An aside to Fangio

display_0957d51541

Sir,

Just like Nigel Roebuck, I visited the wonderful Steering Wheel Club many times during the ’60s, when I was selling cars for Jack Barclay in nearby Berkeley Square.

And just like Nigel, I was also very privileged to have been introduced to the late maestro Juan Manuel Fangio, by my late good friend James Hunt.

I drove my McLaren M1C Can-Am car in the GT race of the 1981 Dubai Grand Prix, and the smile on the great man’s face (right) is because I had just told him, in pidgin Spanish, that I had met two gorgeous air stewardesses who had agreed to visit both me and James in my billet back at the Hyatt Regency Hotel after the race — to discuss the political situation and the weather, naturally.

Ah, what memories.

I AM, YOURS ETC,

Malcolm Clube, London