47 replies to this topic

[Peat]

..... playing fast and loose the facts again (I suspect).

http://www.birmingha...d-took-10094302

"Five years ago I did a very foolish thing,I was driving at Le Mans doing 240mph down a straight enjoying myself thinking ‘this is a smart move’. A tyre exploded on the back. It lifted the car up, turned it sideways at 240mph. I looked down the straight and it was the first time in my life I thought ‘That’s it, I’m finished, I’m going to die now. Because the car was pointing sideways into the woods. Anyway I pinged off the barriers two or three times. The first impact was about 210, the second one was about 190. Those weren’t too bad. I remember those two. It was the third one going in backwards at 165 that switched my neck round and switched my lights off."

 

[Ross Stonefeld]

He in particularly makes me feel the most confident about the Ex-Driver Steward role.

[johnmhinds]

I don't think there is any footage of the start of the crash, but this is the incident he is talking about:

 

 

And what he said about his head injury seems to match the reporting at the time:

 

http://www.theguardi...s-nigel-mansell

Edited by johnmhinds, 21 September 2015 - 12:14.

[Dalin80]

I'm not seeing any obvious lies... A clue please OP?

[Ross Stonefeld]

No one is doing 240mph at Le Mans?

[johnmhinds]

No one is doing 240mph at Le Mans?

 

Might just be the reporter confusing kph with mph

[Ross Stonefeld]

More chance of Nigel confusing it...

[Imperial]

Nigel is an entertainer and he is entertaining.

The facts don't come into it!

[PayasYouRace]

Breaking news: Nigel Mansell is prone to a bit of exaggeration.

[Peat]

Consider me entertained.

[Imateria]

Definitely a bit of exageration in regards to the speeds from Nige there, but there's no doubt he did injure his neck in the accident and it put paid to any more attempts to drive with his sons Leo and Greg in any kind of racing.

[Jimisgod]

Breaking news: Nigel Mansell is prone to a bit of exaggeration.

 

Case in point

 

[V8 Fireworks]

Webber's opinion "Nige, too much of a whinger for me mate."  Pot, kettle, black?

 

 

Anyhow, full credit to Mansell for not retiring quietly and still racing for all those years. Strange that racing in a class car at Le Mans would prove to be more dangerous than his exploits at the top levels of F1 and Indycar.

 

Probably best that Nigell stays away from the touring car racing too. :/

 

 

See https://youtu.be/8SmSE1u2ie8?t=6m27s

[E1pix]

For a quarter-century now, whenever the Missus gets too drama queeny she gets called "Nigel."

[OO7]

If Nigel had been a football player, would he have been a bit of a diver?

[Jon83]

Did Martin Brundle not mention something about doing 240mph at Le Mans in the rain at night during the qualifying this weekend? He was saying he'd be more scared being on top of that building in Singapore which looks like a ship.

 

I'm sure he said 240mph.

[Ross Stonefeld]

Brundle has probably done 240 at Le Mans, when the Mulsanne didn't have chicanes.

[OO7]

Did Martin Brundle not mention something about doing 240mph at Le Mans in the rain at night during the qualifying this weekend? He was saying he'd be more scared being on top of that building in Singapore which looks like a ship.

 

I'm sure he said 240mph.

Back when Martin was driving for Jag at Le Man (pre Mulsanne chicanes as Ross mentioned), 240mph was pretty much how fast the Jags were going: http://www.mulsannes...m/maxspeed.html

[E1pix]

Price Cobb told me while we were golfing that he did 257 in practice in the Jag shared with Brundle.

Then again, he was a really bad golfer.

[d246]

He's taken a fair few knocks to the head over the years. Or "we've taken a few knocks to my head".

[BRG]

Brundle has probably done 240 at Le Mans, when the Mulsanne didn't have chicanes.

I thought I heard a BBC commentator say they were hitting 200mph on the straight in Singapore.  The Mulsanne, even truncated by chicanes, surely still has longer straight bits than any street circuit.  

 

But the idea of any racing driver stooping to a bit of hyperbole is simply not credible. 

[Ross Stonefeld]

About 193mph in qualifying, 189 in the race based on the official speed trap figures. Merc powered in both cases.

 

But "200mph!" seems to be the GoTo commentator ciche.

[JensonsButton]

There's a video of him doing a voiceover his qualifying lap at the reprofiled Silverstone in '91 in which I'm pretty sure he claims to be pulling 9 (NINE) G through maggotts, becketts, chapel!

[Ross Stonefeld]

I thought it was 16(seriously) because it was 4 through the left, 4 through the right, etc

[OO7]

There's a video of him doing a voiceover his qualifying lap at the reprofiled Silverstone in '91 in which I'm pretty sure he claims to be pulling 9 (NINE) G through maggotts, becketts, chapel!

Welcome to the forum JensonsButton.

[PayasYouRace]

There's a video of him doing a voiceover his qualifying lap at the reprofiled Silverstone in '91 in which I'm pretty sure he claims to be pulling 9 (NINE) G through maggotts, becketts, chapel!

 

 

 

He does say "snapping" 9g, but it does seem a bit like his fish was thiiii__________iiss big.

[Knowlesy]

If Nigel had been a football player, would he have been a bit of a diver?

He's not a cheat, mate.

[Knowlesy]

Case in point

https://www.youtube....h?v=kk8BA6kIcyA

Ffs. Everytime.

I loved Nigel as a kid, he was a real hero. But as an adult he is an embarrassment.

Edited by Knowlesy, 21 September 2015 - 16:41.

[OO7]

 

He does say "snapping" 9g, but it does seem a bit like his fish was thiiii__________iiss big.

The best version of the Silverstone circuit in my opinion.

[Imperial]

All the piss-taking aside, I've had a big bear hug from Nigel (don't ask) and despite me also being a bloke and a good few inches taller than him he had me off the ground and almost cracked my entire skeletal frame. He is one exceptional strong fella.

Proper bone-cruncher of a handshake too.

A real man. Max Verstappen he most certainly is not!

[OO7]

He's not a cheat, mate.

True.  The fall would be real, but there would be a lot of back and forth rolling around on the ground though.

[OO7]

All the piss-taking aside, I've had a big bear hug from Nigel (don't ask) and despite me also being a bloke and a good few inches taller than him he had me off the ground and almost cracked my entire skeletal frame. He is one exceptional strong fella.

Proper bone-cruncher of a handshake too.

A real man. Max Verstappen he most certainly is not!

Ok, I'm asking........

[midgrid]

He's taken a fair few knocks to the head over the years. Or "we've taken a few knocks to my head".

Our?

[Jager]

"A tyre exploded on the back. It lifted the car up, turned it sideways at 240mph. I looked down the straight and it was the first time in my life I thought ‘That’s it, I’m finished, I’m going to die now. Because the car was pointing sideways into the woods. Anyway I pinged off the barriers two or three times. The first impact was about 210, the second one was about 190. Those weren’t too bad. I remember those two. It was the third one going in backwards at 165 that switched my neck round and switched my lights off."

 

 

For a car that's hit the barriers 3 times, including a backwards shunt at 165mph, its remarkably intact.

 

 

 

With an impact like the one Nige describes, I'm sure the rear wing would have gone, as would have the rear bodywork. At the front, the splitter should have gone, and probably the front bodywork too.

 

At Le Mans we've seen cars in far worse condition make it back to the pits, and continue on racing, so I wonder if Nige just lost his nerve. I suspect the main thing to be bruised was his ego.

[johnmhinds]

Hard to drive a car back to the pits when you've been knocked out...

[chunder27]

It is an odd combo the Mansell situation.

On the one hand the guy regularly took it to Prost, Senna, Piquet, Rosberg. Was often quicker, did things that made you wow

His Cart season was an incredible achievement that still does not get enough recognition in my eyee.

But, still that is nit enough, he has to have been injured somewhere, battled through pain.

He reminds of Wayne Gardner, and is probably similarly liked and disliked in equal manner!

[Jager]

That's not a tyre blow out, this is a tyre blow out :

 

[PayasYouRace]

I think Mansell of all drivers knows a tyre blowout when he has one.

[Spillage]

On the subject of Mansell exaggerations...

 

 

There can be no doubt, though, that he was a great racing driver and a man with balls like melons.

[sennafan24]

If Nigel had been a football player, would he have been a bit of a diver?

Nigel played football with a group of journalists before the 1991 Mexican Grand Prix. As a result of Nigel's style of play, one of the journos ended up in hospital with split kidneys. That's the sort of football player Nigel is.

 

Anyway, I love Nige. His dramatics are part of his charm.

[PlatenGlass]

Nigel played football with a group of journalists before the 1991 Mexican Grand Prix. As a result of Nigel's style of play, one of the journos ended up in hospital with split kidneys. That's the sort of football player Nigel is.
 
Anyway, I love Nige. His dramatics are part of his charm.

Another way of looking at it is that basically he was an arsehole, but because we only saw it on TV and read about it rather than having to experience it first-hand, we see it as "charm".

[Boing 2]

Another way of looking at it is that basically he was an arsehole, but because we only saw it on TV and read about it rather than having to experience it first-hand, we see it as "charm".

 

I've been thinking about this myself recently, I was a huge mansell fan back in the day but the tv coverage started on the warm up lap and ended on the flag so I rarely heard much from him. I wonder if we'd had todays media saturation back them would his personality (bellend) have driven me away as a fan.

 

Hamiltons a great ballsy driver, a charger and a passer just like mansell but his personality makes it hard for me to warm to him, if all i ever saw was his driving I'd have bought the t-shirt long ago.

[Imperial]

I would say Mansell was and is very much like Hamilton, in that he is HONEST in who he is.

Who they both are is open to interpretation, sometimes even their own. By that I mean to say that I think Hamilton is on a continuing quest to find out who he is, possibly stemming from being a child of divorce, from a BME group etc. Possibly not. But he doesn't hide it by pretending to be a particular way.

Mansell, perhaps to a lesser extent, I feel to be this way. He says some ridiculously exaggerated things and acted like a spoiled kid many times while racing, but again he doesn't hide it. Whether that means a person loves or loathes him is irrelevant, both stem from Nige simply being Nige.

[essjay]

I know a lot of people don't like Nigel, but you can't deny that he was an incredibly talented and determined driver.  The drama and exaggeration are just the way he is, and if you can accept that and look past it you're left with a genuine guy.  But then of course I am slightly biased...

 

http://www.allinspor...gers-in-brazil/

[Ali_G]

His Cart season was an incredible achievement that still does not get enough recognition in my eyee.

I'm guessing you haven't seen any of his 1994 season?

[Craven Morehead]

I know a lot of people don't like Nigel, but you can't deny that he was an incredibly talented and determined driver.  The drama and exaggeration are just the way he is, and if you can accept that and look past it you're left with a genuine guy.  But then of course I am slightly biased...

 

http://www.allinspor...gers-in-brazil/

 That was a great read. Really, really enjoyed it. thanks for the link   

[Peat]

http://www.motorspor...audio-podcasts/

Nige is on one of the latest (and excellent) Motorsport Magazine podcasts. 

I've not got around to listening yet. Hoping for some gems about how he drove at 300mph one handed and half blind. 

[SophieB]

Again, we are just firmly in driver thread territory now, sorry.