They don't make drivers like they used to...

[TimD]

... actually, they do. And the best exponent lately has been Gerhard Berger.

I'm talking about practical jokers. Drivers whose sense of competition could combine with a sense of fun. Gerhard's tricks at Ayrton Senna's expense have become legendary. An incident with a briefcase and an open helicopter window springs to mind, as does an unpleasantness involving a pair of Ayrton's shoes and a pound of butter....

But Gerhard was not the first, by any means. My favourite was that maverick sports car driver Ninian Sanderson. By all accounts, he was not the easiest of men to get along with. He would not suffer any sort of second rate work, either in his car, or in his business. And a large part of this came from the pain of the cancer which eventually claimed him.

Ah, but what stories! Here are a few...

Ron Flockhart was preparing to leave the Aintree pit lane for a qualifying lap in the Ecurie Ecosse D-type Jaguar. Without warning, an almighty bang emitted from the back of the car, and Ron Flockhart was seen hurling himself out of the cockpit, and running for at least 50 yards away from what must surely be a spilt fuel fire.
He left behind him a pitful of Ecurie Ecosse mechanics creased up with laughter, and Ninian Sanderson looking smug, and brushing away the evidence of the lit firecracker which he had stuffed up the exhaust of the waiting Jaguar.


And one member of the general public will have cause to remember Ninian Sanderson. On an early airliner, Ninian, a WWII fighter veteran, found himself sat next to a nervous, diffident man who confessed to being on his first ever flight. Ninian gently reassured the man that he himself had completed many flights, and could vouch for the fact that the airline took no chances with safety. At this point, he wordlessly pulled his racing crash helmet out of his hand baggage, and strapped it on.
The nervous passenger just stared. Eventually, Ninian turned to him, and in earnest said "Oh, did they not give you yours? And the pilot did say it was going to be a bit rough."
With barely concealed panic, the first time flyer excused himself from his seat, and was last seen hammering on the connecting door to the flight deck, demanding a crash helmet. Ninian discreetly took himself to another seat.



Any more motor sport practical jokers? With the likes of Innes Ireland, Graham Hill, James Hunt to draw on, there have got to be some more good stories.