Tiff
Needell

Tiff Needell, whose full name is Timothy Richard Needell, was born in Havant on 29 October 1951. He first raced in 1970 at a driving school at Brands Hatch. He progressed through Formula Ford, where he won the Kent Messenger championship, and Formula Ford 2000 before moving up to Formula 3. For the rest of the 1970s he raced in British Formula 3 and then in the Aurora British Formula One championship. In 1979 a move into the Formula One World Championship fell through because he did not hold the correct licence.

He drove for Ensign in 1980. He was entered for two Grands Prix and made one start: at the Belgian Grand Prix in Zolder he qualified but retired with an engine problem. He failed to qualify at Monaco.

He also raced sports cars and touring cars. He first took part in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1981, finished 17th in a Porsche 956 in 1983, and briefly led the 1985 race in an Aston Martin EMKA. In 1990 he finished third overall in a Porsche 962C with David Sears and Anthony Reid. He later raced in the British Touring Car Championship for Nissan and drove the Lister Storm for several years. In 1998 he was fifth in the British GT Championship, and in 2000 he won all three races he entered in that series for Lister.

He also worked in television. From 1987 he was part of the presenting team of the original BBC series Top Gear. When it was cancelled in 2001 he moved with the team to Channel 5 and presented Fifth Gear. From 2018 he became a presenter on Lovecars.

Source: Wikipedia, “Tiff Needell”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.