HOW TO SPEND PRIZE MONEY

The Mclaren Autosport BRDC Award came with a £50,000 cheque when Darren Turner scooped the prize in 1996. So what do you think he did with the money? Put it towards a Formula 3 budget perhaps? No, he bought a Bentley Arnage!

There was rhyme to his reason, however. Turner had contested the 1996 British Formula Renault series with Redgrave Racing, whose late boss Richard Redgrave wheeled and dealed in motors. Turner purchased the Bentley in an attempt to make a bit more money to add to his F3 pot.

The catalyst for the deal was Richard’s son, Mark, a former racer himself. He’d gone to work for an advertising agency in London and alerted his father that his employer was on the look-out for a black Bentley Arnage to use in a campaign.

“Mark gave Richard a heads-up, and in those pre-internet days buying and selling cars was all about contacts,” recalls Turner, who was living with the Redgraves on their Norfolk farm at the time. “I remember Richard telling me, ‘Mark needs a car, I’ve found one, you’ve got the money in the bank, let’s buy it and split the profit.’”

The Arnage was duly purchased and stowed in a barn before it was moved on.

“I suggested to Richard that because it was my money that had bought it, I should be allowed to drive it around for a couple of days,” says Turner. “But all I was allowed to do was sit in it with the engine running and smell the leather.

“I think we paid 35 grand for the Bentley. I can’t remember how much we sold it for, but I recall a profit of £12,000. I think that’s how much we had to split between us.”

Turner did make it to F3 in 1997 and even got to rub shoulders with the Bentley-driving classes. The Portman Racing team for which he drove had been set up by Piers Portman, son of the late Edward, Viscount Portman.