Tiff Needell
Timothy Richard " Tiff " Needell ( born October 29, 1951 in Havant ) is an English racing driver.
Motorsport career
Tiff Needell began his motor racing career in Formula Ford and secured in the British 1600 cc Championship 1975 title. A year later, in 1976, he had to settle in the championship of the 2000 cc cars with the second overall. After a year in Formula 3 and Formula 1 first experiments in the Aurora series Needell denied in 1980 his only world championship race. In the Belgian Grand Prix at Zolder he drove a factory Ensign N180, but with different engine failure.
After a trip to the Japanese Formula 2 championship, he was in the 1980s and 1990s as one of the top riders in the group C. Needell drove in all the major sports car races such as the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring.
Television career
After the end of his racing activities Needell worked as a motorsport journalist. This profession he practices today still pending.
Needell is particularly considered one of the moderators of the racing television series of the BBC Top Gear announced that he acted as co-host from 1987. After weaning, the mission 2001 (2002 Top Gear was with a new team of moderators neuaufgesetzt ) Needell is engaged in a new show called Fifth Gear, which is ranked as competition to the present Top Gear show.
The highlights Needells in the broadcasts include driving the supercar McLaren F1, Mercedes SLR, Ferrari Enzo and Bugatti Veyron.