Mad About Cars

One of Britain’s most popular drivers during the 1990s was Johnny Herbert. Whilst he did not reach  the heights predicted by some in the sport, he enjoyed three grand prix victories during a career that included 161 race starts.

A fearsome talent during the mid-1980s, Herbert was seen as a natural talent who was destined to be World Champion, much like Lewis Hamilton in his junior career. However Herbert was caught up in a terrifying multi-car pileup during a round of the F3000 championship at Brands Hatch in 1988. Herbert suffered horrific injuries to his legs and it seemed his blossoming career was over. However, by 1989 he has recovered sufficiently to earn a drive on the Benetton Formula One team, managed by his mentor Peter Collins. Despite being barely able to walk he scored a fourth place in his debut race in Brazil, however with the Benetton team changing hands and Herbert struggling to match his early form, he was dropped mid-season.

Herbert had a brief foray into sports car racing in 1990, but returned to Formula One to replace the injured Martin Donnelly at Lotus. Under the guidance of Peter Collins, now at Lotus, Herbert stayed with the team until 1994, enjoying a reasonable 1993 season as he finished ninth in the drivers championship. However with the Lotus team in terminal decline, Herbert left the team in late 1994, driving a solitary race for Ligier before joining the mighty Benetton team alongside Michael Schumacher.

1995 saw Herbert in the Benetton, the best car on the grid, but struggled as he was forced to play second fiddle to Michael Schumacher, around whom the team was modelled. Despite this , he took two race wins that year in Britain and Italy, finishing a career-best fourth in the series.

Herbert joined Sauber for 1996 but failed to recapture his Benetton form, with three years spent very much as a midfield runner. 1999 saw a switch to the Stewart team, and Herbert took his third and final race win that year at the European Grand Prix, staged at the Nurburgring. Herbert took a sensational win in constantly changing weather conditions.

Stewart was sold to Ford, who re-named the team under the Jaguar name for 2000. In his final season Herbert struggled in an unreliable car, and his final race saw him leave the track on a stretcher following a crash in Malaysia.

Since retiting, Herbert has enjoyed a successful sports car career, and briefly returned to Formula One within an advisory role for the Midland Formula One team.

The annual Race of Champions event has grown in stature over the years and is now the major end of season race event on the motorsport calendar. Traditionally, the event has been a rallying event but in recent years has developed as something of a feast of motorsport, with drivers from the world of rallying, Formula One, touring cars and even NASCAR taking part against one another.

The original event was held near Paris in 1988, and was held in memory of Finish rally ace Henri Toivonen, along with celebrating the tenth anniversary of the World Rally Championship for drivers.

For many years the event was seen as part of the rallying calendar, but in 2004 the event moved to the Stade de France, and popularity in the event grew. By 2007, the event moved to the new Wembley Stadium, and is now something of a feast of motorsport.

Race of Champion events see drivers compete on a tight, twisty arena circuit. Drivers race head-to-head on two separate lanes, with the circuit being designed that over the course of two laps, drivers will complete the same distance and circuit. Cars used for the event range from specially designed dune buggies to Aston Martin sports cars, will all cars being equal.

In 2008, World Rally champion Sebastien Loeb won his third Race of Champions title, whilst in the Nations’ Cup event, the German team of Michael Schumacher and Sebastien Vettel were victorious.

Fifth Gear is one of Channel 5’s most popular programmes, having been broadcast since 2002. The show is an indirect successor to BBC’s Top Gear programme, whilst Top Gear was revamped and is more of an entertainment-style programme, Fifth Gear remains more of a factual, magazine-style show (although it does include some entertainment sections)

Many of the Fifth Gear presenters joined the show from the ‘old’ Top Gear, including Tiff Neddell (who is the show’s de facto main presenter), Quentin Wilson and Vicky Butler-Henderson, and for many years the show was also written and edited by former Top Gear editor Jon Bentley.

The show’s format is very similar to the ‘old’ Top Gear show; featuring magazine style features on new cars, road tests and articles about road safety. Notably, the show has staged road accidents under controlled conditions (with cars powered by remote control); to highlight how cars stand up to crashes.

Perhaps due to the show’s close resemblance to the ‘old’ Top Gear (prior to Top Gear’s extensive revamp), the two shows enjoy a small rivalry as the two major motoring shows on UK television. Whilst the Top Gear presenters dismiss Fifth Gear as a pale imitation, fans of Fifth Gear claim the show is a more creditable motoring show, arguing that Top Gear is now more of a light entertainment show.

Whilst Fifth Gear is not as popular with the general public as Top Gear, the show has nonetheless gained a large following and continues to be popular.

One of the most recent (and popular) new forms of motorsport in recent years is that of ‘drifting’. Unlike most forms of motorsport, competitors are not judged on fastest time, or position on the racetrack, but are generally judged on their driving skills (similar to sports such as gymnastics and ice skating).

The objective of the sport is to induce and control a ‘drift’ whilst cornering, a drift being where the car’s rear slip angle is travelling faster than the front, with the car effectively travelling both forwards and sideways (in a controlled manner), with the wheels pointing in the opposite direction of the corner to counteract the drift. This isn’t something you should do on your driving test, that’s for sure, so don’t try doing it when you’re doing your test at one of the driving test centres in the UK.

In competition, the driver who produces the best drift (with various criteria including racing line, amount of tyre smoke, speed, crowd reaction and show factor) is declared the winner.

The sport originated in Japan around 30 years ago, and Japan is still seen as the home of the sport in terms of the biggest competitions, types of vehicle used, and Eastern influence in terms of style and image. The sport is not recognised as an official branch of motorsport with the FIA, but nonetheless enjoys worldwide appeal particularly in Japan, the UK and in Southern California.

Large scale drifting competitions are often held, with professional drivers from across the world competing, but quite often drifting is something of an ‘underground’ activity, taking place at night on quiet roads.

Drifting generally requires a powerful, rear-wheel drive car; traditionally Japanese rear-wheel drive sports cars such as the Mazda RX-7 have been popular although on an international scale, large rear wheel drive cars produced by Mercedes, BMW and Ford are also popular.

The sport’s underground image, and the high emphasis on modifying the cars for competition means that drifting is quite closely associated with the car modifying scene, which has helped boost the sport’s image in recent years.

BBC’s Top Gear show has in recent years become one of the UK’s most popular TV shows. Originally devised in 1977, the show was produced by BBC Birmingham, and was broadcast by BBC 2. For its first 24 years, the show was presented in a magazine-style format, compromising of various short articles, usually headlined by a review of a new car (quite often an exotic supercar or luxury car which led to criticism from some, although the programme counteracted by reviewing plenty of ‘everyday’ cars as well). Other features included topical issues on road safety, features on used cars and motorsport (a spin off series called ‘Top Gear Motorsport’ was produced during the 1990s)

The most popular presenter of the show was Jeremy Clarkson, who whilst often criticised for his outspoken views, helped make the show a success. However, when Clarkson left in 1999, the show’s fortunes suffered, as viewing figures halved from six to three million. Many of the key Top Gear presenters (including Tiff Neddell and Vicky Butler-Henderson) left the show, later producing a very similar show on Channel Five called Fifth Gear.

In response, Top Gear was totally revised in 2001 with great assistance from Jeremy Clarkson who re-joined the show.  He was accompanied by Richard Hammond and Jason Dawe (replaced by former Top Gear presenter James May after the second series).

Since the re-launch, the series changed from being a magazine style show to a studio set up, filmed from the Top Gear ‘headquarters’ an airfield complete with hangar and test-track. The format of the show has changed from being a factual, magazine show to an entertainment show, featuring unique races between cars and public transport and challenges where the three presenters are pitted against each other. A popular character on the show is the mysterious ‘Stig’ a ‘tamed racing driver’ who is always seen in overalls and helmet and test drives cars on the show’s test track. The Stig’s identity is unknown (originally the character was played by ex-sports car driver Perry McCarthy, but the current Stig’s identity remains a mystery although strong rumours circulate as to the true identity.)

The new show has become a huge success, drawing in much large audience figures than that of its predecessors. Some feel the new show is more of an entertainment show than a true motoring show, although the show’s popularity will seeming sly ensure that Top Gear will remain the nation’s favourite car show