Tell me a little bit about the car that you drive?
It’s a 1992 Benetton B192 which was raced by Michael Schumacher in the 1992 World Championship. It was one of the chassis that he drove and enabled him to come 3rd overall in the World Championship in ‘92 because he ended up becoming 2nd in the last race of the season in Australia.
How did you come by the car?
The car had gone out to America and we brought it back. In fact it’s the second car we’ve brought back from America because my McLaren M23, the ex-James Hunt car, had gone out to the States and we brought that back too. These cars have to come home, in my opinion, and be driven. And not be put in museums and things like a lot of them are. I’ve raced 3 times in Monaco in my McLaren.
Try and describe what it’s like to be sat in that Benetton when it fires up?
I’ve driven a lot of Formula 1 cars now and every time I drive a new car, it’s really exciting. The reason that I chose the Benetton when I stopped driving the McLaren was because I wanted to go to a more modern car. The Benetton was the most modern car which still had an ordinary gearbox. That was the important thing when we actually chose this car to buy because it still had the normal 6 speed gearbox as oppose to paddles. And of course the car is much easier to run than a car with all the computers and stuff. So, although it’s got a 2 hour heating cycle before you can start it, it’s less difficult that some of the more modern cars.
At all the circuits and events that you have driven it at, which is the one that sticks in your mind?
I love Goodwood Festival of Speed. I do Goodwood every year and always in a different car. When I first drove the Benetton there 3 years ago now, I was in the top ten run off and ended up 5th overall.
Were you happy with that?
No, because I missed a gear. Because it hasn’t got paddles, it much more difficult to drive obviously than most of the other guys who have got cars with paddles. I missed a gear going to Molecombe so I’ve got to run that.
Lorina shared this memory for the Replay Motorsport project at the www.chelseaautolegends.com show on 3rd September 2012. Our thanks go to Chelsea Autolegends in making this memory possible.
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Memory added on September 29, 2012
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