Nigel Mansell

Nigel Mansell was born in Upton-on-Severn, England on the 8th of August 1953. He started life with an apprenticeship in Karts and then went on to race in Formula Ford in 1976. From there he went in to Formula 3 after selling his house to pay for it.

He was one of the most exciting drivers of his time and always provided his audience with gutsy performances. Lotus offered him a drive in 1980.

Mansell is statistically Britain's most successful driver with 31 wins, 482 points in 187 races and was World Champion in 1992. In 1985 he went to Williams and scored 28 wins in five years. He narrowly missed out on the World Championship in 1986 but in the last race of the season his tyre exploded so he had to settle for second place.

Grim news in '87 too as he had an accident at the penultimate race weekend and hurt his back so second place it was for him again. In 1988 Williams were dumped by Honda and didn't have a very good year. An offer from Ferrari was too good to refuse so off he went.

The Italians adored Nigel and he won his first race of the season and gained the nickname "The Lion." In 1990 Prost joined the team and tensions grew especially when Prost was doing better than he was so he announced that he would retire from the sport.

Frank Williams came along with the improved car and Mansell accepted a place in the team. That year Senna beat him to the championship and Mansell took a second place again.

1992 was to be his year of glory. He won the first five races of the season and four more throughout the year clinching the World Championship five races before the end of the season.

At the end of the season Mansell learned that Prost was joining Williams and so angrily quit F1 altogether. He went on to do CART. After Senna's death he returned to Williams to drive the last four races of the season, one of which he won. He signed for McLaren the year after and quit after two races. Nowadays he is a golf man and puts all of his energy in to his golf and health club in Exeter although he is starting to race again at teh 'Masters' races against other F1 greats.