IN THIS FEATURE The Brooklands of California When I won it Changing times

I've just come back from my annual weekend at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. I love it there. I never attended Brooklands in the '20s, of course, but I imagine Pebble Beach's dressed-to-the-nines showgoers to be that type of crowd. I like the expression Brooklands had: all the right crowd and no crowding. That's how Pebble Beach seems to me.

It's about real enthusiasts. You get to meet Dan Gurney and Phil Hill and Stirling Moss and all these kinds of people. Everybody talks cars. It's about style and design, too. Although the fashion side of things is not really my forte, Ralph Lauren was at the show. He's a huge car fan and his motors have won at Pebble Beach a couple of times, so I was anxious to meet him.

Poster for the Concours d'Elegance hints at the luxury vintage motors on display

I spotted him in the distance but I'd been under the car so I was a bit disheveled. I had my dress shirt on, but my lovely Ralph Lauren tie was a bit askew. As I approached him, I could see him looking at his tie around my neck. As I get to him he just reaches over and he goes, in his best Homer Simpson impression, "Doh! Let me fix that!" I realise I must be the worst advertisement for Ralph Lauren clothes there could be..."