I WAS ALWAYS going to be a petrolhead. My father Norbert worked for Paul Emery at his Fulham workshops and then joined Paul in the Grand Prix Midget scene, eventually buying and racing an Emery Dastle Mk7. We still have that car, which will get restored this year.
Growing up, we had a lot of Italian cars in the household, as dad’s best friend owned multiple dealerships over the years. A bright pink Lancia Beta Spider looked quite the part in the oncemean streets of Wandsworth where I grew up, whereas a loaned Lancia Y10 put modern-day superminis to shame. Our Touring was loaded with Alcantara and electric windows all round.
Both my sister and I learned to drive in it and I passed my test a few weeks after my birthday. I immediately bought my own Lancia Y10 Turbo. The clutch gave out on the way home, but I was already hooked. I heavily modified it and it eventually ran 200bhp with an ex-RAC Rally engine. At one stage we had six Y10s.