4 Steve Mcqueen

Since his passing in 1980, Mcqueen’s talent as a driver has perhaps been overstated, but all that merchandising won’t sell itself. ‘The Cooler King’ embarked on his stop-start car-racing career in 1959 in a Porsche 356A Super Speedster (which subsequently made way for a quad-cam 356A Carrera). He graduated to a Lotus Eleven and raced a works Austin-healey Sprite at Sebring in March 1962 (in a three-hour race and the main 12-hour enduro). Mcqueen also proved his worth in Mini Coopers during two visits to Brands Hatch in 1961-’62. His most celebrated result, and with good reason, occurred in his final race: the 1970 Sebring 12 Hours. He and hard-working wingman Peter Revson finished second overall and first in class in their Solar Production Porsche 908/02 Spyder, having appeared set for an improbable victory until Ferrari’s Mario Andretti famously drove his heart out to take honours at the last gasp. Mcqueen’s leg was in a cast at the time.

Anorak fact Mcqueen tried Erik Carlsson’s Saab at the end of the 1969 Baja 1000. He rolled it, prompting Carlsson to get a lift back to his hotel with James Garner…