Lord Drayson, president of the Motorsport Industry Association

As cars hurtled around the Road Atlanta race track at speeds of up to 200mph, Lord Paul Drayson was concerned with just one thing- achieving a decent time in the night qualifying practice at the 2008 Petit Le Mans. With a last look over his 007-numbered Aston Martin, Drayson was ready to get in the car when his phone started flashing with a call from the then prime minister, Gordon Brown.

The call was to invite Drayson back into government as minister of state for science and innovation. A year earlier he had left his position as defence procurement minister to pursue his dream of competing in the Le Mans 24-hour race. The prime minister, however, believed that the country had lost one of its most valuable politicians. Brown offered Drayson a position on the cabinet as science minister and agreed that he could continue racing.