Your Most Inspirational Petrolheads?

[Tartan Pixie]

Who in the motoring world has done things which make you want to go for a hoon?

It can be anyone, your favorite racing driver, the engineer who designed your favorite car/bike, your mate Bob who taught you to handbrake turn or anyone else who's antics make you want to go for a drive.

I'll start with Petter Solberg. His appetite for punting little hatchbacks down gravel tracks at warp speed is immense. No works ride - no worries, he just starts his own rally outfit. Whenever he's interviewed you can see the will to win and despite the latest puncture/mechanical fault/spin he keeps fighting till the bitter end.

I'm hoping he gets a good season now that he's with Ford, though his latest trip in to the Argentine shrubbery looked depressingly familiar.

Anyways, the point of the thread is that watching him always makes me want throw my car down a b-road. Is there anyone you find inspiring like that?

[mikeplayer]

My best mates at college, going for a hoon with saxos/clios and a few polos! Not one of them above 1.4 nothing special, some of the bet days of my life so far.

When ever we chat about those days all I want to do is grab the car keys and get the group together again!

[obscene]

Jay Leno. Pure enthusiasm. Nuff said.

[McClure]

Hakkinen, Hunt, Raikkonen, Kankkunen, McRae, Clark, Pond (in the 6R4), Graham Hill, Montoya, Hamilton, the bloke who drove the Miura in the opening sequence of The Italian Job.

Edit: Kowalski,

Most importantly - Alfieri, Bindo, Carlo, Ettore and Ernesto. Legends.

[TheHeretic]

Mondo Enduro chaps. Bloody marvelous.

[Tartan Pixie]

Interesting replies, I'm having fun googling some of the names I've not heard before and watching clips of the Italian job

Also.... Jay Leno's Garage So many levels of want/must work harder.

TheHeretic said:

Mondo Enduro chaps. Bloody marvelous.

Nice, hadn't heard of them before. One of the things on my bucket list is to drive from John o'Groats to Cape Town, taking in Kenya on the way to try and drive some part of the East Africa rally. It almost happened a couple of years ago but life got in the way, still high up on my travel list though.

[Benbay001]

Any one who drives me somewhere. Being driven places drives me nuts. If ive been a passenger for an hour or more i usually go for a drive when i get home.

[Justices]

Today it's Kimi & Kim. $600k spent for no other reason than to live the petrolhead dream.

The evidence.

[deltashad]

Giorgetto Giugiaro.

He's designed a few tidy looking cars.

[snowdude2910]

Nic Hamilton, turns out he's alot more disabled than I realised and racing causes him alot of pain but he still does it.

[ambuletz]

Tartan Pixie said:

Interesting replies, I'm having fun googling some of the names I've not heard before and watching clips of the Italian job

Also.... Jay Leno's Garage So many levels of want/must work harder.

Had a look at his GMC cyclone. Looks so cool and understated!
http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/trucks/1991-gmc-sycl...

[Tartan Pixie]

Justices said:

The evidence.

It may be a combination of camera mounted in the grille and that music but that vid gave my thumbs a playstation twitch.

It was interesting watching Raikkonen in the WRC because despite his attraction to the local flora he brought a lot of talent and no doubt introduced a few F1 fans to the joys of cornering sideways. Top bloke.

deltashad said:

Giorgetto Giugiaro.

He's designed a few tidy looking cars.

Golf Mk1, DeLorian, Esprit S1......Hyundai Pony


Wow that's one prolific designer, there must be over 100 cars on that wiki page. Interestingly though he also designed most of the Nikon F series cameras, which to my mind were a revolution in having the buttons exactly where you want them. The D200 I use regularly for work still uses the button layout he designed.

[Tartan Pixie]

snowdude2910 said:

Nic Hamilton, turns out he's alot more disabled than I realised and racing causes him alot of pain but he still does it.

Just having a google now, looks like some inspirational stuff for sure ^_^

ambuletz said:

Had a look at his GMC cyclone. Looks so cool and understated!
http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/trucks/1991-gmc-sycl...

Nice, though I have to admit I'm not so in to pick ups (with the exception of stuff made to take on the zombie apocalypse). The car that caught my eye was the Devon Motorworks GTX. Mmmmmmm want.

[Baryonyx]

Walther Rohrl. Every time I watch a video of him driving I'm compelled to go and have a go, and form a real appreciation for how good he is!

[mat777]

2 off the top of my head for now:

John Force - once a poor truck driver, now at the top of his game for 30 years
The Blastolene crew - have you seen the things they can build?

[PaperCut]

Benbay001 said:

Any one who drives me somewhere. Being driven places drives me nuts. If ive been a passenger for an hour or more i usually go for a drive when i get home.

This!

[Nick M]

My dad

Got me into the mechanical side of things, let me 'drive' his Vauxhall Viva on Pendine sands when I was maybe 4 or 5 (I sat on his lap and steered while he did the pedals), helped me build a Westfield, I helped him build a Rover V8 for his TR7, etc., etc.

All of which accounts for my love of driving and the mechanical side of things.

[Tartan Pixie]

PaperCut said:

Benbay001 said:

Any one who drives me somewhere. Being driven places drives me nuts. If ive been a passenger for an hour or more i usually go for a drive when i get home.

This!

Depends on the driver, most of my passenger time is spent in my mate's golf R20, he visited me on Skye and got the full pace notes. "XXX Leptons Left then slow slow slow tourist parking area....and that's the old man of storr...oh well we'll get a look at it next time."

Drive finished....Perhaps a stiff whiskey is in order?


ETA @Nick M...Petrolhead parents rock ^_^



ETA 2 Cos I know you lot like pics (and yes I'm aware of the blown highlights etc ):

Edited by Tartan Pixie on Wednesday 2nd May 06:40

[belleair302]

Nigel Mansell and Ayrton Senna, Derek Bell, Stefan Roser on the Ring, Russel Bulgin, Colin McRae, the start of the Cannonball Run with Farrah Fawcett and finally the piece in the original Gumball Rally film where the Daytona is blasting down Wall Street and through Times Square very early one morning!!

[forzaminardi]

Rubens Barrichello. Not just a brilliant racing driver, but a wonderful man whose passion to race for the sake of racing is equalled only by the love he has for his family and his country. The man is a living legend. Shame on Williams for letting him go!