On the Road

…unless it happens to be the Grand Prix weekend.

One always dreams of meeting his or her heroes, and with that comes a slight fear of them not meeting expectations. Well, everyone is human, but I found out in a rather different manner when Formula One rolled into town.

I attended a Johnnie Walker event, and because it was a hot day I visited the john (ha ha) more than once. The second time I went some guy in a racing suit lined up one urinal away and I wondered which nuthouse was this, and who does he think he is before realising it was 1998-99 world champion Mika Hakkinen.

In his case there was no sense of disappointment (well maybe some weirdness) as I was a passenger with him. You can read about that exciting trip here.

That wasn’t all because on Saturday I happened to visit the toilet of the media centre at the Paddock and who should I bump into on the way out but another world champion – this time Austrian Niki Lauda (1975,77 and 84).

Sadly being in a toilet leaves little scope for talk – it’s a guy thing. And besides, it would be weird.

I did more walking and less drinking the rest of the weekend, so my luck held up and I also spotted Damon Hill (1996), Jacques Villeneuve (1997) and Jackie Stewart (1969,71,73) – all outside of a lavatory this time.

Sir Jackie Stewart

In some cases I got an autograph  and a quick chat, but that’s the benefit of being a motorsport fan and history buff I guess – leave the squabbling over Lewis to other people.

These are the people who drove the Nurburgring in the fog, and returned from the brink of death (literally) to win championships and a thousand other mad things.

Why go current when there are still legends around?

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