Breaking the ice record

As winter weather has many parts of the Ti demographic in its grip, warnings to drive carefully and avoid unnecessary journeys abound. What better time, therefore, to tell a story about a completely unnecessary journey undertaken in perilous conditions at speeds illegal, inadvisable and almost certainly imprisonable in most jurisdictions around the world?

It took place during my many happy years when I was in charge of engineering at Bentley. And, I am happy and proud to say, I was at least partly to blame.

It was some time in 2006 and I’ll confess I felt flattered when my ever-confident and dedicated assistant Barbara Purcell announced she had a man called Juha Kankkunen on the telephone; would I take his call? Now, one of my office policies is that I speak with most people anyway and certainly any four-time World Rally Champions who happen to dial my number.  He had an idea and a proposal…