WHY WHY FAMILY FAMILY MANSELL MANSELL ARE ARE BACK BACK IN IN THE THE FAST FAST LANE LANE
NIGEL MANSELL and his wife Rosanne look like a courting couple as they stroll hand-inhand beneath a cloudless African sky. There are hugs and kisses all round as they greet their youngest son, Greg, as he completes a round of golf on his 18th birthday. They enjoy an enormous cake on the course and the laughter continues long into the night at a gala ball where they are joined by daughter Chloe.
Rosanne, one suspects, will still be smiling when she turns up with her husband at the Kyalami race track today to start his weekend at the wheel of a 200mph F1 lookalike car. She always did put on a happy and relaxed public face when he was chasing world titles more than a decade ago, before finding a spot where she could sit in anguish and trepidation until Nigel climbed unscathed from his car — or not.
It is not likely to be much easier, maybe infinitely worse, when, at 52 and of somewhat fuller girth than in his heyday, Mansell resumes his track career. He will embark on a high- speed battle with former champions and contemporaries such as Emerson Fittipaldi, 58, Alan Jones, 59, and Jacques Laffite, at 62 the oldest man in a field of veterans in questionable stages of fitness.
Altech, the South African conglomerate who have organised Sunday’s inaugural Grand Prix Masters race, hope to hold up to five next year, including one in Britain. Mansell has committed to a whole series, as has Alain Prost.
But the organisers must be questioning their choice of a race lasting between 40 to 45 minutes. Precisely what is the sensible staying power of men with the competitive instincts of a 30-yearold inside bodies up to twice that age? How long before they become a danger to themselves? How great the risk of serious accidents wrecking the concept of a motor- racing seniors’ tour to compare with those in tennis and golf which have such public appeal?
Doubtless, they are questions which have also been posed at the Mansell home in Jersey ever since Nigel was asked to consider his comeback. The family’s presence in Johannesburg, with the exception of elder son Leo, 20, who is working in the United States, provides their answer: whatever the risk, it is worth taking.
Rosanne said: ‘ No matter what my own personal feelings were, I would never wish to stand in the way of something Nigel felt he had to do. It could only sow the seeds for possible resentment. As a matter of fact, I’ve got a few more worries now than before because the boys have decided they want to race and are both involved in karting.
‘Nigel works with Greg as his chief mechanic. It means they are doing something together they both enjoy — and who am I to deny them that? Of course I fret about their safety. It’s something wives, and mothers, do.
‘ Nigel and I have been together over 30 years. His other passion has always been motor- racing and together we’ve achieved his ambitions to be F1 world champion in 1992 and Indycar champion a year later.’
It meant a lot of sacrifice along the way, including selling one of their early homes to fund his career, dealing with the frustrations of his title near- misses and helping to nurse him back to health after a variety of broken bones.
‘Now he wants to give something back to the sport and help raise money for charities (he is president of UK Youth). Yes, I’ll be worrying again this weekend, but I believe in the idea of a Masters series and I also think the public will get a thrill from seeing their former favourites
back in action. The
fans loved Nigel,
didn’t they? And he
l o v e d t h e m i n
return.’
There is something else which
h a s b r o u g h t
Mansell back to
t h e f a s t l a n e ;
something people
might find hard to
understand.
Looking at his
wife he whispered:
‘We almost lost her
last year. Rosanne
was extremely poorly (an abscess led to peritonitis and other complications and she needed four operations). It was a time when the whole family took stock.
‘ It was a period when we all decided life had to be led to the full. The boys confessed they wanted to have a go at racing. Despite everything I had done to put them off, I had failed miserably. So rather than fight them, I joined them. We’ve had a lot of fun together and one thing has led to another.
‘ Rosanne has been totally supportive because, I guess, she realises life is very precious. Every family has its time of problems and difficulty and when you come out the other side maybe attitudes change.
‘ We have become a little more fatalistic but not reckless. This GP Masters is a great idea but I wouldn’t be involved if I thought it was a sham and the cars were inferior machines. That’s definitely not the case.
‘These are extremely quick, knifeedge to drive. They look and sound likes the F1 cars of old, they are prepared by mechanics who have worked at the very top and I’m sure it will be competitive racing.
Is he nervous about what lies ahead?
‘ Nervous? Well, perhaps a little, but excited, too. Of course there’s a risk but we are prepared to take that risk provided it is balanced out by adopting the most professional approach possible.’
That said, Nigel and Rosanne took their leave, renewing acquaintances with former grand prix drivers who now have different partners from those who once accompanied them around the world.
While they have traded in for newer models, the Mansells seem perfectly at ease with originals.