Mansell, Nigel (GB)
BIOGRAPHY

b 08/08/54, Upton-on-Severn.


Height:              1,80 m
Weight:              76 kg
Marital status:      married to Rosanne

Children:            1 daughter (Chloe),
                     2 sons (Leo, Gregg)

Learned profession:  Engineer

Hobbies:             Fishing, helicopter
                     flying, snooker

Sports:              golf, tennis, squash
Favourite music:     light classical
Favourite drink:     mineral water
Start racing career: in 1968 in Karting
First racing car:    Formula Ford 1600
First success:       Formula Ford win in
                     Mallory Park 1976

Most memorable experience:
"Winning the F1 World Championship in
1992."


==========================================
Source: Roger Adams
------------
COMPETITION HISTORY


1968 - Started karting aged 15
1976 - Gave up job at Lucas for racing.
       FF1600, 5 wins

1977 - May: broke neck in two places.
       FF1600 champion, 30 wins 4th in
       only Vandervell F3 race at
       Silverstone.

1978 - F3, 4 races (2nd at Silverstone)

1979 - Joined Unipart F3 team. First Lotus
       test at Paul Ricard.
       2 Top 6 results. 11/03 Thruxton
       2nd, 25/03 Silverstone 1st.

1980 - F3, 9th. 4 F2 races, 12th
       (2nd Hockenheim, 5th Zandvoort)


FORMULA 1 CAREER SUMMARY
==========================================
YEAR POS TEAM       RACES/WINS/POLE/POINTS
==========================================
1980  -  Lotus Cosworth    2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
1981 14  Lotus Cosworth   12 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
1982 14  Lotus Cosworth   13 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
1983 12  Lotus Renault    16 | 0 | 0 |10 |
1984 10  Lotus Renault    16 | 0 | 1 |13 |
1985  6  Williams Honda   15 | 2 | 1 |31 |
1986  2  Williams Honda   16 | 5 | 2 |72 |
1987  2  Williams Honda   14 | 6 | 8 |61 |
1988  9  Williams Judd    14 | 0 | 0 |12 |
1989  4  Ferrari          15 | 2 | 0 |38 |
1990  5  Ferrari          16 | 1 | 3 |37 |
1991  2  Williams Renault 16 | 5 | 2 |72 |
1992  1  Williams Renault 16 | 9 |14 |108|
1994  9  Williams Renault  4 | 1 | 1 |13 |
==========================================
TOTAL                    |185|31 |32 |510|
==========================================



Source: Roger Adams
--------------
MANSELL Nigel (GB), Biography 1995

Nigel Mansell is living proof that, metaphorically, determination and dedication can move mountains. The two qualities have
been evident in Mansell since he began racing in Formula Ford in 1977.

Nine years later, they almost brought him his ultimate ambition: the Formula 1 World Championship. Just 18 laps from the end
of the 1986 season finale in Adelaide, Mansell's dream exploded along with the left rear tyre of his Williams.

It was to be another six years before he finally gained the crown in a brilliant season, after repeated frustrations had brought him
to the point of retirement. Within weeks of becoming World Champion, he had turned his back on Formula One and in 1993
went Indycar racing. Adapting with astonishing speed and fighting back from yet more injuries, he won the Indycar title - the
first back-to-back championships ever in the two series.

Now, at a mature but utterly determined 41, he has rejoined Formula One full-time with the Marlboro McLaren Mercedes
team, another World Championship definitely in his sights.

In his early days, Mansell was only able to compete by supplementing his income as an engineer with menial, part-time work.
In 1977, he won 32 of the 42 Formula Ford 1600 races he contested. He broke his back in a racing accident but returned,
against medical advice, to clinch a championship.

Two years later Nigel and his wife, Roseanne, sold their house to pay for four Formula 3 drives. His March was not the most
competitive car on the grid, but Mansell's efforts attracted the attention of the late, great Lotus boss, Colin Chapman.

Just as he was about to be invited to test for Lotus, Nigel crushed vertebrae in his neck after an F3 collision with Andrea de
Cesaris. "Don't worry, I'll be there," Mansell said, in response to Chapman's doubts as to whether he was fit enough to try the
Lotus.

Mansell was disappointed when the 1980 seat alongside Mario Andretti went to the late Elio de Angelis, but he was given an
opportunity in a third Lotus in the Austrian Grand Prix. He had to draw on all the reserves of his courage to bear the pain of
fuel burns, caused by spillage as the tank was being filled.

Mansell was given a full-time drive the following year, becoming close friends with Chapman before the latter's death in
December 1982. But he did not get his hands on a truly competitive chassis until he was signed by Frank Williams to partner
Keke Rosberg in 1985. He won an emotional first victory at Brands Hatch, in the European Grand Prix that year.

Throughout the next two seasons, when he was joined at Williams by Nelson Piquet, Nigel became the driver to beat. In 1986,
he won five Grands Prix and was only pipped to the crown by Prost at that traumatic final race.

The following season saw the Williams-Honda conclusively the quickest combination and Nigel, this time, was first past the
chequered flag on six occasions. Despite that, Williams team mate Nelson Piquet took the title with only three wins, after
Mansell's hopes had disappeared in a practice accident at Suzuka in which he damaged his neck.

After a fruitless 1988 season with a Judd-powered Williams, Mansell was signed by Ferrari shortly before Enzo Ferrari's death
that August. Despite the newness of the teams's V12 engine and automatic gearbox, he scored a memorable win in his first race
for the Prancing Horse stable, in Brazil. A tremendous drive, from 12th place on the grid, brought Mansell another win in
Hungary, a race he rated as: "Definitely the best drive of my career".

Mansell fully supported Ferrari's signing of World Champion Alain Prost, assessing that the Frenchman's arrival, on equal
terms, could only strengthen Ferrari's hand in 1990. "We know we are in good shape for a crack at the World Championship,"
he said. Nigel quickly formed a rapport with the triple World Champion while they pursued an intensive programme of winter
engine development for the Scuderia.

After a disappointing start to the season, Mansell's luck changed in Portugal where he equalled Stirling Moss's record of the
most successful English driver with 16 Grands Prix victories. He took second place in three races, scored points in three more,
and won three pole positions, finishing the season fifth in the World Championship.

At the British Grand Prix Mansell announced he was to retire from Formula One but public support, and his belief that
Williams, which offered him Number One status, could give him a good chance of winning the title, made him change his mind.
He returned to the team with which he had won 13 races, his status as Britain's top driver officially confirmed with the award of
the Order of the British Empire (OBE).

Five victories in 1991 started with a new record for the most Grand Prix wins by an English driver. He was the only driver to
seriously challenge Ayrton Senna for the Drivers' World Championship and finished the season runner-up for the third time in
his career. He re-signed for Williams, but moved his family base from the Isle of Man to Florida.

1992 was Mansell's year, winning the Drivers' Championship at last. Mansell set a record 14 pole positions in the season and
won nine races, clinching the title in Hungary, only the 11th of the 16 races. But after failing to agree terms for another season
with Williams, he announced at the Italian Grand Prix in that he had signed to drive in the United States for the Newman Haas
team in a Lola-Ford in the PPG IndyCar World Series.

ÿ He won the opening round in Surfers Paradise, Australia, but crashed heavily in practice at Phoenix - the first oval event of
his career. Despite an operation for a back injury, he finished third at Long Beach and in his first Indianapolis 500 - which he
came close to winning. Further victories came at on the ovals of Milwaukee, Michigan, New Hampshire and Nazareth where
he clinched the Championship in the second last race.

His second Indycar season was disappointing, with Newman Haas outgunned by Penske, and he had a big crash at
Indianapolis. Eagerly sought by Formula One, he made four "guest appearances" with Williams, driving sensationally in the rain
in Japan and then winning the Australian Grand Prix.

It was those final performances that convinced him that he wanted to return to fight for the World Championship again, this time
for a team he has always admired as a rival, Marlboro McLaren.
