Allan McNish Quotes

I think that texting and driving is a 100 percent no-go. I think it should be banned everywhere because you cannot be focused on looking ahead, in the mirrors, being aware of what’s around you, and to type on a small keyboard and a small screen.

It is hard to be number one, and it is even harder to stay there because everyone is trying to knock you off the top.

It was not until I started racing for car manufacturers that I found a car I could really get attached to. I am the son of a car dealer, so up until then, cars just came and went.

I don’t do much driving – about 5,000-6,000 miles a year. And most of that is to the airport and to the racing circuits.

I try to get away from the pits as quickly as I can. I speak to my engineer when I get out of the car, usually there’s some press to do, then I will go off and have a shower and get my dry, clean overalls and clothing on. I’ll have a massage, stretch and something to eat. I don’t sleep, but I try to close my eyes for a while.

I get moments where you slide and there’s an adrenaline shoot, but the moment you scare yourself is the moment you give up. I think what probably scares me more, is that you’re involved in something that is quite surreal and you have to be able to bring yourself back down to earth and that’s where when you come home and your kids are just excited to have daddy home and tell you about their day, that’s one of the greatest things to bring you back down to earth.

I clipped a Ferrari, hit the gravel trap at a fair old speed, which lifted the car up into the barrier, and then rolled a few times. I had no injuries or anything – I just had to wait for the marshals to right the car before I could get out.

My very first car was a grey Alfa Romeo Alfasud, which I got in 1987. But, in our family, all cars were for sale – so they might be there in the morning and were gone at night. In the mid-90s, I joined Porsche and the Carrera was the car, and the Carrera 4S was the one they gave me. As a wee boy from Dumfries, I couldn’t believe it.

My motto is to do everything absolutely flat out and to the best of your ability.

I think music can really affect people’s emotions and, when I am about to get into a race car, I definitely listen to music with a good beat – that’s when you’ve got the adrenalin pumping. And the time before you go into a race weekend, you have a lot of emotion and adrenalin, and a lot of focus.

I have been listening to sport and watching sport on the BBC since I was a tiny boy.

Especially with sports cars, when you have got so many cars on the track with various degrees of competitiveness, then something will happen. It’s the nature of racing, the law of averages. If you want to be a front-runner then you are going to have to push very hard, and collisions can happen.