ALLAN McNISH: THE MEMORIES ARE AS IMPORTANT AS THE TROPHIES
Allan McNish was so entertaining when we did his readers’ question-and-answer session in July that there were still questions left on the table as we ran out of time and space.
Now, we’ve put that right. McNish is one of the most rounded characters in motorsport which is why he has been in such demand as an expert commentator these days, and part of the reason Audi has put him at the head of its Formula E programme.
So here is part two from the first interview plus a few new questions too. Thank you all for the questions and thank you to McNish for being such a great sport and for sharing some more great tales.
Starting with his brilliant and memorable drive at the 2008 10-Hour Petit Le Mans, that began really badly, told in the typical style of the Scotsman
Question: When you crashed on the out laps before the start of the 2008 Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta did you really believe you could still win and beat the Peugeots?
Bob Crampton Via email
AM: “Err… No! I don’t think anybody did. I remember stopping at the bottom of the hill, and looking around and thinking ‘What’s happened here?’ It was like a parallel universe. I was on 30% throttle when it lit up the rear wheels and turned 90 degrees left and I whacked the wall – and it was quite a whack.
“I sensibly drove the car back, and first thing I see is Dario Franchitti pissing himself laughing at me in the pitlane.
“I drove it straight round the back and into the awning, jumped out, went into the front of the truck kicking anything that happened to be there. I was so angry with myself. Then Dindo [Capello] and Emanuele Pirro, who I was driving with, came in through the back of the truck, not from the awning side and walked in, typically Italian shrugged shoulders ‘Hey, are you OK…’ I’m still angry. ‘No I’m f**king not OK! Have you seen the state of our f**king car?’ And they both looked outside and I could see their jaws dropping….
“The Audi R10 was the best I’ve driven”
Allan McNish
“The guys had the gearbox off so they could fix the suspension damage. Theythe footwell, and I had to keep lifting my leg as he was bonding the footrest to the side of the monocoque as it had been pushed off. When I hit the wall, the force had pushed the whole foot pad off the side of the cockpit and my foot was somewhere behind the clutch and the braking area. That also confused me as I couldn’t work that out.
