GP BACKER'S LE MANS RUNAROUND

GP BAC< R'S LE VAS RUNAROUND

WATCH COMPANY BOSS RICHARD MLLE HAS A PASSION FOR CARS PAU, FRANCE A IMF S YOU CAN READ ON PAGE 23, the Historic Grand Prix

at Pau was a huge success. I was kindly invited to

the event by watch company Richard Mille, and while the rain poured down on Saturday I found myself chaffing to Richard Mille himself. He may be founder and owner of the company and is clearly passionate about what he does, but conversation very quickly turned to cars, 44 a subject on which Richard is pretty clued up. He is the owner of “about 15” 1960s and ’70s racers including a Porsche 917, Ford GT40, Lola T70 (above), Matra 660, “a few Formula 1 cars and a few rally cars like the Lancia Stratos”. “They are all cars that speak to me and I use them all the time I have a Porsche 910 that raced at Le Mans in 1967 and on Sundays I use it to go and fetch my bread and oysters (yes, he is French). I am like the English in that respect, I think cars are there to be driven.” Quite right, and it’s refreshing to meet a sponsor of a historic race meeting who’s not just there because of a marketing exercise but thanks to a genuine love of the sport. (I)