STARS IN CAR WARS
Race ace Dario and Take That Howard head TV teams
SCOTS racing driver Dario Franchitti will go to war with Take That’s Howard Donald in a new TV show. The four-time IndyCar Series champion and the pop star will each lead teams racing to rebuild classic cars. In four-part Channel 4 series Mission Ignition, petrolheads will be given a pile of parts and the first team to rev up the engine will get to keep it. Howard was a panel beater and vehicle sprayer before joining Take That in 1989.
He said: “I’ve always loved classic cars, so the opportunity to be involved in Mission Ignition and see these historic cars rebuilt is fantastic.”
Bathgate-born Dario, 45, is a three-time winner of the prestigious Indianapolis 500 race. He was married to film star Ashley Judd but returned to Scotland from the US after cheating death in a 200mph crash in 2013 at the Houston Grand Prix.
Last year, he was robbed at gunpoint at a drive-through Taco Bell takeaway in Indianapolis.
He moved back to his £4million mansion in Port of Menteith, Stirlingshire, and got married again to Eleanor Robb in 2015. The couple have a daughter Sofia.
Producers have promised fierce rivalry between Dario and Howard.
Show boss Nathan Eastwood said: “There’s no show on TV that looks like this.
“We’ve got amazing and passionate talent in Dario and Howard and I can’t wait for everyone to watch.”