Tiff Needell, After Dinner Speaker, TV Presenter, Racing Driver, Formula 1, Touring cars, Le Mans racer, Fifth Gear presenter, Tiff Needell is one of four presenters for Channel 5's motoring programme 5th Gear. His television career started in the mid 1980s at the BBC as part of the motor racing commentary team for Grandstand where he worked alongside Murray Walker. Tiff commentated on Formula 3000, Formula Two, Touring Cars, Rallycross and the Formula Ford Festival - which Tiff went on to cover on his own due to date clashing with Murray’s commitments at the Australian Grand Prix. By the late eighties when such events went ‘post production’ Tiff would often stand-in for Murray when he was unable to attend the ‘as live’ commentary sessions at the BHP Studios and became the number two commentator for all motorsport on ‘Grandstand’. Before embarking on a television career Tiff could be seen driving Formula One Cars. He started racing in 1971 winning the Premier Grovewood Award in 1976. He turned professional in 1977 and drove for 'Unipart' Formula 3 Team and the Team Ensign in the 1980 Grand Prix. Tiff made his Le Mans 24 Hours debut in 1981. He achieved third place at Le Mans in 1990 driving a privately entered Porsche 962 and switched to Touring Cars in 1993 and 1994. From 1996 to 2000 he raced for the Newcastle United-sponsored Lister Storm team. In 1991 he was engaged as the ‘Grand Prix’ commentator for BSkyB but, after the first three races of the year, the company lost its rights so the transmissions ended. However, come 1992 and ‘93 Tiff was back in the Sky studios hosting live transmissions of both ‘NASCAR’ and ‘Indycar’. By now ‘Top Gear’ was taking up more and more of Tiff’s time. Having started back in 1987 by just doing occasional motorsport items, he was now lining-up every week alongside Jeremy Clarkson and Quentin Willson on a show that was beginning to attract audiences of six million and more. From 1995 to ’98 Tiff headed the ‘Top Gear Motorsport’ spin-off programme, presenting and competing in a wide variety of events, and also appeared in ‘Top Gear Waterworld’ while, from 1997 to 2001, he co-presented BBC’s coverage of ‘The World Rally Championship’. Sadly all good things have to come to an end and, with ‘Top Gear’ heading for a major BBC overhaul, 2002 saw Tiff switching over to Channel 5 and their brand new motoring programme ‘5th Gear’. Since this successful switch, Tiff has gone on to present the much acclaimed ‘James Bond Special’ as well as a five programme series on ‘The World’s Greatest’ engineering feats. Tiff’s media career began in 1982 as a track tester for ‘Autosport’ magazine and he has always written all his material himself. When ‘Top Gear’ launched their own magazine in 1993 he went with it and has now been signed up to switch to the motoring weekly ‘Autocar’.

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