Ian Ashley is a former British Motor Racing Driver, Pilot and Motorcycle and Sidecar Champion. He has also been an instructor in all three disciplines.In a hugely varied life and career, Ian went from dominant novice at the Jim Russell Racing School to a fast, but uncut diamond in Formula Ford and Formula Three (against future champions such as Britain's James Hunt), to pace setter in Formula 5000 and then giant killing performances in underfunded and uncompetitive British Formula One teams including Token, BRM, Williams and Hesketh. After a huge crash that ended his F1 career, he then diverted to become a pilot, flying crop dusting bi-planes, Lear and Gulf Stream private Jets and Sea Planes from Alaska!He briefly returned to cars, racing Indy Lights and Indy Cars in the USA and also raced motorbikes and turned his hand to three wheels in Motorcycle and Sidecars. He had a brief foray into the BTCC, TVR Tuscan and Lotus Elise racing in the UK and later in his life returned to historic racing cars and finally winning multiple championships in historic Sidecars.In his rich life, he has created had a few stories and had a few crashes along the way…#f1 #f3 #formulaford #formula5000 #hesketh #jameshunt #williams #brm #btcc #indycar #tvr #lotus #racing #british #motorsport #stories #crashes #crash 00:00:00 – Coming up…00:01:59 – Intro00:06:35 – Holding on to a sidecar…00:10:29 – My Dad was a test pilot for Concorde00:18:07 – A start at Jim Russell00:23:00 – Into Formula Ford and Formula 300:27:35 – Racing with Fittipaldi brothers Emerson and Wilson in Brazil00:31:54 – Becoming a star in Formula 500000:38:52 – Formula One with BRM00:40:15 – James Hunt00:42:19 – Giving no quarter00:44:36 – Learning the art of slipstreaming00:48:34 – F1 debut at…the Nurburgring!00:53:29 – Racing with Williams00:55:19 – Racing with a plaster cast leg…00:58:25 – A mistake moving to BRM01:00:08 – A drive with Hesketh01:06:35 – A brave shit01:12:24 – Becoming a Lear Jet pilot01:20:15 – Flying Jackie Stewart01:25:56 – Learning to drive or fly – the principle of starting with one axis01:31:14 – Looking like Ian Anderson from Fairport Convention01:33:10 – The accidental arrest!01:35:28 – Flying sea planes from Alaska01:37:22 – Indycars & Indy Lights01:40:55 – Motorbike and sidecars!01:49:37 – ”Shunt” and ”Crashley”!01:50:36 – Back to historic racing cars…01:52:15 – An unusual link01:56:00 – Motorcycle and Sidecar Champion01:56:59 – Can you remember…?Note: Due to technical issues with the audio that almost caused a cancellation and re-record, AI was used to help clarify voices. You may notice a slightly digital sounding voice in places, but I wanted to make sure the production happened and voices could be heard well. Hope that's understandable. If you enjoy this episode and would like to see more please Like, Share and Subscribe! Thank you, AnthonyIf you are interested in learning more about Ian's career, here are some good articles:https://www.f1forgottendrivers.com/ian-ashley-f5000/https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/march-2012/113/more-than-a-tocken-effort/http://www.forix.com/8w/ashley.html