AUTOSPORT's Memories of 2012

VILLENEUVE PICKS HIS GREATEST RACE
Glenn Freeman, news editor

We all enjoy speaking to drivers for the regular 'Race of My Life' feature at the back of AUTOSPORT magazine. So when you get the chance to chat to a driver you cheered for as a kid you hope that he's up for it.

Fortunately for me, in June this year Jacques Villeneuve was well and truly up for it.

'Race of My Life' runs to about 500 words, but when he had finished telling the tale of his 1995 Indianapolis 500 win I had over 1300 words at my disposal. His recollection of the race was superb, and it took me back to that fascinating event.

Regular readers of our final page will spot that drivers often start their story by whittling down their options, and Villeneuve was the same as he weighed up his Indy win against the 1997 European Grand Prix.

Either way I knew I wasn't going to be disappointed.

DRIVING LESSON FROM LATVALA
David Evans, rallies editor

Latvala put a lot of faith in Evans © LAT

With a tug on his belts, Jari-Matti Latvala grinned.

"Now," he said, "now, we go maximum. Come on, flat-out." And with a slightly worrying grin, he started waving his hand to go faster.

"Fifth gear!" he shouted, "come on, more!"

He wasn't smiling a nanosecond or two later when, having credited me with far more talent than I actually possess, he'd left me to do my own braking.

Still in fifth gear, we were now going backwards. Both of us (I suspect, although I can't be certain about him... for obvious reasons) with our eyes shut. But my mouth open to vent one long expletive.

Finally, we stopped.

Laughing, Latvala told me to start it up and have another go. So we did. And I got the hang of it. Or at least I did in my mind.

Latvala was a genuine superstar for giving me a go in his Fiesta RS WRC. And a total lunatic for staying put while I did.

TWO MOMENTS OF PURE ALONSO
Jonathan Noble, group F1 editor

Alonso puts a sublime pass on Grosjean in Valencia © LAT

Although he did not win the world championship, it is hard to look back at 2012 without Fernando Alonso's supreme efforts standing out. It was a year when, for the first time in a while, a driver was able to stand head and shoulders above his machinery.

There are two Alonso moments that really stick out though. The first was his opportunistic, brave and pinpoint overtaking move past Romain Grosjean at the safety car restart in Valencia - simply superb.

The second, which showed how he is so central to Ferrari, came in the early hours of one morning in January when he stayed late to entertain the troops from the DJ decks at a party wrapping up his team's pre-season ski camp at Madonna di Campiglio. Here was someone completely locked in with the family around him.

It is such a privilege seeing a man and team so at one with each other - both on and off track.

ENJOYING SOME GROUP C LEGENDS
Kevin Turner, features editor

Former Peugeot Le Mans star Minassian tries his ex-employer's Group C classic

Group C sportscars have always been among my favourites and part of our celebration of the category in August centred around a very special track test.

Just seeing Lancia LC2, Sauber C9 and Peugeot 905 machinery side-by-side was fantastic, but to have sportscar stars Peter Dumbreck, Andy Wallace and Nicolas Minassian on hand to drive them was something else again.

It was a pleasure to listen to their thoughts on the raw power and abilities of these iconic machines, while the fact they shared their individual experiences of flying upside down in contemporary prototypes provided a great reminder that racing drivers are a breed apart.

The icing on the cake was that Minassian, 905 no longer available, jumped in an LC2 for the second race at the Silverstone Classic and played his part in a great Sauber-Porsche-Lancia battle at the front. Magic.

RAIKKONEN RETURNS AND MEANS BUSINESS
Simon Strang, digital special project manager

It was like Raikkonen had never been away © LAT

Cast your mind back to January. Were you absolutely certain, I mean utterly convinced, that Kimi Raikkonen's comeback would be a success? I wasn't. And having watched Michael Schumacher struggle to reach the kind of level we all secretly wished for on his own comeback, I was hopeful, rather than certain that 'The Iceman' would be back to his best this year.

That all changed on a cold Spanish morning in early February. On the first day of testing, the Lotus darted out of the pits and quickly lit up the tyres and Kimi seemed immediately on it. Fierce and purposeful, the car's body language said it all - Raikkonen wasn't messing about.

That's the way it stayed all year. His win in Abu Dhabi then, was a highlight for me.

The bravest act of the year? Mike Conway's statement admitting his fear of ovals - that was an act of immense personal courage.

PICKED TO PARTNER MONTOYA
Mark Glendenning, US special contributor

Montoya decided Glendenning was the ideal man for his team... © LAT

As someone who was usually picked last for team sports at school, it was with some dismay that I was shuffled into a line-up to be chosen for a Chevrolet team motorkhana event at Firebird Raceway in Arizona.

I was shocked, then, when one of the team captains - Juan Pablo Montoya - pointed at me early on. "You. Over here," he said.

I've never claimed to be a race driver, but as I trotted over I wondered whether Montoya had spotted something in me - my walk perhaps, or my look of steely determination - that spoke of an undiscovered talent.

"You're about the right size," he said when I reached him. "I want everyone to be the same height". I guess not.

Nevertheless, we finished a close second behind Kasey Kahne's team, and the day finished with me screeching around the track in a Camaro while my passenger Jeff Burton amused himself by randomly yanking on the handbrake and then chuckling as the car looped into a spin. Good times.

WILLIAMS RETURNS TO WINNING WAYS
Edd Straw, F1 editor

Sir Frank Williams could finally celebrate an F1 win again © LAT

Frank Williams sits dispassionately in the garage, following the timing screens intently. It's just like old times, but this is May 2012 and it's Pastor Maldonado who is on his way to one of the most important victories in the history of the team.

It's rare for a journalist to become invested in the result, but given the seven-year victory drought for Williams, a period during which there were very serious questions hanging over the future of the team, I'm on the edge of my seat. The moment Maldonado crosses the line and makes Williams win again is indelibly imprinted in my memory... as is was happened not long after.

While waiting to grab a word with chief operations engineer Mark Gillan in the Williams motorhome, everyone is aghast as the television shows pictures of the garage erupting in flames. Fortunately, there were no serious injures, but it could have been so much worse.

CELEBRATING WHELDON AT INDY
Charles Bradley, editor

Paying tribute to Wheldon at Indy

Lap 26 of the Indianapolis 500. Seven months on from that wretched day at Las Vegas, it was time to celebrate the memory of Dan Wheldon. Having cleared the lump in my throat from seeing Bryan Herta take Dan's 2011 500 winner for a pre-race lap of honour, it was a great salute to see so many fans donning their cardboard 'Celebrating Dan Wheldon' white sunglasses.

For the second celebratory lap - 98 being Dan's other winning Indy number - I'd left the lucidity of the Turn 1 grandstand to join the drunken hoi polloi at the infield at Turn 4. From there I watched in awe as Dario Franchitti ruthlessly finished his job of carving his way to victory, after a "f*****g clown" (Dario's words on the radio, not mine) had spun him in the pitlane down to last position.

'D-Dub' would have loved that. Of course, I joined the locals by drinking to them both.

FOLLOWING IN THE WHEELTRACKS OF GETHIN
Ben Anderson, national editor

Anderson at the wheel of Gethin's F5000 car

I know this is supposed to be 'memory' of the year, but I'm going to exercise a bit of the Yuletide glutton in me and plump for three!

I hadn't even heard of the Euro Racecar NASCAR Touring Series before this year, but come May's Brands Hatch round I was doing battle in a 450bhp stock car. Spraying champagne on the podium at a DTM meeting was a rare privilege.

Two months later I was at one of the UK's biggest race meetings of the season - the Silverstone Classic - to compete in the Peter Gethin Memorial Trophy race for Formula 5000 and Historic Formula 2 racers, in one of Gethin's old cars!

Stock-block Chevy V8 power was again the order of the weekend, but this time in a single-seater. The only disappointment was losing a nailed-on podium to gearbox failure in the second race.

There were plenty of disappointed people in the British GT paddock after this year's final round at Donington, but not among those watching. The dramatic seven-way title showdown was undoubtedly the best race I have reported on for AUTOSPORT.

PEUGEOT LEAVES, TOYOTA SAVES THE DAY
Gary Watkins, special contributor

By the end of the year, Toyota was an Audi-beater © LAT

The news rocked me to my core. Peugeot had just announced a sudden and absolute withdrawal from the prototype arena, news I was convinced would pull the rug from under the forthcoming FIA World Endurance Championship.

You wait 20 years for a proper world championship for sportscars, you get all excited about a further instalment of one of the most intense rivalries in the history of long-distance racing, and then it's snatched away from you. I was distraught.

I swore and kept swearing for days. Out loud or in my head each time I thought of that shock announcement.

My mood improved bit by bit through the season. First, when Toyota committed to six races and saved the WEC and, then, on the occasion of the starring debut of its TS030 Hybrid at the Le Mans 24 Hours.

And when Alex Wurz and Nicolas Lapierre beat the Audis to give Toyota a maiden victory at Interlagos, the fog finally lifted. I knew, then, that we had a championship and a new super-rivalry.

That dark day of January 18 was forgotten. Well, almost.

MEETING A ROCK LEGEND AT DAYTONA
Andrew van de Burgt, editor-in-chief

Brian Johnson at Daytona © LAT

Before this year I'd never been to Daytona, but in 2012 I was fortunate enough to visit the hallowed speedway twice.

While the 500 has long been a must-do bucket list event, I have to be honest and say the 24 Hours never really appealed. How wrong I was.

From the start and a visit to the roof to stand alongside the spotters, through the star-studded grand marshal dinner, to the high-speed lap of the track, I had an amazing time.

But the undisputed highlight was meeting AC/DC frontman Brian Johnson. I've been a fan of the Anglo-Scottish blues-rockers since I was a long-haired teen, so there was no way I was going to miss the opportunity to meet one of music's finest single entendre exponents.

Dripping with sweat after his final stint, Johnson took a quick glug of water then disappeared briefly to make a rollie. When he returned I introduced myself. "Aye, great to meet you lad," he said in thick Geordie. "I fookin' love AUTOSPORT." Legend.

AMERICAN ICON VISITS GOODWOOD
Henry Hope-Frost, presenter/sub-editor

Gurney brought something special to Goodwood

The tall, blonde, tanned Californian dude right in front of me was smiling, shaking hands with and offering thanks to anyone who approached.

A crowd had built-up quickly - and not one of the smartly dressed punters was in any doubt about who this was. It was that sort of occasion.

He saw me, armed with a mic and rubbing shoulders with a cameraman, and approached. Oh god!

We talked for five precious minutes about his memories of the hallowed ground on which we were standing - the Goodwood Motor Circuit.

There wasn't time to reflect fully on a motorsport career that had brought victories in Formula 1, World Sportscars, IndyCars, NASCAR, Can-Am, Trans-Am, the Le Mans 24 Hours and the BTCC, but I had no complaints.

And then he climbed into a 1959 Ferrari 250TR alongside former team-mate and sparring partner Tony Brooks and went for a demo. I had to go into a quiet corner to wait until the tingling had died down.

It had been a can-I-touch-you-to-check-you're-real moment.

Thank you for coming, Daniel Sexton Gurney.

NASCAR DEBUT WITH A LE MANS WINNER
Sam Tremayne, deputy news editor

Helary's NASCAR debut didn't go quite according to plan

I'd never been to a NASCAR race before, so sitting in the top rows of the 90,000-plus New Hampshire Motor Speedway grandstands and watching a 100-lap NASCAR K&N East series race was a memory in itself. But there was a twist; alongside me was 1993 Le Mans winner Eric Helary. And he was supposed to be racing...

Helary was there as part of his prize for winning the 2011 Euro Racecar series, but after mechanical woes in practice and an unfortunate qualifying draw (fourth) he failed to make the grid.

He made no attempt to hide his disappointment at missing out, but rather than allowing it to darken his mood his enthusiasm was infectious, his insight fascinating.

Surrounded by a vocal throng, it was the perfect introduction to my first live NASCAR event.

FLOODING, MELTING TRACKS, AND GREAT RACING
Jamie O'Leary, reports editor

Green claims a spectacular Norisring win

Norisring. It's only one word, but it tells you everything you need to know about my memory of 2012.

Thanks to the timing of my brother's wedding, I was forced to miss what should have been my maiden visit to the Nuremberg street track last year, but the wait was well worth it.

The Nazi history that surrounds the place is as fascinating as it is harrowing, and a trip up onto the Steintribune to gaze across the paddock (which previously housed thousands of Hitler's supporters) stirred some pretty extreme feelings.

The on-track action was extreme too. After the Esses melted in the horrendously high temperatures of Friday afternoon and cancelled F3 qualifying, Sunday brought flooding and an early end to single-seater proceedings. Not before we'd seen a race without a winner mind.

And then, just when you thought things might settle down, Jamie Green passed Martin Tomczyk at the last corner to win a scintillating DTM race.

Brilliant.

RIDING WITH 'OLD MAN' TARQUINI
Peter Mills, picture editor

Tarquini was in superb form at Monza © XPB

A passenger ride around Monza aboard Gabriele Tarquini's SEAT Leon was conducive to getting the blood up ahead of an inaugural season covering the World Touring Car Championship. The Abruzzo racer had worn something of a weary, forced smile at the conclusion of the series' media day, owing to profuse references to his recent 50th birthday.

An outburst of emotion was saved for Saturday afternoon, when the 2009 WTCC champion defied the pundits by claiming pole position - and confirmed the sensations from my makeshift passenger seat two days earlier that I had been in the hands of one of the circuit's maestros.

Motor racing is principally a hobby, but for those who spend their lives immersed in it, there is a danger of losing perspective of relative fortunes.

In the paddock after the Marrakech meeting in April, I was alerted to a number of teams undertaking some unusually meticulous packing. The reason? To prevent the impoverished from stowing away for the return journey to Europe...

TROUBLE AT PAU
Marcus Simmons, chief sub-editor

Pau: A classic location, but be careful where you park © LAT

This was it - another one of life's unwelcome little rites of passage ticked off: for the first time, I'd had my car towed away.

I'd arrived in Pau for the British Formula 3 weekend on the Thursday evening, and a brief chat with an apparently friendly restaurant proprietor had misled me into thinking I could park on Place Clemenceau. Turned out that was only do-able at night and, when I checked on my hire car the following lunchtime, it was gone.

Luckily, the Pau police are the nicest you could ever be 'done' by. They told me a public-works vehicle was heading out to the car pound tout de suite, and that I could have a lift.

The old fella driving the battered Corsa could well have been the bloke who starred in Rendezvous. "I used to marshal at the Grand Prix to get close to the action," he told me as we dived between and around dawdling traffic. "Look at him," he said as we passed a serene thirtysomething driver. "He has plenty of life left, but I don't have enough to waste my time behind him."

We screeched to a stop at the pound and he unlocked the door to his office. "That will be 95 Euros please," he beamed.