Tiff Needell

From Morris Travellers to McLarens, via Le Mans and F1, television's original Mr Sideways talks about his behind-the-wheel highlights

- ADAM TOWLER

MY FIRST MEMORY OF CARS IS BEING ON 'M the rear shelf of my dad's Ford V8 coming back from Goodwood,' says Tiff Needell, the lilting, nasal tones as instantly recognisable now as they've always been. 'I only went in it two or three times before the car died in the mid-'50s. I've no idea why he had it. In the garage at home we had this amazing Lancia, which got hit by a dump truck in Feltham gravel pits when Dad was there with his boat. We used to sit behind the wheel as kids, dreaming. Dad did the first two Members' Meetings [at Goodwood], a couple of sprints. I think he had an Alvis. I have a results sheet somewhere-1948, 49. It's all Dad's fault: he was lured to Brooklands, then I was dragged off to Goodwood. It wasn't a chore...

'I don't think Dad ever owned another car after the Ford, because Mum became the car owner - we had three Austin Rubys on the trot, which she bought for £10 a time, and then inherited my grandad's Morris 1000, which I learnt to drive in. Then I bought my own Morris 1000 Traveller when I was 18, which then towed my racing car when I won it...

We're getting slightly ahead of ourselves, though. Talking with Tiff is as entertaining and as engrossing as you'd imagine, but what familiarity with the public persona might mask is just how normal a background he came from - which makes it all the more amazing that he once attempted to qualify for the Monaco Grand Prix. 'I am the kid on the terraces, clinging to the dream, but with no money it was never going to happen until I won that car in the magazine. I was going to be a civil engineer...'