Raging Bull

Owned by Formula One driver Daniel Ricciardo and his father Joe, this 1968 912/6 built by Ktec Autohaus in Perth defines the Outlaw Porsche look beautifully.

- Simon Jackson

There are no real characters in Formula One anymore. The drivers are PR robots. The teams are tied in knots carefully watching what they say for fear of upsetting a sponsor. And as for the sport’s bosses, well – they’re utterly clueless, right? It’s not like the old days with the likes of James Hunt or Ayrton Senna, when sex was safe and motor racing was dangerous… Enough of this tosh. These accusations, regularly perpetuated by those with an axe to grind about modern motorsport, are based on little knowledge and even less evidence. Those close to this pinnacle formula know otherwise, they know that all of the above is simply untrue, and the substantiation for that declaration isn’t that hard to unearth. Indeed contrary to popular opinion there are plenty of characters on a modern F1 grid, and a handful of driver’s with personalities great enough to make up for those colleagues with none. Proof enough of this is 27-year old Australian driver Daniel Ricciardo – the nicest bloke in F1.

Born in Perth, Western Australia, unlike most drivers these days Daniel was not pressured into motorsport by his father, in fact it was quite the opposite story. Dan’s father, Joe Ricciardo, had raced sports saloons as a hobby for some 30 years, but by all accounts he and wife Grace were keener on their offspring getting into field sports than anything involving petrol power. Young Daniel had other ideas though. Inspired by Ayrton Senna, he became a keen follower of Formula One and started racing karts aged nine. He took to karts naturally, fearless and fast, Dan won the 2000 Tiger Kart Club midget division aged 11 and some in the know tipped him for greatness even then. Joe, who ran an earth moving business in Perth, decided to put any money he could find behind a single push for his son’s professional motorsport career.