Alastair recalls the interest in motor racing that was so prevalent within his high school class.

The friends I had at High School had a huge influence on the sport of motor racing, it was almost ridiculous. In the one year of my third form in High School we had:

• John Muller who became Chief Mechanic of Brabhams and worked at McLaren;
• Graham Lawrence who became a Formula 2 driver over in Europe;
• Howden Ganley who became a Grand Prix driver;
• Jimmy Palmer who became New Zealand Gold Star Champion;
• Robbie Francevic who became a New Zealand Saloon Car Champion;
• Pete Kerr who became Chief Mechanic at March, and then Jackie Oliver’s outfit;
• Millen, who became a professional racing driver in America and Australia.

From this one school in one little town we had these guys who influenced motor sport all over the world.

There was a lot of motor racing interest and my older brother was involved and became a driver. I watched motor racing and looked after racing cars after school.  At fifteen I ran away from home and got myself a job. I was doing quite well in my job but my parents, who knew where I was all the time but didn’t tell me, came and got me for Christmas.

I was still too young to leave school so I was made to go back. I went to Auckland Grammar for another year but I didn’t attend much and the Headmaster didn’t make me go: ‘I can see Alastair that we don’t have much to offer you,’ he told me. He said I didn't need to attend any classes that I didn’t want to but he didn’t want me walking around the streets in my school uniform. So I used to change into my jeans and shirt in the loos at school. That way I wasn’t walking around smoking, playing pool, driving cars and doing all the bad things in my school uniform.

• 1943 Alastair's early years
• 1955 Licence to drive
• 1957 Alastair's High School years
• 1959 Evading the police
• 1960 Becoming a mechanic
• 1966 The Tasman series
• 1966 Leaving New Zealand
• 1967 Joining McLaren
• 1967 CanAm Door Catches
• 1967 Monza
• 1968 South Africa
• 1968 CanAm
• 1969 Driving the Formula 1 Cars
• 1973 Fittipaldi joins McLaren
• 1973 McLaren Team manager
• 1974 Montezemolo
• 1975 Hunt replaces Fittipaldi
• 1975 Hunt gets paid little
• 1976 Inventing the Air-Starter
• 1976 Six-speed Gear Boxes
• 1976 Misbehaving in Canada
• 1976 Japan
• 1977 Adidas Uniforms
• 1977 Changing Tyres
• 1977 Leaving McLaren
• 1979 Nelson Piquet
• 1980 Skirts on Formula 1 Cars
• 1981 Leaving Formula 1
• 1982 Making Lists
• 1982 Signing on
• 1982 Creating Space Station
• 1991 Highland Fling
• 1991 Classic Marathon
• 1992 Getting the Austin A35
• 1992 El Salvador
• 1993 Carerra Panamerica
• 1993 Centre of attention
• 1993 Nicest car in rally
• 1993 LeJog
• 2000 London to Sydney
• 2000 Porsche Racing
• 2000 Porsche Crashing
• 2001 Ferrari
• 2001 Inca Trail
• 2004 Berlin - Moscow - Berlin
• 2005 World Cup Rally
• 2007 Norway
• 2008 Liège-Brescia-Liège
• 2008 An Icelandic Odyssey
• 2008 North & West Africa
• 2009 West Coast America
• 2009 London to Casablanca
• 2010 New Zealand Festival of motor racing
• 2010 New Zealand Big Sky Adventure