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04 October 2006 Alex Eckford caught up with Vicki to find out about the show, Formula One legends, and bosoms. Vicki Butler-Henderson is best known as a presenter of the two 'gear' shows - Top Gear and Channel Five's Fifth Gear. I ask Vicki how filming is going. "It's been great. I've been teaching my elder sister Lottie to drive round a racing circuit. In a new entry level Lotus Elise," says Vicki. "I really enjoyed it because I was allowed to be bossy for once." Racing family As it turns out, Vicki comes from a long line of petrolheads. Her family has more motoring history than Hockenhiem. "My grandfather used to race a Fraser Nash at Brooklands, and my father was in the British karting team, my brother Charlie is a racing driver... but my sister hasn't got the genes. But she's definitely getting better though." One of Vicki's first motoring memories is being thrashed by a Formula One legend. "David Coulthard lapped me in my first ever kart race. He'd been doing it a bit longer than me - I was a total novice, and he was pretty experienced by then. It's funny - I always tell the story, but I doubt David ever does!" says Vicki. First car Her first car was a million miles away from the supercharged monsters she gets to race on Fifth Gear. "It was an MG Metro. It was the raciest Metro you could get, it was silver with red seatbelts. I loved it because it meant I could take all my friends round in it. If you had a car at school you were uber-cool" says Vicki. Bosoms Vicki's road to TV stardom started on the racetrack, but took a detour through motoring journalism. After working for a number of magazines, including Auto Express where she worked as a road tester, Vicki got a job as editorial assistant on the fledgling Max Power magazine. "The first twelve months I worked on it there were no bare bosoms whatsoever. It's turned into a totally different beast now. But I'm very proud of the fact I helped nurse it through its first year," says Vicki. Tiff Needell The 34-year-old has worked with a lot of presenters, but her favourite is last week's Auto Talk subject, Tiff Needell. "Ah, Tiff Noodles! He's my screen husband. The man is a legend - it's an honour to work with him," says Vicki. "He's an amazing driver and a fantastic man." "Working with him is a great laugh. If they knocked together all the outtakes from the show they could put it on a 24-hour loop on its own channel. Channel Fifth Gear." See Fifth Gear on Mondays at 8pm on Channel Five. Auto Trader links
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