England's Nick Matthew, the world No2 squash player who is top seed in next week's ROWE British Grand Prix Squash Championship in Manchester, and English compatriot Alister Walker swapped their squash rackets for racing overalls to drive at speeds of more than 170 mph around the famous German Grand Prix Nurburgring race track.
The event was organised by Michael Zehe, founder and CEO of ROWE Motor Oil, sponsors of the ROWE British Grand Prix – Manchester 2010, Europe's biggest squash event this year to be staged at the National Squash Centre in Manchester, England, from 15-20 September.
Matthew and England team-mate Walker, a car enthusiast ranked 17 in the world, reached speeds of 281 km/hour as they took the ROWE Porsche 911 GT3 for several laps around the legendary German race track.
"It was obvious to organise a project like this, because we have decided to promote both sports," said Michael Zehe. "Additionally both sports have many similar requirements: you need speed, fast reactions, precision and a very good physical constitution.
"Next time we will do it the other way round: I’ll bring my race drivers on the squash court and I hope they might have the same fun that Nick and Alister had during the race!"
Matthew was thrilled to have enjoyed this unique opportunity: "It was an amazing experience, being able to go round the famous Nurburgring track in such a fast car with such an experienced driver.
"I would like to thank Michael Zehe of ROWE for the opportunity of setting this up for us.
"Having said that, I'm glad I've ticked that one off my list now because I don't think I ever want to do it again - it was like being on a roller coaster for almost ten minutes .... it was relentless!" admitted the 30-year-old former world No1 from Sheffield.
Follow the English squash stars' Nurburgring experience on:
http://www.britishsquashgrandprix.com/News/Squash-Grand-Prix-Stars-Nick-Matthew---Alister-Wal.aspx