Why fast cars still give former racing driver Matthew Marsh the chills
- The British driver-turned-pundit plots his course to Hong Kong and a career in television
- He explains how preparation rather than pure talent was essential to his successes on the race tracks
Lotus blossom: I was born in Welwyn Garden City, in Hertfordshire (Britain), in 1968. My dad had a Lotus Seven sports car and was an amateur racer, but he gave up racing when I was born. Two years later my sister came along.
As a kid, my dad took me to the races. I went to my first Formula One Grand Prix in 1977, which was won by James Hunt. I loved the noise and the speed. I remember being scolded by a teacher for running around the St Albans School grounds making racing car noises. What the teacher didn’t realise was that I was taking the right lines around school with perfect gear changes, but there were no prizes for that.
When my grandfather died, he left us some money and we moved to an affluent town called Radlett, also in Hertfordshire. It was there that I got my first job, as a 14-year-old working in a shop that sold model cars, Grand Prix Models. My dad wrote a letter to the shop owner, Brian Harvey, telling him that I was a good lad, could make a good cup of tea, and asking if I could have a Saturday job. It was a mail-order business, open on Saturdays and during the week by appointment.
I met all sorts of people there. One weekday afternoon – when I probably should have been doing my homework, but was at the shop – Nick Mason, the drummer for Pink Floyd, knocked on the door. He apologised for not having an appointment and asked if I could let Brian know he was there. I left him on the doorstep while I went to ask Brian. We laughed about that later.
Heading to Hong Kong: I took my A-levels in 1986. I didn’t do especially well and left school to work full time at Grand Prix Models. The following year, I decided I wanted to start racing. My grandad had left me some money and I used it to buy an old single-seater racing car. I quickly learned that racing was much more difficult than it looked.
Soon after I’d started racing, Peter Collins, who ran Benetton F1, came to the shop. I excitedly told him I was a big fan and wanted to make a fan club. He gave me his name card and suggested I visit. I did, and soon after I began a team magazine called Rabbit.
I raced for a couple of years, but it wasn’t going anywhere, and I wasn’t winning. When Peter offered me a job looking after some of the team’s sponsors, I packed in the racing and began working for him. From there I went on to work for Peter Grimes, as a marketing executive at his electronics company. When Peter’s business folded, he decided to move to Hong Kong and start again and asked if I wanted to go, too.
I arrived in Hong Kong in 1990. Peter had friends in Hong Kong and knew his way around. Although he didn’t stay long, I did and got a job in the telecoms industry, which got me travelling around the region and building up a network.
The following year (1991) Star TV was launched in Hong Kong and the new cable service covered the whole Macau championship. The pre-race show was hosted by a British guy called Jonathan Green. I noticed that whenever a race was delayed, he was on his own in the studio, so I called him – did he want a studio guest? He suggested we go for a beer and a curry.
We got on famously and, in 1993, he got me on as the studio guest for the Macau Grand Prix. I was terrible, but I succeeded in “filling airtime” and from then on, I became the regular studio guest for Formula One in Asia. I’ve been doing that on and off for the Macau Grand Prix ever since.
Eating elephants: In 1997, I started playing around with go-karts in Macau. On a trip back to the UK, I bought a Lotus Seven, the same car my dad had in his youth. He kept it in a garage and whenever I went back to the UK I’d go racing with him.
It was 10 years on from my first attempt and this time I was quite good. It was partly the go-kart experience and partly down to being 10 years older and having some experience of work. In business, when you have a big problem you cut it into small parts and proceed that way – you eat an elephant one piece at a time. I realised that I needed to be fitter, I needed to know the circuit better. If I could put all the elements together, the last 10 per cent, which is talent, would be less important than if I turned up unprepared.
I began winning races and thinking what I might achieve. I thought of the 24-hour race at Le Mans – it’s a race that you can do with a combination of talent and money whereas in Formula One you have to be one of the best 20 in the world.
At the 2003 Macau Grand Prix, he helped me get sponsorship to race in the Porsche Carrera Cup, which was the main supporting race to the Grand Prix. I put the car in pole position but lost the race. The following year, I raced in the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia and won the championship.
I’m proud of that, it’s something no one can ever take away from me – I’m a racing car champion. I don’t think it was because I was the fastest guy in the race, but I was the best prepared.
What would Michael do? I am a big believer in being well prepared. A friend once said to me, “You have to think, ‘What would Michael [Schumacher] do?’” Schumacher did extremely well because he didn’t rely on his talent. He would think through every single detail – how to get the best mechanic for his car, how to get the best tyres, how to get every possible advantage so that he didn’t have to rely on the fact that he was the best driver.
In my case, it’s thinking through all the details to give myself the chance to win when maybe I shouldn’t have done so. In 2005, Tim helped me get sponsorship to enter the FIA GT in Europe in a Porsche. And then in 2007, I did Le Mans – we did 21 hours of the 24 hours and then dropped out because of mechanical failure. We were back at Le Mans in 2009 and did 23 hours before the car blew up spectacularly.
Model behaviour: I met the woman who would become my wife at a party at Dragon-i (in Central). It was Christmas Eve 2000 and I was with Aron Harilela, who owns the Holiday Inn (in Tsim Sha Tsui). I pointed her out to Aron, who said he knew her, even though he didn’t. He walked over to her and said, “What’s your name? My friend fancies you.”
We married in 2007 and our daughter, Megan, was born in 2010 – she was conceived at the Macau Grand Prix. TV is a big part of my life – I’m a commentator for Fox Sports Asia. It’s fantastic and is second only to being in the race. I’m on site, meeting the people, I love it. When the cars are on the grid revving up, the hairs still stand up on the back of my neck.
