Rock Legend Swaps Microphone For Classic Racing Mini

NOT content with belting out hard rock tunes, AC/DC front man Brian Johnson will son be charging around Croft racing circuit at the wheel of a classic Mini.

The rock great is scheduled to compete at Croft’s Nostalgia Weekend (2-3 August), which the circuit is describing as an irresistible blend of fast cars, wheel-to-wheel racing, vintage music and dress.

Johnson will take to the circuit in the Historic Touring Cars class behind the wheel of a 1964 Mini Cooper that he purchased late last year after driving it in his television series ‘Cars That Rock With Brian Johnson’.

A self-confessed ‘car nut’ whose first experience of high-octane action came at Croft when he went to watch an MG race at the North Yorkshire venue in the mid-1960s, the Florida-based Englishman – originally from Tyne and Wear – has been competing in historic events in the United States and Europe for the past couple of decades.

“I was 17-and-a-half when I got my first car – a Ford Popular, sit-up-and-beg style and with only three gears,” he recalls. “That August, I was in my home village of Dunston near Gateshead with not much to do, when somebody said there was racing on at Croft – so on a rainy day and with just one windscreen wiper on this Popular, myself and two friends headed down there. We drove straight past the lady on the gate because we couldn’t afford to buy tickets...

“Having got my initial taste of live motor racing at Croft, I jumped at the chance to race at the Nostalgia Weekend. I was recently one of the drivers in a Porsche 911 that finished first-in-class and 20th overall at the Le Mans Classic, but it’ll be quite a departure from that car’s big fat tyres and rear wing to the little Mini I’ll be driving this weekend!

“As a circuit, Croft is a complete step into the unknown for me and I’ve been told it’s quite a challenge, so I’m fully expecting a big learning curve and to get my backside royally kicked by the Nostalgia regulars! Hopefully, the test day beforehand will help me to get up to some kind of speed ahead of the racing – it should be a fun weekend and I’m really looking forward to it.”

By Press Association reporters