Jingoistic Pit Summary - BFK

Benedict Francis-Kentigern, or BFK as we know him, is an affable motoring journalist of the old school. Dropping out of some big public school somewhere in England to pursue his passion pretending to race cars, he's acquired such an array of tweed jackets with leather elbow patches, arran sweaters and empty travel sweet tins, that you can't help but ignore him. Look backward to BFK's "weekly" reports on motoring, cars, and what drives the people that drive them, in his section to be found somewhere on the site.

I was amused to notice that a random comment we posted on an obsucre youtube clip (as 'whyteay') was a highest rated comment (albeit with a whopping 4 votes)...

The clip was of the old BBC start grid music which I remember well when I used to report from the pit lane for along with Tiff Needell (this was in the days when Jeremy Clarkson was a provincial hack and Richard Hammond still driving pedal cars around the back garden).

In this case it was from the Hungarian Grand Prix, still in its relative infancy but a good chuckle nonetheless, in 1989, the first year turbos had been banned and everyone was in normally aspirated 3 and a half litres (and Senna and Prost still held sway despite the bickering that ended in them only speaking to each other via pit crew members).

Good old Murray Walker keeping the flag flying by only mentioning the British drivers on the grid.

I had a chat with the (now sadly late) Michele Alboreto about his cracked ribs that Walker mentions at the end, in the exception that proves the above rule. He said he'd slipped on a patch of oil whilst eating Calzone. Yeah yeah, we believe you Michele.

For the record Mansell won the race over Senna in a real nailbiter that had the rough surface of the Hungaroring at least in part to thank...ah, I'm reaching for another travel sweet as I write these lines..