Herbert cannot stomach repeat Le Mans sickness.

Johnny Herbert will be closely monitoring what he eats in between driving his 220mph Audi at Le Mans this weekend, after being deprived of his moment of glory ten years ago.

The former Grand Prix driver missed out on taking his place on the winners' rostrum at La Sarthe in 1991 when a dodgy spaghetti bolognaise left him too weak to celebrate his moment of glory in leading Mazda to Japan's only Le Mans success.

Herbert, who celebrates his 37th birthday eight days after this year's round-the-clock race, collapsed after clambering out of his race car at the end of the 1991 event. He was dehydrated and exhausted after driving the final two hours in hot weather conditions while a plate of spaghetti was blamed for a stomach upset.

"A few of the team got food poisoning during the night from spaghetti," Herbert remembers, "Driving was not a problem, but I'd been feeling a little bit funny in the stomach, which made me dehydrate much quicker. It was just when I got out of the car that I felt bad."

Herbert's father, Bob, will be present at Le Mans this weekend to watch Johnny team-up with Germany's Ralf Kelleners and Didier Theys, of Belgium, in a privateer Audi R8 entered by the American Champion Racing team.

"Johnny had driven for over two hours at the end of that race in '91," Bob recalls, "The temperature was rising, and he did not have a drinks bottle in the car. I arrived at parc ferme to congratulate him - he was sitting on the back of the car, I gave him a hug and went to give him a drink and he just passed out!"

Herbert's 'Montezuma's Revenge' attack forced him to miss the champagne celebrations on the podium - an element the Audi ace is determined to experience should the opportunity arise on this occasion. A second Le Mans victory would make Herbert only the fourth Englishman to win the classic motor race on more than one occasion, joining five-time victor Derek Bell and double winners Ivor Bueb and Henry Birkin.

"Not only did I miss out on the rostrum celebrations, I didn't even get the satisfaction of taking the chequered flag due to a crowd invasion on the start/finish line," the driver reminisces, "When you've scored a victory in such a long and famous race, these things mean a lot so, should I get the opportunity this time around, I'll be out to enjoy it.

"Hopefully, I'll be able to sleep better too. I just didn't get five minutes in '91 because of the noisy, high-pitched whine from our car's Mazda engine. I could hear it screaming around most of the circuit. Thankfully, the Audi is super quiet!"