Tiff Needell

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Tiff Needell
Nationality  Flag of the United Kingdom British
Formula One World Championship career
Active years 1980
Teams Ensign
Races 2 (1 start)
Championships 0
Wins 0
Podium finishes    0
Career points 0
Pole positions 0
Fastest laps 0
First race 1980 Belgian Grand Prix
Last race 1980 Monaco Grand Prix
British Formula One Series career
Active years 1979
Races 8
Championships 0
Wins 0
Podium finishes    1
Career points 7
Pole positions 0
Fastest laps 0

Timothy "Tiff" Needell (born October 29, 1951 at Havant, Hampshire) is a British racing driver and television presenter.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Needell attended City University, London where he achieved an Honours Degree in Civil Engineering. Hired by George Wimpey & Co, his day job was as a Structural Design Engineer.

[edit] Racing career

Needell first raced at a driving school at Brands Hatch in 1970. He progressed to Formula Ford, his progress assisted by the use of a Lotus 69 FF he won in an Autosport magazine competition. The remainder of the 1970s saw Needell as a front runner in the British Formula 3 series and then in the Aurora British Formula One championship. In 1979 he was unable to graduate to the F1 World Championship due to the lack of the correct licence, but he was back in 1980, driving two Grands Prix for Ensign, qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix at Zolder. However, he had an engine problem and did not finish the race. He subsequently failed to qualify for the Monaco Grand Prix.

After this came sports cars with a Porsche 962 (LM) from 1989 to 1992. His best result in sports cars was 3rd at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1990. He then had a couple of years in the British Touring Car Championship with Nissan, before returning to sports cars in 1995, driving a Porsche at Daytona and a Jaguar XJ220 at Le Mans. He then drove the Lister Storm for 3 years, reaching 3rd overall at Daytona in 1997 before gearbox problems dropped them to 19th. In 1998 he finished 2nd in the GT1 championship and won the Silverstone Golden Jubilee Trophy race.

Since then, Needell's racing career has mainly consisted of racing tin-tops (hard-topped cars), with varying levels of success in sports cars, historic racing and touring cars. He achieved particular notoriety after an accident with Nigel Mansell at the 1993 TOCA shoot out race at Donington Park.

[edit] Television career

However, Needell is best known in the United Kingdom as a television presenter and television and print motoring journalist, in particular in association with the BBC TV series Top Gear which he started co-hosting in 1987. In 2001, when the BBC cancelled Top Gear (the show was brought back in 2002), Tiff and the whole cast defected and signed with Five to produce and host a new motoring show named Fifth Gear. He does however, still contribute to Top Gear magazine. Tiff has also co-presented 'MPH' at Earls Court in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006 with Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond.[1]

Tiff Needell says his highlight to date is "accidentally, ahem, ignoring the strict instructions Ferrari issued about not touching the traction control on their half million pound Enzo..." He has also done this on Fifth Gear while reviewing the Bugatti Veyron as well as the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren, joking that his finger slipped after showing viewers the letter from Mercedes-Benz requesting he leave the traction control on.

[edit] Personal life

Tiff lives with his wife and three children in Wiltshire.

In November 2006 Needell was cleared of 'failing to supply details in relation to a speeding ticket', and the accompanying speeding offence by Pontypridd magistrates. He was defended by Nick Freeman, otherwise known as Mr. Loophole.[2]

[edit] Complete Formula One results

(key)

Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 WDC Points
1980 Unipart Racing Team Ensign N180 Cosworth V8 ARG
 BRA
 RSA
 USW
 BEL
Ret		 MON
DNQ		 FRA
 GBR
 GER
 AUT
 NED
 ITA
 CAN
 USA
 - 0

[edit] Trivia

 Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.
  • The nickname "Tiff" was given to him by his brother because of their constant bickering.
  • Tiff has lent his voice to the first and second games in the 'TOCA Touring Car series' for British video game developer Codemasters.
  • Tiff's voice is also featured in the up-coming 'Ferrari Challenge' video game for racing game developer Eutechnyx.
  • Tiff is the voice of the Road Angel road safety device and GPS speed camera alert system, as well as the face on their advertising campaigns.
  • Tiff's most recent DVD release was 'Danger Zone' in 2000. This features Needell testing various high performance cars
  • His younger brother Chris is a team manager for Barwell Motorsports team racing Aston Martin DBRS9
  • Jim Bamber in his Cartoon Strips refers to Tiff as "Miff Tedium"1

[edit] References

  1. ^ MPH
  2. ^ Needell cleared over ticket

[edit] External links