1996
Formula 1 World Champion – and the last Briton to lift the trophy –
Damon Hill has said he would never have made it to the very top of the sport had it not been for his ‘inspirational' father Graham.
Hill was speaking as a bronze bust of his father – who himself conquered the world drivers' laurels in both 1962 and 1968, and remains the only driver in history to claim the coveted ‘Triple Crown' of the Monaco Grand Prix, Indianapolis 500 and Le Mans 24 Hours – was returned to the British Racing Drivers' Club (BRDC) at
Silverstone, nine years after it was stolen from the circuit. It was recovered in Bolton thanks to a joint operation by Northamptonshire and Greater Manchester police forces, though Hill revealed he had never actually realised it was missing in the first place…
“Amy [Goodman, who sculpted the bust] contacted me and asked if we'd like another one,” the 47-year-old explained. “We had another bust that had been up there for a long time; I was under the impression that was the one that was being referred to so I said ‘we've got one', but she said ‘no, it's been stolen' and I was thinking ‘I'm sure it was there the last time I looked!'
“I wasn't aware the original one had been stolen and a replacement had been commissioned. It was all a bit confusing, and now they've found the original one too suddenly there's a flood of heads of my father appearing all over the place. Now we have an embarrassment of Graham Hills!”
Expressing his gratitude and paying tribute to the good work of the police in tracking the bust down, Hill joked that his father was still living the jet-set lifestyle even three decades on from his death in a plane crash. The original bust will now remain in the BRDC Clubhouse, with the replacement one being loaned to the National Motor Museum in Beaulieu, where a Graham Hill Exhibition is due to be held.
