From Sheep Sh!t to Nigel Mansell!
On 10th December 1993, I completed the purchase of DYMAG Racing UK, determined to return this iconic British racing wheel brand to the pinnacle of motorsport.
My first big idea?
Persuade Nigel Mansell to become our brand ambassador. He’d raced on DYMAG wheels at Williams in F1, won the 1992/3 World Championship and then the 1993 IndyCar title in his rookie year.
I signed the acquisition documents in Birmingham and immediately set off down the M40 to meet Nigel at the Dorchester in London.
I was so excited I forgot one rather important detail.
Petrol.
Near Warwick, doing about 70 mph in the outside lane, the engine died. I’d run out of fuel. I managed to reach the hard shoulder, where I stood in my suit and overcoat feeling a complete idiot.
There were no M40 services in those days. But I spotted lights across a field that looked like a petrol station.
Over the barrier I went, trudging through the muddy field in the December dusk. I persuaded someone to sell me a can of petrol and set off back, stepping in a generous quantity of sheep droppings along the way.
I finally refuelled the car, splashing petrol on my trousers and shoes for good measure.
Now I was late, sweaty, muddy and smelling of petrol and sheep shit.
Fortunately, I had one of those enormous early mobile phones. I rang Nigel’s PA, who was remarkably understanding.
I eventually walked into his Dorchester suite 90 minutes late, bringing with me the unmistakable aroma of a Warwickshire farmyard.
To his credit, Nigel was charming. He did point out that Colin Chapman would have fired me on the spot for such an elementary mistake!
Nevertheless, we shook hands on a deal. DYMAG sponsored Nigel’s 1994 IndyCar campaign, supplying wheels for his Newman/Haas Lola.
The same year, he raced on DYMAG wheels again in his memorable one-off BTCC appearance in Andy Rouse’s Ford Mondeo — ending rather spectacularly in the barriers.
That was the start of a wild, on-off love affair with DYMAG. More than three decades later, through extraordinary highs and some spectacular lows, I still Chair the company.
And the ambition hasn’t changed: to put DYMAG and British wheel engineering back at the pinnacle of motorsport.
Sometimes the road to a deal with a Formula 1 World Champion goes straight through a field full of sheep mess!
I’ve checked the fuel gauge before every important meeting since!
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