Nigel Mansell one of the Greats ?
Discussion
Had the pleasure of doing a bit of business with the chap in the early 90s. Top, decent fella!
May not have had the outright talent as others but made up for it in out-and-out balls.
Part of the stigma that surrounded him came from within the sport which at the time, was quite snobby. Drivers names needed to end in "i" or "a". They needed to come from wealthy stock and be glamorous. What they couldn't get their heads around was a lower middle class, slightly podgey bloke from the West Midlands called "Nigel" with little money could turn up and be as good as he was.
Should have been a multiple champion!
May not have had the outright talent as others but made up for it in out-and-out balls.
Part of the stigma that surrounded him came from within the sport which at the time, was quite snobby. Drivers names needed to end in "i" or "a". They needed to come from wealthy stock and be glamorous. What they couldn't get their heads around was a lower middle class, slightly podgey bloke from the West Midlands called "Nigel" with little money could turn up and be as good as he was.
Should have been a multiple champion!
StevieBee said:
Part of the stigma that surrounded him came from within the sport which at the time, was quite snobby. Drivers names needed to end in "i" or "a". They needed to come from wealthy stock and be glamorous.
Yes, that Nelsona Piqueti and Alaina Prosti were right toffee-nosed b
ds. It does depend on what you mean by great. One of my abiding memories of F1 is a tremendous qualifying lap in the normally aspirated Judd-engined Williams during the turbo years that he put in at Silverstone. The crowd at Club cheered him as he went around on the limit. It was stunning. Later that year he put the car on the front row despite the difference in bhp between his car and most behind him.
The 87 British GP was stunning in its slow climax and his first GP win, Brands Hatch for the European GP, was similar as we all knew if he stayed ahead of Piquest after the pitstops he'd win.
I wouldn't argue with anyone's ideas of Prost's abilities as a driver, but most of his memorable drives were when he was beaten. Donington in the rain when he was lapped by Hill!
For sheer thrills and excitement Mansell took some beating. He was in the Villeneuve (senior) mould. The various championships are 'artificial' creations to keep people interested in the naff GPs (valencia anyone?). F1 to me is a race at a time and with Mansell you never knew what you were going to get.
The Spencials at my police station were experiencing feelings of abandonment and I wrote off to Mansell asking for a photo of him in his specials uniform to put on my office wall to show our lads - well, I'm not sure what. I got a handwritten letter in return with the picture. And to repeat something I've put on here before: I was at the Silverstone GP Forula One paddock club one Saturday and after racing and qually was over Mansell rode into the club area on a monkey boke and gave rides around the back of the pits to any kids who wanted to. No other driver bothered to make himself known. And I was with Coulthaoulds, who sponsored McLaren and Tyrell and Senna and Berger made it abundantly plain that they were very important and during the Q&A session they were monosylabic.
Mansell gave rides to kids with other team's/sponsor's gear on.
I must say I warmed to him. He's one of my top 10 greats. Easily so.
The 87 British GP was stunning in its slow climax and his first GP win, Brands Hatch for the European GP, was similar as we all knew if he stayed ahead of Piquest after the pitstops he'd win.
I wouldn't argue with anyone's ideas of Prost's abilities as a driver, but most of his memorable drives were when he was beaten. Donington in the rain when he was lapped by Hill!
For sheer thrills and excitement Mansell took some beating. He was in the Villeneuve (senior) mould. The various championships are 'artificial' creations to keep people interested in the naff GPs (valencia anyone?). F1 to me is a race at a time and with Mansell you never knew what you were going to get.
The Spencials at my police station were experiencing feelings of abandonment and I wrote off to Mansell asking for a photo of him in his specials uniform to put on my office wall to show our lads - well, I'm not sure what. I got a handwritten letter in return with the picture. And to repeat something I've put on here before: I was at the Silverstone GP Forula One paddock club one Saturday and after racing and qually was over Mansell rode into the club area on a monkey boke and gave rides around the back of the pits to any kids who wanted to. No other driver bothered to make himself known. And I was with Coulthaoulds, who sponsored McLaren and Tyrell and Senna and Berger made it abundantly plain that they were very important and during the Q&A session they were monosylabic.
Mansell gave rides to kids with other team's/sponsor's gear on.
I must say I warmed to him. He's one of my top 10 greats. Easily so.
Stuismyname said:
StevieBee said:
Part of the stigma that surrounded him came from within the sport which at the time, was quite snobby. Drivers names needed to end in "i" or "a". They needed to come from wealthy stock and be glamorous.
Yes, that Nelsona Piqueti and Alaina Prosti were right toffee-nosed bds. Mansell was always my favourite driver. As I said above, for sheer skill he was probably only in the top 20 ever (which is still good) but he made the rest up in cajones.
It is virtually un-arguable that he should have won the title in '86. If he had have done, I think his career might have panned out differently.
He wasn't without his faults though. Looking back now, I do see the drama-queen aspect of him. He also had a Coulthard-esque belief that he was as good as the greatest of the time (Senna/Prost) and that it was bad luck or bad team management that screwed him out of multi-title winning seasons.
I've never met the guy, but I hear mixed reports about him as a person. Most of the public think he's awesome, but the view around other ex-drivers and the paddock in general seems to be mixed.
Muzzer said:
Stuismyname said:
StevieBee said:
Part of the stigma that surrounded him came from within the sport which at the time, was quite snobby. Drivers names needed to end in "i" or "a". They needed to come from wealthy stock and be glamorous.
Yes, that Nelsona Piqueti and Alaina Prosti were right toffee-nosed bds. 
Mansell was my joint favourite, of 'my era' of drivers anyhow (the last 20+yrs) and you might well argue he was something of a spiritual successor to Gilles Villeneuve. He certainly deserves his place as one of the all time greats.
I agree with everything that has been said ,he was worth turning the tv on Sunday afternoons.One of his best drives was in the judd powered williams i think 1988 in the wet at Silverstone just thinking about it makes me smile,what a driver.Theres not to much of that commitment these Sundays with a few exceptions.
Muzzer said:
He wasn't without his faults though. Looking back now, I do see the drama-queen aspect of him. He also had a Coulthard-esque belief that he was as good as the greatest of the time (Senna/Prost) and that it was bad luck or bad team management that screwed him out of multi-title winning seasons.
When Mansell complained that he was getting inferior engines to Piquet I thought the bloke had finally lost it. When Honda was forced into admitting it I have to say I felt like writing an apology to him. It beggared belief that they should limit the power output for Mansell just to try and make their man win.I was living in the USA when "our nige" went to drive indycars, it was something else watching him get to grips with that car so quickly and take the championship despite the damage to his back that meant he had to drive with his spine being pumped full of pain killers after his big oval crash at Pheonix.
There was a great bit of TV footage from the first test he did with Newman Haas, where Paul Newman was watching his first laps and then looked at the timing monitor, Nige smashed the lap record and Paul Newman was genuinely gobsmacked saying "god damn". Nige was brilliant on the ovals that year in particular, which was a big surprise to a lot of people, he was just a few laps from winning the Indy 500 at the first attempt too.
Top driver is our nige.
There was a great bit of TV footage from the first test he did with Newman Haas, where Paul Newman was watching his first laps and then looked at the timing monitor, Nige smashed the lap record and Paul Newman was genuinely gobsmacked saying "god damn". Nige was brilliant on the ovals that year in particular, which was a big surprise to a lot of people, he was just a few laps from winning the Indy 500 at the first attempt too.
Top driver is our nige.
Absolutely a top bloke. Achievements that spring to mind include :
o Dragging some very below average Lotuses way further up the F1 field than they had any right to be in the early 1980s.
o Earning the deep respect of Colin Chapman (who employed many of the most talented drivers ever to grace the sport) not to mention the adoration of the Tifosi, who nickname him 'Il Leone'.
o F1 Champion. Not forgetting the championship he lost due to a blown tyre whilst waaay out in front; the championship he lost because his Williams couldn't finish a race until Monaco, the five straight wins in the first 5 races of '92, his battles with Piquet, Senna, Prost - some of the greatest drivers in F1 history.
o His win - and total dominance - of the Indycar series as a rookie. That was no mean feat.
o His continuing skill behind the wheel; the Top Gear time (shadowing a number of the current F1 drivers) not to mention such a pace dominance over the other drivers in F1 Masters that they seemed to decide to can the series until Mansell refuses to take part in it.
Of course we had all the dramatics; the whinging, the sweat, the knackered driver being repeatedly pulled from his car at the end of a race. But we also have a driver who was never afraid to go for a gap, or go wheel to wheel with the best in the world. He's a bloody legend in my book and always will be.
o Dragging some very below average Lotuses way further up the F1 field than they had any right to be in the early 1980s.
o Earning the deep respect of Colin Chapman (who employed many of the most talented drivers ever to grace the sport) not to mention the adoration of the Tifosi, who nickname him 'Il Leone'.
o F1 Champion. Not forgetting the championship he lost due to a blown tyre whilst waaay out in front; the championship he lost because his Williams couldn't finish a race until Monaco, the five straight wins in the first 5 races of '92, his battles with Piquet, Senna, Prost - some of the greatest drivers in F1 history.
o His win - and total dominance - of the Indycar series as a rookie. That was no mean feat.
o His continuing skill behind the wheel; the Top Gear time (shadowing a number of the current F1 drivers) not to mention such a pace dominance over the other drivers in F1 Masters that they seemed to decide to can the series until Mansell refuses to take part in it.
Of course we had all the dramatics; the whinging, the sweat, the knackered driver being repeatedly pulled from his car at the end of a race. But we also have a driver who was never afraid to go for a gap, or go wheel to wheel with the best in the world. He's a bloody legend in my book and always will be.
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