Tiff Needell
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Nationality  British |
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| Formula One World Championship career | |
|---|---|
| Active years | 1980 |
| Teams | Ensign |
| Races | 2 (1 start) |
| Championships | 0 |
| Wins | 0 |
| Podiums | 0 |
| Career points | 0 |
| Pole positions | 0 |
| Fastest laps | 0 |
| First race | 1980 Belgian Grand Prix |
| Last race | 1980 Monaco Grand Prix |
| British Formula One Series career | |
| Active years | 1979 |
| Races | 8 |
| Championships | 0 |
| Wins | 0 |
| Podium finishes | 1 |
| Career points | 7 |
| Pole positions | 0 |
| Fastest laps | 0 |
Timothy "Tiff" Needell (born 29 October 1951 in Havant, Hampshire) is a British racing driver and television presenter. He is best known as a former co-presenter of Top Gear and a current member of the Fifth Gear programme.
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[edit] Biography
Needell attended City University, London where he achieved an Honours Degree in Civil Engineering. Hired by George Wimpey & Co, his day job was as a Structural Design Engineer.
[edit] Racing career
Needell first raced at a driving school at Brands Hatch in 1970. He progressed to Formula Ford, his progress assisted by the use of a Lotus 69 FF he won in an Autosport magazine competition.[1] The remainder of the 1970s saw Needell as a front runner in the British Formula 3 series and then in the Aurora British Formula One championship. In 1979 he was unable to graduate to the F1 World Championship due to the lack of the correct licence, but he was back in 1980, driving two Grands Prix for Ensign, qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix at Zolder. However, he had an engine problem and did not finish the race. He subsequently failed to qualify for the Monaco Grand Prix.
After this came sports cars with a Porsche 962 (LM) from 1989 to 1992. His best result in sports cars was 3rd at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1990. He then had a couple of years in the British Touring Car Championship with Nissan, before returning to sports cars in 1995, driving a Porsche at Daytona and a Jaguar XJ220 at Le Mans. He then drove the Lister Storm for 3 years, reaching 3rd overall at Daytona in 1997 before gearbox problems dropped them to 19th. In 1998 he finished 2nd in the GT1 championship and won the Silverstone Golden Jubilee Trophy race.
Since then, Needell's racing career has mainly consisted of racing tin-tops (hard-topped cars), with varying levels of success in sports cars, historic racing and touring cars. He achieved particular notoriety after an accident with Nigel Mansell at the 1993 TOCA shoot out race at Donington Park.
[edit] Television career
Needell is best known in the United Kingdom as a television presenter and television and print motoring journalist, in particular in association with the BBC TV series Top Gear which he started co-hosting in 1987. In 2001, when the BBC cancelled Top Gear (the show was brought back in 2002), Tiff and the whole cast defected and signed with Five to produce and host a new motoring show named Fifth Gear. He does however, still contribute to Top Gear magazine. Tiff has also co-presented 'MPH' at Earls Court in 2003, 2004, 2005 with Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond and in 2006 with Jeremy Clarkson and James May (because Richard Hammond was recovering from his accident). He also appeared very briefly in the 2005 Top Gear Comic Relief special, Stars in Fast Cars—his only appearance on New Top Gear.
Tiff Needell says his highlight to date is "accidentally, ahem, ignoring the strict instructions Ferrari issued about not touching the traction control on their half million pound Enzo..." He has also done this on Fifth Gear while reviewing the Bugatti Veyron as well as the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren, joking that his finger slipped after showing viewers the letter from Mercedes-Benz requesting he leave the traction control on.
He has been one of several people suspected of portraying the elusive masked racing driver The Stig on the current format of Top Gear.[2][3]
[edit] Other work
He has an occasional column in the car magazine Auto Express.[4]
Needell has lent his voice to the first and second games in the 'TOCA Touring Car series' for British video game developer Codemasters. His voice is also featured in the 'Ferrari Challenge' and 'Le Mans 24 Hours' video game for racing game developer Eutechnyx. Additionally, he is the voice of the Road Angel road safety device and GPS speed camera alert system, as well as the face on their advertising campaigns. He also has narrated several Discovery Channel documentaries.[5]
[edit] Personal life
He lives in Wiltshire with his wife Patsy and his three sons, Jack, Harry and George.[6]
His younger brother Chris is a team manager for Barwell Motorsports team racing Aston Martin DBRS9. The nickname "Tiff" was apparently given to him by his brother because of their constant bickering.
In November 2006, Needell was cleared of 'failing to supply details in relation to a speeding ticket', and the accompanying speeding offence by Pontypridd magistrates. He was defended by Nick Freeman, otherwise known as Mr. Loophole.[7]
[edit] Complete Formula One results
(key)
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | WDC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | Unipart Racing Team | Ensign N180 | Cosworth V8 | ARG |
BRA |
RSA |
USW |
BEL Ret |
MON DNQ |
FRA |
GBR |
GER |
AUT |
NED |
ITA |
CAN |
USA |
NC | 0 |
[edit] References
- ^ DRIVERS: TIFF NEEDELL - GrandPrix.com
- ^ Some say he's Top Gear's true star. We only know he's The Stig, The Scotsman, 28 March 2008
- ^ Trackside - Who is the Stig? - Auto Trader online
- ^ Tiff Needell's column - AutoExpress.co.uk
- ^ http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2046393742348211186&ei=XFufSLOpOJu-qgOWmtUZ&q=explosion
- ^ Tiff Needell - Fifth Gear on five
- ^ Needell cleared over ticket
[edit] External links
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