Andretti attracts huge London crowd

The US legend was scheduled to spend an hour and a half at the Sports Pages book shop in Charing Cross. But he ended up meeting fans for two and a half hours, as a queue of people stretched out on to the street. The crowd was said to match the size of those at previous book signings for two other sporting legends, Muhammed Ali and George Best.

"I am always impressed by the knowledge and enthusiasm of the British fans," said Andretti. "It was a bigger turnout that expected. Sixty percent of my fanmail is international and the most comes from Britain."

He also mentioned that the most popular memorabilia that he is asked to sign dates from his days as a Lotus Grand Prix driver. "They bring all sort of race programmes, books and pictures - most of which are pretty yellow!" he said.

The book - Mario Andretti: A Driving Passion - is written by AUTOSPORT's American editor Gordon Kirby, who joined the 1978 world champion for the book signing.