Memories of the year: Beating my racing hero

Last year, I got to interview my Formula 1 idol Damon Hill about his 'Race of my Life' at Suzuka in 1994.

I thought it couldn't get any better than that, but in 2012 I got to compete against my first motor racing hero - Clive Richards - in a Ginetta G40 Challenge race.

It's fairly normal for most young boys to idolise their fathers, so I guess it's also logical that they should greatly admire anyone who can beat their dad on the racetrack.

Richards (4) climbs the field from row 11 at Snetterton... © LAT

My father entered motorsport by building a Caterham Seven and racing it in the Caterham K-Series in the mid-1990s. I travelled up and down the country to support my old man in his early racing exploits. This meant I got to see a lot of Caterham racing.

My dad was a mid-pack runner at best, which wasn't bad considering he had no motorsport background and ran his own car off a trailer. In the meantime, one man continued to paste everyone at the front of the field.

That man was Clive Richards. He utterly dominated the championship with a car that carried the slogan 'You can't always catch a Metrobus', which was entirely appropriate, because nobody could.

Seventeen years on from that formative season, my life came full circle. The chance to race in the second round of this year's Ginetta G40 Challenge - a single-make mini-GT category that supports British F3/GT - gave me the opportunity to go up against my childhood hero in competition (while simultaneously reporting on British F3 for AUTOSPORT)!

First blood went to the young pretender in qualifying on the new Snetterton 300 circuit. A correct call to stick with slicks during a brief, pre-session downpour helped me take pole position, while Richards found himself mired down on the 11th row.

It didn't take too long for our paths to converge in the race though - Richards made the rapid progress up the field I would expect of a champion driver, while I did a great job of reversing down the top 10 thanks to a first-lap spin.

...but was outlasted by our man Anderson, who finished on the podium © LAT

As I recovered my composure and set about climbing the order, I found myself arriving on the tail of Richards's similar car. 'Fantastic!' I thought. 'This is my chance to go head to head with my first racing idol!'

Unfortunately, before battle could be well and truly joined, Richards spun off into the barrier coming out of the new Williams right-hander that leads onto the back straight. "Experience told me to back out of it, but I kept my foot in," he told me later.

Not quite the epic on-track fight I had been hoping for, but just to be on the same grid as Richards marked a seminal moment in my life. To also score a podium finish in that same race made it an extra-special day.

Richards was the first to offer his sincere congratulations - confirming my recollection of a gentleman, as well as a top driver.

Read more of AUTOSPORT's Memories of the Year including a meeting with the late Marco Simoncelli, and the retirement of one of the greats of the sport.