Nigel Mansell has dabbled in sports cars in recent years but last weekend he got behind the wheel of a single-seater at the track where he scored some of his most memorable wins – Silverstone.
Mansell demonstrated the Formula Renault 3.5 car raced by son Greg in the championship on Sunday after testing the car on Friday. Here’s some pictures of the 1992 world champion in action.
His stint in the Ultimate-run car was his first time driving a single-seater in public since the final GP Masters race at Silvertone in 2006.
Mansell won his 1992 champion in a Renault-engined Williams. He won the British Grand Prix at Silverstone that year, as well as in 1991 and 1987.
He managed a 1’40s lap on Friday, six seconds off the pace of the championship runners.
Mansell said afterwards:
“My memories whenever I go down Hangar Straight are of the days in qualifying with 1000bhp, so you always want a bit more power. I gave myself a bit of a fright today when I went to hit the brakes for Becketts, I moved my right foot across and ended up hitting the accelerator. I managed to slow the car down in time as I wasn’t going flat-out, after that the left-foot braking took a bit of getting used to.
Greg currently lies 19th in the WSR standings with three points.
Were you at Silverstone this weekend? Did you see Mansell drive? Leave a comment vbelow.
savage
7th July 2009, 7:20
Good to see Sir Nigel back behind the wheel .
Lets start a campaign for Nigel mansell to be made a sir.
mp4-19b
7th July 2009, 7:31
i was under the impression he was already knighted by the queen!
scunnyman
7th July 2009, 7:40
No, just an OBE Order of the British Empire. But as a big mansell fan i agree on the Knighthood.
TommyB
7th July 2009, 9:38
http://twitpic.com/9jjvt
Here is a picture I got of Mansell. He was stood right next to us in the paddock!
Greg got taken out in the 3.5 race before he was due to race and I seem to remember Mansell driving number 5 instead of Gregs number 3 car.
mp4-19b
7th July 2009, 9:41
oooo!! are you the one wearing the black t-shirt?
but nigel mansell minus mustache doesn’t look right to me. :(
TommyB
7th July 2009, 10:02
No I’m not. I took the picture
scunnyman
7th July 2009, 10:06
Perhaps Nige had his number 5 put on his sons car by the team to make him feel at home???
David Bénard
7th July 2009, 10:08
You happy guy !
scunnyman
7th July 2009, 10:10
oooops i should really look at the pics better and see the number 3 on the nose lol
TommyB
7th July 2009, 11:00
Maybe but I’m pretty sure he was going to drive Gregs car but because Greg went off he took out one of his team mates cars. Just happened to be the number 5 ;)
TommyB
7th July 2009, 11:06
Scunny these are pictures of him testing the car (on friday?). On the Sunday he drove the number 5 car infront of the crowd
scunnyman
7th July 2009, 11:58
Thanks Tommy
TommyB
7th July 2009, 13:15
No problems. I’m not sure who’s car number 5 was but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t meant for Mansell to drive it as this picture shows Mansell practicing in Greg’s number 3
Achilles
7th July 2009, 7:38
They had a crowd of around 130,000 for the weekend, not bad considering Goodwood was on as well, Mansell was well recieved, managed to stall the car, but it allways adds to the fun.
TommyB
7th July 2009, 16:17
100,000 more there seeing Clios, Meganes and Small single seaters than the Turkish GP
scunnyman
7th July 2009, 7:41
So did nige manage to fit in the car ok then? lol
mp4-19b
7th July 2009, 7:52
it wasn’t the mp4-10 lol!
scunnyman
7th July 2009, 7:43
I’m wondering too if either of his sons will end up growing a big bushy cheesy moustache?????????
Ronman
7th July 2009, 8:37
It’s nice to see veterans take to the track again. i would definitely watch an F1 race with today’s cars and yesterday’s champs. Hey Bernie, get your head out of the Political crap heap and make it happen….you can even get to drive the safety car since you’re a senior as well. it will be a a Mercedes Gullwing
DGR-F1
7th July 2009, 8:48
A Renault in McLaren house colours??? Whatever next :-)
I saw Ooor Nige drive in a ‘Legends’ series race at Silverstone a few years ago, but I think the series has folded now. All I remember is that he had oil on his rear wheels and span more times than Massa!
You would think with the interest generated by the likes of the Festival of Speed that it would be possible to have ‘Veterans Only’ race in support of some GPs, maybe using the previous year’s cars…..
scunnyman
7th July 2009, 10:09
Yes i remember watching that race too. I think it was the final nail in Grand Prix legends series.
Derek
7th July 2009, 9:14
Great to see Nigel behind the wheel again, you’re always guaranteed some drama with our Nige!! I’m also a big fan, wish we had a driver like him just now……….
Dank
7th July 2009, 9:23
I was there at Silverstone for both days this weekend and saw ‘Our Nige” do a few laps in his son’s car. He did a few donuts in each corner of the circuit – bar the one I was in at the end of the Hangar Straight.
On another issue: I don’t really rate Greg Mansell’s chances of climbing the motor racing ladder any time soon. Think he’s found his level in FR3.5.
TommyB
7th July 2009, 9:42
World Series was really good this year. I also saw Brendon Hartley and Jaime Alguesari and they signed our tickets :) As a Toro Rosso fan I really hope they drive for them one day :)
http://twitpic.com/9jjh6 Brendon Hartley
http://twitpic.com/9jjh6 Jaime Alguersuari
mp4-19b
7th July 2009, 9:47
are Brendon Hartley & Jaime Alguersuari identical twins? i think they would be the first identical twins in f1 :) the look exactly the same. wow!!! i’ve never seen such exact looking identical twins in my entire life. and they are striking the same pose!!!!
TommyB
7th July 2009, 10:03
Haha doh!! See what i did there!
This is jaime :P
http://twitpic.com/9jjlx
mp4-19b
7th July 2009, 9:44
mansell has tried out every thing in life, hasen’t he? won the drivers championship in his last full formula one season in style. its been quite a struggle. i would suggest him to stand for the coming elections in oct. just try out his luck. you never know.
scunnyman
7th July 2009, 10:13
Can’t see it happening , but would be cool. And maybe it could work.
Though i am of the opinion the president should have no ties to any of the motorsports just be someone who can run the FIA and have advisors for each sport unders it’s direction.
Dougie
7th July 2009, 10:46
I read somewhere he was considering entering Le-Mans, rumoured to be with his son(s).
I think they tested a Ginetta-Zytek at the end of last year and pretty much impressed the companies MD.
David Bénard
7th July 2009, 10:09
Great you also mention it (I did it on my weblog too).
TommyB
7th July 2009, 11:04
http://twitpic.com/9jk09
http://twitpic.com/9jk3d
Also saw Lewis and Flavio at world series. Not sure what they were doing there ;) :-P
GooddayBruce
7th July 2009, 12:34
Good to see Nige’ just driving a car for fun. I can’t imagine many other modern world champions putting themselves in a position to be slower by some of the youngsters (one in particular recently declined to race a lap for fun in a reasonably priced car.)
Aaron Shearer
7th July 2009, 13:19
Who would that have been?
Nice pictures Keith *Thumbs up*, It’s nice to see Mansell back in a Single-Seater again.
persempre
7th July 2009, 13:47
If you mean Schumacher he’s contracted to only drive certain makes of car.
In fact, most manufacturer drivers are, I believe. It stops the grubby tabloids doing a “Hamilton chooses a Ferrari/ Schumacher drives a Renault” type headlines.
jonny
7th July 2009, 16:09
Yes! I was there aswell! We sat right at the top of one of the grandstands on the outside of Copse – we could see loads of action and a TV screen, so it was pretty good. He took a while to get going, but Nige did some donuts right in front of us and we saw him stall the car haha – a little more practice needed I think?
TommyB
7th July 2009, 16:18
Btw I LOVE the World Series 3.5’s
They look amazing, sound amazing and have great racing. F1 doesn’t need ugly cars for good racing. Copy these specifications or something because they are amazing!
Ben
7th July 2009, 17:44
Full highlights from last year are on the Renault TV website together with a review show, 2009 preview show, and coverage of the first two meetings of the year (Barcelona and Spa).
All are free to stream from the site which is good. I’m the commentator, which is bad.
Wesley
7th July 2009, 21:45
Totally agree TommyB….beautiful cars!Love that profile pic above with the fire coming out of the tail pipes.Nice clean lines and the side pods look great.
Pat
7th July 2009, 20:21
Anybody know what time he did on Sunday ??
TommyB
7th July 2009, 23:01
He did donuts and stuff
nick m
11th July 2009, 22:10
i was in the crowd sunday……..no 5 was put on his car out of respect by the team………nigel set off like the world championship depended on it :-)…..treated us to tyre smoking donuts too………awesum……..loved every minute…..welcome back nigel :-)