Video: Neel Jani dances shouty V8 Rover

14th May 2021

Seán Ward

As you’ll well know by now we love a good onboard, and at our big motorsport events we’re given the keys to the tech cupboard and access to live cameras. That in turn means we can live out our racing fantasies from our on-even offices and imagine what it’s like to be behind the wheel. At the 77^th Members’ Meeting one such camera was mounted in the Rover SD1 of Neel Jani, and what a wild 50-minute ride we were treated to.

Racing in the Gerry Marshall Trophy we could look forward as the 2016 Le Mans 24 winner and 2016 WEC champion danced with the mighty V8 Rover, fighting not just the rear end but a temperamental gearbox. At one point a downshift locked the rear axle coming into the chicane, and at the end of the Lavant Straight on one lap the ‘box refused to give Jani any gear at all. But it didn’t slow him down much. We also got to watch as Jani pulled into the pits to swap with co-driver James Wood. What a wild ride.