Mansell hits premier league

The signature moustache may be long gone, but the brummy west midlands accent was still very much in evidence as 1992 Formula One world champion Nigel Mansell helped launch a new sponsorship connection between Lotus cars and the Norwich City Football Club.

The famous British sports car maker and 109 year old football team are based in the county of Norfolk, the latter celebrating its move back to the English Premier League after six years languishing in the next tier First Division.

Mansell, who also won the 1993 CART IndyCar title, showed he’d lost none of his aggression behind the wheel, performing some impressively smoky circle work in front of Norwich’s famous Carrow Road stadium in a lightweight (294kW V6) Evora GT4 track special.

He also did his bit on the pitch in a show penalty shoot-out with the Group Lotus Allstars, a team including his racer son Greg (elder brother Leo is also an accomplished driver) and Lotus GP ace Bruno Senna. After the match Mansell swapped shirts with Norwich Manager Paul Lambert.