A few days before the Silverstone weekend, we reached out to fans on our Twitter page - @Blancpain2013 to see what they would like to ask two specific drivers. Those two drivers, who agreed to play the questions and answers game, were ART Grand Prix McLaren star Mike Parisy and Gulf Racing’s Adam Carroll, also a pilot of the fabulous McLaren MP4-12C. We put the three best questions to Mike and Adam and as you can see, despite their different personalities some answers were closer than you might originally have thought!
What is the best piece of advice you have in your career? And what is the worst? – From @hellkat
Mike Parisy
“The best piece of advice I had in my career is to always give the best of myself, and that every mile at the wheel of a racecar has to be optimised in order to get as much information as possible. So, never give up and always be motivated and determined. Luckily, I have always been surrounded by trustworthy people, and thanks to that, I have never got any wrong advice.”
Adam Carroll
“The best advice I had in my career? It is not how you deal with the good days; it’s how you deal with the bad ones. And in motorsport, there are more bad days than good days I can tell you!
“I’ve had a lot more bad advice than good unfortunately, so there is too many of them to be listed!!
Who is your racing hero? Have you ever met them? If not, what would you want to specifically ask them? From @garethjmoores
Mike: “I cannot say that I have a real racing hero, but I do have a lot of respect for drivers who had or still have amazing careers. If I had to pick only one driver, it would be Ayrton Senna. Now, it would be Sébastien Loeb because everything he does is a success and he still has strong human values. I am lucky to be one of his team mates today (at Sebastien Loeb Racing in the FIA GT Series) so I try to draw most of my inspiration from his career and experience.”
Adam: “I do not have one particular hero, I admire the ‘greats’ for their different personalities. Over one lap, there really isn’t much time between the fastest drivers, maybe a tenth or two. I liked Senna’s intensity and his honesty when he talked about racing. I have met Michael Schumacher a few times and he is very nice to talk to when I raced against him at the Race of Champions a few years ago.”
If you could share your car with two non-racing celebrities who would they be? – From @vinwelly
Mike: “The first non-racing celebrity I would share my McLaren MP4-12C with would be David Guetta…so he could mix some tunes during the lap!”
“The second person would be my friend Tony Estanguet. He is three-time Canoe Kayak Olympic champion, and was just elected to the IOC (International Olympic Committee). We are both becoming one with our machines; precision, trajectory and fluidity is the same in both our disciplines.”
Adam: “The first person I would share my car with would definitely be Arnold Schwarzenegger! Great life experience and he would be great value on the radio! Will.i.am would probably be the second person I would like to share my car with, because he would bring a tonne of energy and a few top tunes with him too!”
At Monza Adam Carroll and his teammates from Gulf Racing finished on the third step of the podium, while Mike Parisy and the ART Grand Prix PRO class line-up were second. You can be sure that this weekend at Silverstone, both drivers will give their best at the wheel of their McLaren MP4-12Cs to try to climb the highest step of the British podium……with or without Messrs Guetta or Schwarzenegger!
Follow both Adam and Mike this coming weekend via our live coverage at http://www.blancpain-endurance-series.com/pages/live