JUNE 20, 2006

Our Nige in the wars - as ever

Nothing ever came easily for Nigel Mansell. Even when he was trouncing the opposition in Formula 1 in the summer of 1992 with a Williams-Renault that was clearly the dominant force, he refused to admit that he had an advantage in the World Championship. It was part of his public persona. Mansell always needed to be seen to be the battler. The man who was overcoming all manner of problems to be a winner.

In recent years Mansell has kept a low profile but now that his sons have started racing - with plentiful sponsorship and a team their father has purchased for them - Nigel still manages to get into the wars. He recently acquired the Dunkeswell karting track in Devon and has plans to turn this into a very fancy venue with a building which he would like to include a restaurant, two residential units, Formula 3 and Formula BMW workshops, and a medical centre. He is planning to put up noise-reduction barriers in order to reduce the racket for local residents.

But the sleepy area in which Mansell's track lies is not taking the news lying down and a campaign called Cancel Mansell has been launched, arguing that there are plenty of places in Britain which are not as beautiful nor as inaccessible and pointing out that the local residents do not want to see big racing rigs rumbling through their villages.