#racing driver

Happy Birthday to Alan McNish born in Dumfries December 29th 1969.

With a highly-successful career spanning karting to Formula One, including three victories at the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans and winning the FIA WEC World Championship, Allan is one of the most respected and liked personalities in the dynamic and competitive world of motorsport.

Having started in karting and sealed six Scottish and three British titles, the young McNish progressed, under the watchful eyes of David Leslie Snr & Jnr, into single-seaters at Knockhill.

He won the 1988 Formula Vauxhall Lotus Championship and finished second in the 1989 British F3 Championship by three points.

McNish also gained F1 experience, with testing contracts for McLaren and Benetton, Toyota – including a full F1 World Championship race season in 2002 – and Renault.

But it was in sportscars where he proved to be a world-beater. Having first won at the world’s greatest endurance race with Porsche in 1998, McNish — with his tartan band round his race helmet — made his Le Mans debut with Audi in 2000.

Audi team orders had ensured it was the Audi driven by a German, Frank Biela, which won, despite McNish’s car being clearly faster over the closing stages.

It was another eight years before he stood on the top step at Le Mans with Audi, but three years later, in 2011, the Scot somehow miraculously walked away from one of the most explosive crashes ever seen at the La Sarthe circuit, as seen in the second photo.

Twelve months later, McNish was again left devastated when he and his Audi were nudged at high speed into the barrier in the closing stages when he was leading. McNish’s career has also racked up three American Le Mans Series titles, plus four wins in both the Sebring 12 Hours and Petit Le Mans races. He also finished second in the Daytona 24 Hours on three occasion. McNish, though, will always be associated with Le Mans.