DO YOU RECALL THE PORSCHE 911 GT1 IN evo issue 001? Allan McNish does, though not for the reasons you might expect. ‘I remember it well,’ he says as we email back and forth to arrange our chat. ‘An old BT van tried to have a race with us on the dual carriageway…’
Given McNish had just stepped down from the top step of the podium at Le Mans, and the 544bhp GT1 was one of the world’s most potent road cars at the time, it’s fair to assume the BT van didn’t stand a chance. Still, it’s in good company: McNish subsequently added a further two Le Mans victories, five wins at Sebring, three ALMS titles and a WEC crown to his tally, so it isn’t just BT vans he’s trounced over the years. Were Formula 1 not so impenetrable to so many talented drivers, we could just as easily be talking F1 titles. Or, as it turns out, motorcycling.
‘I grew up in Dumfries, and there it’s traditionally been a rallying area, because it’s all forests and farms. But the other thing is motorbikes, so motocross, but also the Isle of Man, which you can see on
