When Indycar’s Mistimed Experiment Beat F1 at Silverstone

Nigel Mansell’s Formula 1 world championship-winning Williams FW14B is currently on display next to the Lola the British legend used to win the 1993 CART title in a special exhibition at Silverstone.

Thanks to a multi-million-dollar refurbishment at the Indianapolis Motorsport Speedway Museum, the Silverstone Museum currently has four special cars over from America.

The Indy 500: A British Success Story exhibition includes Mansell’s Lola T93/00, the Coyote in which US great AJ Foyt won when Indycar visited Silverstone (and broke F1 records) in the 1970s, a gas turbine-powered Lotus 56 from 1968 and the Bentley that contested the 1922 Indy 500.

In this special podcast from the Silverstone Museum, host Kevin Turner is joined by author/historian Ian Wagstaff and the museum’s head of collections and research Steph Sykes-Dugmore to reveal the stories behind these special machines and Britain's role in America's greatest race.

Mansell’s famous conquering of Indycar, the year after he claimed the F1 crown, features, as does the championship’s visit to Britain in 1978.

 Plus, the trio asks why that experiment wasn’t a success and whether a return of IndyCar to the UK could prove more popular today.

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