Emerson Fittipaldi leaves Lotus to join McLaren. He takes with him his Texaco sponsorship and World Champion status.

I went to McLaren in ‘73 and said: ‘I’m going to go to Lotus.’ They said: ‘Hang on a minute, you can’t.’ And I remember this so clearly; they said: ‘We can’t match their money but we can make things better for you; more money and a better car.’ I went along with it. Of course, what I didn’t realise was that I was the key to the whole Fittipaldi deal. Fittipaldi was coming to McLaren because of me. Colin Chapman was trying to hire me to keep Fittipaldi, who was the world champion, and to keep the Texaco money because Texaco went with Fittipaldi. I had this huge bargaining power. I could have said: ‘I want £50,000’ (back in the day when I earned £10,000). But I didn't and I stayed with McLaren and Fittipaldi also came to McLaren.

It was the same in those days as it is now, the drivers could bring the sponsorship with them and that’s how the teams paid for their drives. Nearly every successful driver in Formula 1 bought his drive. Niki Lauda, world champion, he bought his first drive. Emerson Fittipaldi, world champion, bought his first drive. He went to Chapman and said: ‘I’d like to drive one of your cars,’ and Chapman said: ‘Alright, give me 100grand’ (or whatever sum he asked for) ‘and you can do it.’ So he did. He drove for us, won some races, and became world champion. You can switch from paying, to being paid, very quickly if you’re good.

• 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