Andy ‘Ace’ Harrison

Yorkshire-based builder and restorer of classic and Historic race cars, notably Minis, who started rallying and racing aged just 14

Racing car restorer Andy ‘Ace’ Harrison

1. Barry ‘Whizzo’ Williams and I were friends, often co-driving a Mini. Before he died, he passed his helmet to me and asked that I race with it so that a little of bit of him would always be with the team.

2. This model – a replica of our company van – was given to me by sponsor Andy Conreen of SJL Print Media. It has pride of place in my large model collection.

3. Tony Lanfranchi’s family said I reminded them of him and asked me to display his BARC shield. They also gave me a copy of

Down the Hatch which, along with Innes Ireland’s Marathon in the Dust, is the star of my collection of signed books.

4. We sold the ex-Richard Longman Mini ‘72 Ace’ to Andrew Jeffery and his son Matt and now manage their racing programme. Andrew is a proper gentleman and presented this watch to me at Harewood (which I sponsor).

5. My grandad passed his love of driving on to me. He kept this brass policeman in his display cabinet and, whenever we visited, he would have to ring my mum for it to be retrieved from my pocket. Mum gave it to me on the day of his funeral.

6. This was a gift from TV chef James Martin, whom we guided from novice to race-winner. Chef inspired me to build my business – as he says in the dedication, one day I might own my own Ferrari.

7. As a kid I was always nicking my dad’s tools and this spanner was always missing from his toolbox. In the end he said I might as well keep it. I treasure it and it comes to every race meeting with me.

8. In 2016 we rebuilt ‘882 PKX’ as a racer named Whizz after my mentor, and its debut was the 2018 Goodwood Revival – the weekend that Whizzo passed away. I also have a London to Sydney Marathon Morris 1800S I helped Graham Brayshaw collect when I was a teenager and bought from Mike Jordan 47 years later.

9. This Monza trophy is one of my most treasured possessions. It was an honour to share a car with Roz Shaw in 2011 and we took her Alfa Giulia GTM to third.

10. It is always a privilege to be invited to race at Goodwood and we have shared our car with Tony Jardine, Christian Horner, Rauno Aaltonen and James Martin. It was a similar privilege to be invited to join the exclusive drivers’ club at Jonathan Turner’s Bowcliffe Hall, and I am also very active in Jackie Stewart’s charity Race Against Dementia. Other than that, I love racing with Julius Thurgood’s HRDC.