50 Years of British Champions

You’ve probably noticed – Britain has a new Formula 1 World Champion. He cut it fine, but Lewis Hamilton did just enough to claim his place alongside the eight other Grand Prix champions from the British Isles. We’d never seen drama like it.

Hamilton has enjoyed his fair share of magazine covers, and now he has another to his name. The January 2009 edition of Motor Sport – our 1001st of course – is graced by his familiar figure as we mark his achievement in suitable fashion. But this being Motor Sport, we’ve tackled Hamilton’s success with our own special twist.

By happy coincidence, Lewis is champion exactly 50 years after Britain’s first – Mike Hawthorn. Thus, the golden boy of 1950s motor racing inspired us to combine two very different eras into a single image for our cover. Inside, we reflect on the vast differences between two heroes of their generations, but also acknowledge the parallels, and one important fact: despite all the distractions that surround the modern sport, racing is still racing. The essence hasn’t changed at all.

Hamilton deserves his latest Motor Sport cover. But there was a faction in our office that wanted to keep to the best traditions of the magazine by choosing a cover subject completely at odds with trends – and relevance to anything in particular. Yes, I was tempted, too: the lairy green Capri featured inside would have looked great with our famous masthead…

We hooked up tin-top legend Andy Rouse with a recreation of the Broadspeed Capri he helped develop for driver Dave Matthews back in 1973 – and the reborn car looks fabulous. Love ’em or hate ’em, nothing is more evocative of the ’70s than a mint model of the testosterone-charged Ford.

Elsewhere, we bring you the technical challenge of Richard Noble’s new Land Speed Record attempt, as BloodhoundSSC aims for the mind-bending mark of 1000mph; Martin Brundle joins Nigel Roebuck for a bowl of pasta and a grappa or three to talk over the 2008 F1 season; Simon Taylor meets John Watson for lunch (he could have been Britain’s seventh F1 World Champion!); and Andrew Frankel gives us his verdict on the new Ferrari California drop-top.

As ever, an eclectic mix from the past and the present, the great and the good. Happy reading.