest F1 drivers that you raced against. 256 00:16:13.405 --> 00:16:18.928 Did you ever think about that stuff, or was it always just about you and trying to be the fastest and not think about the opposition? 257 00:16:19.381 --> 00:16:20.709 Yes, that's true, I did. 258 00:16:20.849 --> 00:16:22.096 I mean, if I saw... 259 00:16:23.137 --> 00:16:28.840 Somebody in front of me, like if you saw a Ferrari, you'd think, oh, well, it's either Villeneuve or it's Schechter or somebody. 260 00:16:29.240 --> 00:16:30.521 You wouldn't dwell on that fact. 261 00:16:30.761 --> 00:16:34.243 I mean, to me, they were just a thing to be passed, an object. 262 00:16:34.903 --> 00:16:37.224 There's a car, and I had to get past it. 263 00:16:38.605 --> 00:16:40.846 Obviously, you put it in your mind. 264 00:16:40.886 --> 00:16:42.267 I mean, they call it telemetry now. 265 00:16:42.307 --> 00:16:44.568 We had telemetry in our helmets. 266 00:16:45.048 --> 00:16:46.569 You'd say, well, okay, there's whatever. 267 00:16:46.589 --> 00:16:47.569 He's hard to pass. 268 00:16:47.930 --> 00:16:50.811 I mean, Villeneuve, when you pass Villeneuve, you earned it. 269 00:16:51.051 --> 00:16:52.472 He would never give you room. 270 00:16:52.732 --> 00:16:54.834 You could tell straight away, helmet colour, you knew who it was. 271 00:16:54.934 --> 00:16:55.515 Absolutely. 272 00:16:55.575 --> 00:17:00.719 And, you know, you'd think, oh, here we go, we're going to rub wheels or something here because he's just not going to give way. 273 00:17:00.739 --> 00:17:06.044 Because with all due respect, I loved him and he was unbelievable, but he was never, ever going to die in bed. 274 00:17:06.084 --> 00:17:07.005 I was ill, I tell you. 275 00:17:07.025 --> 00:17:11.769 You know, when you look back and see the amount of shunts that he's had or had. 276 00:17:13.290 --> 00:17:17.033 And he used to do some very silly things, you know, like rubbing wheels unnecessarily. 277 00:17:17.073 --> 00:17:18.214 I mean, I don't mind rubbing wheels. 278 00:17:18.255 --> 00:17:19.516 I mean, I'm all for it. 279 00:17:20.877 --> 00:17:32.848 but like at Sandvoort for instance when he went off and tore the back left hand wheel off the only thing that was hanging on was the brake lining and he drove it all the way around the circuit back to the paddock like that now of course 280 00:17:34.016 --> 00:17:41.539 Well, most of the Italians and a lot of people think, oh, Gilles, yeah, fantastic, you know, what a hero and blah, blah. 281 00:17:41.559 --> 00:17:43.720 I reckon he was just, I told him, I said, you're a bloody idiot, mate. 282 00:17:43.740 --> 00:17:52.004 Like, I mean, at the end of the day, I could have been coming up behind you, that brake line could have snapped and that wheel could have come back and hit me and killed me. 283 00:17:53.217 --> 00:17:55.259 So I just think you're a dick. 284 00:17:55.860 --> 00:18:07.894 But Jill, you know, he'd just rub his shoulders, shrug his shoulders, off he'd go, which is fine, because in those days we all made our own arrangements, you know, like even to the extent where it has been known for other people to do brake testing. 285 00:18:08.595 --> 00:18:13.078 If they got a bit dirty with somebody, if they thought somebody had done something wrong, they'd give them a bit of a break test. 286 00:18:13.379 --> 00:18:23.586 Because we had a certain thing about being old enough to look after yourself and not be body coddled by FIA and bloody managers and make-up artists and Christ knows what. 287 00:18:23.646 --> 00:18:27.529 So, yeah, but Gilles was a hard man to pass. 288 00:18:29.875 --> 00:18:31.776 Ronnie Peterson was a quick, quick driver. 289 00:18:32.796 --> 00:18:35.437 Andretti actually was a very, well, he wasn't underrated. 290 00:18:35.457 --> 00:18:39.978 He was one of the, like, Mario Andretti is probably one of the true legends of motorsport. 291 00:18:39.998 --> 00:18:41.499 I mean, that guy could drive anything. 292 00:18:41.999 --> 00:18:45.260 You know, NASCAR, sports car, you name it. 293 00:18:45.480 --> 00:18:48.501 Mario, not only could he drive it, he was super competitive, yeah. 294 00:18:49.942 --> 00:18:53.063 And I feel very fortunate to have raced against a lot of those sort of guys. 295 00:19:02.968 --> 00:19:06.351 Let's see how my pronunciation is for some of these F1 greats. 296 00:19:07.151 --> 00:19:08.052 Jacques Villeneuve. 297 00:19:08.812 --> 00:19:11.774 French Canadian isn't my strong suit, sorry Jacques. 298 00:19:12.515 --> 00:19:13.455 Michael Schumacher. 299 00:19:14.056 --> 00:19:14.576 Pretty good. 300 00:19:15.297 --> 00:19:16.117 Lewis Hamilton. 301 00:19:16.718 --> 00:19:17.378 Easy peasy. 302 00:19:18.178 --> 00:19:18.899 Ayrton Senna. 303 00:19:19.820 --> 00:19:22.381 My personal favourite, but let's try that again. 304 00:19:22.401 --> 00:19:23.702 Ayrton. 305 00:19:24.122 --> 00:19:24.603 There we go. 306 00:19:26.127 --> 00:19:39.636 A couple of, to finish here, maybe in the touring car landscape, if you don't mind, Mark Osler, a broadcast colleague of mine who you would have known from the Channel 7 days, he told me this great story about you taking him on a hot lap of Bathurst in the Sierra. 307 00:19:40.117 --> 00:19:45.060 And he reckons you came out of the pit lane, you looked across at him, and you stuck it in fourth. 308 00:19:45.620 --> 00:19:52.185 And the car laboured, and then all of a sudden the turbo came to life, and he said the thing was unbelievable. 309 00:19:52.225 --> 00:19:53.966 What were those Sierras like back in the day? 310 00:19:54.386 --> 00:19:55.387 They were shocking little things. 311 00:19:55.407 --> 00:19:55.507 Yeah. 312 00:19:55.707 --> 00:19:57.368 I mean, they were under-tired. 313 00:19:57.388 --> 00:19:58.629 Yep. 314 00:19:59.050 --> 00:20:00.891 They had nothing of 600 horsepower. 315 00:20:01.752 --> 00:20:06.576 And as Mark told you, you know, you'd put your foot down, there'd be about a nine-hour lag. 316 00:20:08.277 --> 00:20:10.379 So they were just nasty things to drive. 317 00:20:10.459 --> 00:20:13.681 And anyone who says they were fun or they were good is a masochist. 318 00:20:14.262 --> 00:20:18.665 But having said that, there was nothing else around that could beat them because they were that bloody quick. 319 00:20:19.966 --> 00:20:23.869 But I remember I put it on the front row of the grid... 320 00:20:25.098 --> 00:20:29.302 Tony Longhurst and myself did exactly the same times to get on the front row of the grid. 321 00:20:30.023 --> 00:20:35.808 But Frank Gardner didn't like the fact that I was on the front row of the grid with the person that he was actually working for. 322 00:20:36.548 --> 00:20:41.693 So we found a mechanical problem with my car not long before the pit lane opened. 323 00:20:42.313 --> 00:20:48.359 So I had to wait in the pit lane until I fixed the mechanical problem and then had to take up my spot on the rear of the grid. 324 00:20:49.239 --> 00:20:51.220 Oh, Frank was good, I tell you. 325 00:20:51.760 --> 00:20:54.541 So, but, yeah, they were a challenging little thing. 326 00:20:54.581 --> 00:20:59.863 The very first time I ever drove one was at a circuit I never particularly liked, just outside of Sydney. 327 00:21:00.303 --> 00:21:01.344 A little amphitheatre. 328 00:21:01.364 --> 00:21:02.304 Amaroo Park? 329 00:21:02.464 --> 00:21:03.244 Amaroo Park. 330 00:21:03.825 --> 00:21:04.605 Go-Kart Track. 331 00:21:05.265 --> 00:21:06.666 And anyway, I whacked it on pole. 332 00:21:07.327 --> 00:21:18.277 But of course, I wasn't quite used to the fact that the bloody tyres would wear out in about 0.3 of a second, because they had that much bloody horsepower that they'd wheel spin and carry on and they were under-tired anyway. 333 00:21:18.818 --> 00:21:20.179 But no, they were a challenge. 334 00:21:22.021 --> 00:21:24.062 How do you frame the Bathurst chapter? 335 00:21:24.082 --> 00:21:27.546 You reflected on it being such a legendary circuit before and a great place to drive. 336 00:21:27.566 --> 00:21:29.848 It would have been nice to have ticked that one, wouldn't it? 337 00:21:30.849 --> 00:21:33.753 It would, as Gracie keeps on telling me, open-wheelers are for sheilers. 338 00:21:35.616 --> 00:21:39.761 And you might have won the World Championship, mate, but you haven't won Bathurst. 339 00:21:40.242 --> 00:21:41.984 Marley claimed the fame as I got second. 340 00:21:42.918 --> 00:21:45.940 And I won the 12-hour, but I haven't won the big one, see? 341 00:21:46.801 --> 00:21:48.582 So, you know, you're nothing. 342 00:21:48.722 --> 00:21:50.983 No, you're not. 343 00:21:51.644 --> 00:21:53.185 So, yeah, but, I mean, I like Bathurst. 344 00:21:53.245 --> 00:21:57.748 I mean, I won't pretend I look forward to going there because I don't think anyone would like to go. 345 00:21:58.268 --> 00:22:00.069 You wouldn't voluntarily go to Bathurst. 346 00:22:01.310 --> 00:22:07.775 It's like I went to Malala one year to test the falcon and I went into the local shop at the village 347 00:22:08.655 --> 00:22:09.857 And she said, you're Alan Jones? 348 00:22:09.897 --> 00:22:10.398 I said, yeah. 349 00:22:10.558 --> 00:22:11.460 She said, what are you doing here? 350 00:22:11.480 --> 00:22:12.942 I said, I just come here for my holidays. 351 00:22:13.623 --> 00:22:15.727 I come here annually, bring the kids with the caravan. 352 00:22:16.207 --> 00:22:18.591 She said, really, what do you like about it? 353 00:22:20.587 --> 00:22:21.467 I mean, hello. 354 00:22:21.547 --> 00:22:22.248 You know what I mean? 355 00:22:22.628 --> 00:22:24.108 So you can have fun sometimes. 356 00:22:24.929 --> 00:22:26.109 I love your sense of humour, mate. 357 00:22:26.189 --> 00:22:27.390 It's never left you, which is great. 358 00:22:27.750 --> 00:22:30.951 You worked, you and I actually got to work together very briefly at Channel 9. 359 00:22:31.031 --> 00:22:35.373 We did a race at Eastern Creek, the motorcycle GP there, and we called the support races. 360 00:22:35.973 --> 00:22:45.997 Great chapter for you there with the late Darrell Eastlake and Baz, who's now gone as well, and it really helped Formula One go next level in terms of its exposure to this country, didn't it? 361 00:22:46.297 --> 00:22:50.028 Well, you know, Barry and Des, I mean, they were bloody characters. 362 00:22:50.069 --> 00:22:51.874 I mean, Des was a bloody dag. 363 00:22:51.894 --> 00:22:52.034 Mm-hmm. 364 00:22:52.917 --> 00:22:54.977 Barry, well, what do you say about Barry? 365 00:22:55.077 --> 00:22:59.638 I mean, I used to fly back after a broadcast with Barry on the Monday morning. 366 00:22:59.658 --> 00:23:00.639 Yeah. 367 00:23:00.839 --> 00:23:10.120 And in the end, I used to invent stories about why I couldn't share a car with him because he'd hop straight back in the cab and light up one of those rotten goulet that he used to smoke. 368 00:23:10.861 --> 00:23:13.141 And, of course, smoking a goulet wasn't enough for Barry. 369 00:23:13.161 --> 00:23:16.722 He had to go and buy one with filters because they were stronger than the non-filtered ones. 370 00:23:17.082 --> 00:23:20.122 Then he'd bite the filter off and spit it out the window and light her up. 371 00:23:20.683 --> 00:23:22.583 Well, of course, the cab driver would blow up. 372 00:23:22.743 --> 00:23:22.863 Yeah. 373 00:23:23.563 --> 00:23:44.392 you know and barry's oh mate you sure you know don't worry mate i've got the window down so barry for christmas why do we have to go through this every bloody trip you know like i'm a nervous wreck by the time i get home so in the end i used to say my mate i can't i got something in tweed heads i've got to go pick up a step over toe hold somewhere or whatever you know just just pay my own way home rather than put up with the crap right yeah 374 00:23:44.732 --> 00:23:46.674 But no, he was an unbelievable character. 375 00:23:46.694 --> 00:23:51.639 And of course, Daz, well, I mean, he'd, well, he has, he'd make a snail race, you know, sound exciting. 376 00:23:51.659 --> 00:23:52.660 Yeah, exactly. 377 00:23:53.180 --> 00:24:00.727 I don't know if you know this story, but before I started working in the media, I won a little competition on radio to go for a hot lap with someone. 378 00:24:00.747 --> 00:24:02.529 You were driving for Glen Seton at the time. 379 00:24:03.030 --> 00:24:07.554 So my first ever ride in any V8 supercar was with you. 380 00:24:07.834 --> 00:24:08.074 No. 381 00:24:08.295 --> 00:24:08.755 Yeah, it was. 382 00:24:08.835 --> 00:24:09.376 True story. 383 00:24:09.436 --> 00:24:18.445 And I walked into the garage at Eastern Creek, and there was a very nervous lady who was also a competition winner, and a gentleman who was probably a little on the larger side. 384 00:24:18.785 --> 00:24:22.169 And you looked at the three of us, and you pointed straight at me, and you said, you're first. 385 00:24:22.790 --> 00:24:23.711 And I went, okay. 386 00:24:23.831 --> 00:24:24.531 Because you were thin. 387 00:24:24.632 --> 00:24:25.032 I was thin. 388 00:24:25.092 --> 00:24:28.235 I hate taking fat people for rights. 389 00:24:30.277 --> 00:24:37.320 really even when I'm doing hot laps for the car company that I used to represent which I won't mention their name because I don't represent them anymore. 390 00:24:38.101 --> 00:24:45.364 You know I used to like the little Japanese girls because you wouldn't even know they're in the car but you'd get some fat bloke in the car and it really would upset the balance. 391 00:24:45.744 --> 00:24:47.605 It would make it understair or do something. 392 00:24:48.045 --> 00:24:53.648 Sorry I just... No no the conclusion to the story is we're trundling down pit lane it's my first sort of eye-opening moment of 393 00:24:54.208 --> 00:24:57.732 you know, the rattle and noise of a supercar. 394 00:24:58.312 --> 00:25:06.060 And you looked across at me and you sort of shouted over the noise and you said, right, we're on old tyres and they're cold and you're the first one of the day. 395 00:25:06.120 --> 00:25:09.644 And you just gassed it out of the pit lane. 396 00:25:09.664 --> 00:25:12.106 The thing was more or less sideways by the time we got to turn two. 397 00:25:12.146 --> 00:25:13.247 Mate, it was awesome. 398 00:25:13.328 --> 00:25:17.031 And it was a great, a very vivid recollection for me of... 399 00:25:18.012 --> 00:25:41.868 um the kind and style of racer you are i mean you just grabbed that thing by the scruff of the neck and hustled it well once again without i don't know how to explain this but um that's why patrick always used to get me to test the car because i'm a big believer when you've got the bum in the car you just give it all all the time it doesn't matter whether you're testing or racing or whatever and if you're if we used to go testing um 400 00:25:42.368 --> 00:25:48.372 There's no point driving at eight tenths or anything because when you go back to the race and you drive at ten tenths, it becomes a different animal. 401 00:25:48.852 --> 00:25:54.896 So if you get into it and give it heaps all the time, and a racing driver is a bit like a pianist. 402 00:25:54.956 --> 00:25:57.578 You know, the only instrument you've got is the piano. 403 00:25:57.658 --> 00:26:00.880 So you don't sit down at the piano and not play it well. 404 00:26:01.200 --> 00:26:04.002 Every time you sit down, you should be playing it well to practice. 405 00:26:04.622 --> 00:26:19.155 So every time I put my bum in a car, I always try and, except sometimes I must admit that, you know, if I'm taking punters around on a corporate day, you always back off a little bit because that would be rather embarrassing to stick it in with the CEO or something next year. 406 00:26:19.696 --> 00:26:22.438 Speaking of instruments, there is a guitar in the corner of the room here. 407 00:26:22.498 --> 00:26:24.300 I mean, I was staggered when I walked in today. 408 00:26:24.340 --> 00:26:25.521 Are you doing a little bit of playing? 409 00:26:25.581 --> 00:26:26.321 Oh, it's perfect. 410 00:26:28.543 --> 00:26:29.124 I'll be honest. 411 00:26:29.424 --> 00:26:30.665 I'm bloody hopeless. 412 00:26:30.685 --> 00:26:32.647 You know, I'm all thumbs. 413 00:26:33.487 --> 00:26:41.694 I'd love to be able to play it, but every now and again I pick it up and have a bit of a practice and I get bored and I get angry with myself and throw it away, put it back in the corner. 414 00:26:42.054 --> 00:26:43.195 Two to finish, two to finish. 415 00:26:43.335 --> 00:26:46.598 One person has asked about, in relation to your V8 chapter, 416 00:26:47.218 --> 00:26:51.959 a very memorable weekend at Simmons Plains and you were battling with Scafie and Scafie ran around. 417 00:26:51.979 --> 00:26:54.500 I think you battled with Wayne Gardner as well. 418 00:26:54.760 --> 00:26:59.721 And it was pretty decent, heated conversation between you and Mark in the pit lane. 419 00:26:59.801 --> 00:27:01.862 Did time heal that? 420 00:27:02.442 --> 00:27:06.143 And what was said, can you remember what was said at the time when you had that confrontation, the pair of you? 421 00:27:06.743 --> 00:27:12.248 Not really, but I just do remember coming out of the hairpin and I was right up his backside and he backed off a little bit. 422 00:27:12.768 --> 00:27:17.653 And of course, going into that back straight from Simmons Plains, you can't afford to back off because you lose your momentum. 423 00:27:18.593 --> 00:27:21.936 So I kept it in and must have run up his arse or done something. 424 00:27:21.976 --> 00:27:22.277 I don't know. 425 00:27:22.297 --> 00:27:22.777 I don't care. 426 00:27:23.498 --> 00:27:25.560 And off he went and spun around. 427 00:27:26.580 --> 00:27:30.821 to which he took a bit homebred too, which that's his entitlement, I don't give a damn. 428 00:27:31.321 --> 00:27:37.082 And, of course, with Wayne, it was the left-hander coming out of the left-hander after the straight. 429 00:27:37.102 --> 00:27:38.002 Yep. 430 00:27:38.142 --> 00:27:41.763 And I think he tried to go in the outside of me or something, and I wasn't having anything to do with that. 431 00:27:42.843 --> 00:27:45.804 So I just kept my foot in it, and we touched, and he went off. 432 00:27:45.864 --> 00:27:48.545 So it was a bit of a memorable day. 433 00:27:49.345 --> 00:27:50.185 I had two of them all. 434 00:27:51.343 --> 00:28:00.466 Final one, and I know in the balance of it all, you probably are a little disappointed, but probably would have done it differently. 435 00:28:00.886 --> 00:28:12.649 There is a funny story about you, the Beatrice Lola, the pilot, the plane, and you basically had him on standby, good to go, because you knew it was going to be a pretty ordinary race, didn't you? 436 00:28:13.149 --> 00:28:14.309 Well, more than standby. 437 00:28:14.329 --> 00:28:18.371 I told him to go and get some sandwiches and get some fresh and go and get some cold beer. 438 00:28:19.491 --> 00:28:23.252 As I said to you at the beginning of this, I'll give 100% if they give 100%. 439 00:28:23.992 --> 00:28:29.574 And if someone can prove to me that they've done their best and they've given me 100% car, I will honestly give 100%. 440 00:28:30.926 --> 00:28:33.650 But if I think it's a complete wank and a waste of time, I won't. 441 00:28:33.850 --> 00:28:34.672 It's as simple as that. 442 00:28:35.172 --> 00:28:39.839 And Beatrice got me to the stage, quite frankly, where I just hated the thing. 443 00:28:40.581 --> 00:28:43.425 I mean, the actual chassis wasn't a bad chassis. 444 00:28:44.126 --> 00:28:46.850 You were just light years behind in power terms, weren't you? 445 00:28:46.850 --> 00:28:48.131 Well, it was just a joke. 446 00:28:48.171 --> 00:28:52.956 I mean, the Americans would say, you know, from Ford, you're going to see American muscle at its best. 447 00:28:53.016 --> 00:28:54.497 Yeah, good on you. 448 00:28:54.998 --> 00:28:56.499 Wouldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding. 449 00:28:57.180 --> 00:28:58.001 We went to Monza. 450 00:28:58.341 --> 00:29:01.824 It was 15 k's or more slower down the straight than the Ferraris. 451 00:29:02.305 --> 00:29:05.969 I went and got Mike Costin, Keith Duckworth, 452 00:29:08.695 --> 00:29:10.876 I said, Keith, look, mate, that's slow down. 453 00:29:10.896 --> 00:29:12.417 They're passing me like I'm parked. 454 00:29:13.097 --> 00:29:15.358 He said, oh, well, are you running too much wing? 455 00:29:15.418 --> 00:29:15.959 Oh, please. 456 00:29:16.459 --> 00:29:17.179 No, Keith, no. 457 00:29:17.279 --> 00:29:18.820 Oh, jeez, I haven't thought of that. 458 00:29:19.400 --> 00:29:21.482 So I told him to come up and have a look. 459 00:29:21.662 --> 00:29:23.182 Our rear wing was almost flat. 460 00:29:23.382 --> 00:29:25.804 The Ferraris looked like a barn door on the back. 461 00:29:26.624 --> 00:29:27.545 And they were that much quicker. 462 00:29:27.565 --> 00:29:28.125 It was a joke. 463 00:29:28.425 --> 00:29:30.246 So anyway, I was sick of all this bullshit. 464 00:29:30.286 --> 00:29:32.187 So we flew down to Portugal. 465 00:29:32.207 --> 00:29:33.528 I had my own plane at that stage. 466 00:29:33.568 --> 00:29:33.848 So... 467 00:29:35.569 --> 00:29:37.190 I just said, listen, I'm sick of this shit. 468 00:29:37.791 --> 00:29:44.878 I'll just see how it goes in practice, but if it's the same old crap, just go and get some beer, get some sandwiches, get her all warmed up. 469 00:29:45.559 --> 00:29:48.883 And I'm not particularly proud of this, but by the same token, I'd probably do it again. 470 00:29:49.463 --> 00:29:55.990 I picked a spot conveniently right behind the pits, the paddock, which was a hairpin and a nice big gravel runoff area. 471 00:29:56.751 --> 00:30:05.976 So, gee whiz, I locked up my brakes and skidded into the bloody gravel, couldn't be retrieved, so I had to hop out and go back to the motorhome, get changed and get in the car and go to the airport and go home. 472 00:30:06.517 --> 00:30:10.279 And we were back home in time to go to our favourite Chinese restaurant in Chiswick. 473 00:30:10.999 --> 00:30:12.760 But yeah, I mean, I did that. 474 00:30:14.981 --> 00:30:30.266 you know i mean it happens from time to time i mean it's not as bad as what nicky did i mean nicky went to the race of champions at riverside and they paid us pretty good dough to go there and nicky went there on the basis that they paid for his learjet to be re-instrumentated um blah blah blah 475 00:30:31.646 --> 00:30:44.659 And he got in and I think the first thing he declutched the thing at about 90,000 revs and blew the shithouse out of it and then said, right, instruments are all ready, straighten the Learjet home. 476 00:30:44.679 --> 00:30:46.982 Oh, right. 477 00:30:47.002 --> 00:30:48.163 But, I mean, I love Nicky. 478 00:30:48.303 --> 00:30:50.245 I mean, he... We miss him, don't we? 479 00:30:50.525 --> 00:30:50.866 Oh, mate. 480 00:30:51.226 --> 00:30:51.586 He has... 481 00:30:52.507 --> 00:30:55.589 They all called him the professor or whatever they called him. 482 00:30:56.290 --> 00:30:57.531 But Prost has called that. 483 00:30:57.551 --> 00:30:58.491 What did they used to call Nicky? 484 00:30:59.012 --> 00:31:00.613 Anyway, but Nicky loved a beer. 485 00:31:00.633 --> 00:31:01.714 He liked the odd cigarette. 486 00:31:01.794 --> 00:31:08.118 You know, he actually, the bloke that used to come and wash his cars, rather than pay him money, Nicky would give him one of his trophies. 487 00:31:08.919 --> 00:31:11.601 So that's, you know, he was a really down to worth. 488 00:31:12.501 --> 00:31:13.362 I really loved Nicky. 489 00:31:13.482 --> 00:31:14.182 He was a good bloke. 490 00:31:14.563 --> 00:31:16.164 It's been great to shoot the breeze with you, mate. 491 00:31:16.184 --> 00:31:17.745 And I'm sure there's a gazillion more stories. 492 00:31:17.765 --> 00:31:20.386 It's been very kind of you to spend this time. 493 00:31:20.526 --> 00:31:25.049 And from everyone, congrats on what you've done. 494 00:31:25.069 --> 00:31:30.672 And I'm really thrilled, mate, that A, you'll be with Channel 10 this weekend and this coming weekend for the Grand Prix, I should say. 495 00:31:30.692 --> 00:31:36.276 And then also that you're at our home race and we're celebrating the 1980 World Champion because that's the right thing. 496 00:31:36.456 --> 00:31:38.004 Well, I might not be able to get a ticket from them. 497 00:31:38.044 --> 00:31:38.547 Who knows? 498 00:31:38.928 --> 00:31:40.014 Had a bit of trouble so far.