Sam Elliott

Some people say your earliest memories can shape your life. For me, it’s a smell. Not perfume; fabric conditioner or soap but petrol mixed with a dash of oil. Before being out of nappies and very happily ensconced in my first set of wheels (a pushchair), I was regularly travelled to various car auctions in the middle of England. Soaking up the cocktail of smells and apparently bidding on my first car at the age of four meant I was a petrol head with the stuff in my lungs as well as blood. The quality of cars I was used to as a child meant they took on a personality that thankfully I haven’t found since. Arriving at our destination wasn’t always guaranteed. The resulting familiarity of the inside of an AA truck was most exciting and I grew very strong in my early teens thanks to pushing approximately 1200 kg’s of rusting metal fast enough for it to be jumped into life. Fast forward to today and I feel generously privileged to have my 500+bhp, over-boosted Datsun tucked away in the garage, used on track as often as possible. My E46 M3 daily feels quite the luxury barge in comparison! If it has wheels, I’ll be inextricably drawn to it!