‘FROM SUCH AN INCREDIBLY YOUNG AGE I’ve been immersed in this automotive world, had petrol injected into my veins,’ says Matt Becker. Still, there’s not much choice when your dad is Roger Becker, project engineering director at Lotus, bringing home an endless stream of test and development cars and taking you into work on Saturday mornings.
‘I think the [original] Europa was my first experience with Dad in a car. You were almost laid down – I couldn’t see anything, couldn’t see over the dashboard. I also remember DeLoreans, getting stuck in one because the door wouldn’t work, and my mum had an Elan Plus 2, green. It was an exdevelopment car, I think, that Dad had bought just before they split up, when I was six or seven.’
‘After they split, every other weekend Dad would pick me up on Friday or Saturday, and he’d always have a different car, an Elite, Esprit or an Excel. I used to think they were rocketships. I remember him dropping me off at school discos and everyone thought I was the cool kid. And, of course, I can’t do any interview without mentioning the James Bond thing (Roger drove the white Esprit for stunts in ). He was always sliding cars around roundabouts when it was wet and I thought, “This is
