On this day: The Spice Girls launch McLaren's new car

'I'll tell you want I want, what I really, really want,' Ron Dennis might have said one day to his PR people. 'I want the young people's popular music acts the Spice Girls and Jamiroquai to launch our new car.'

Whether he said it or not, that's what he got on this day in 1997 when McLaren unveiled their new challenger to the world at a glitzy event at Alexandra Palace in London.

The car was the first to feature the West sponsorship and the new silver colour scheme as McLaren said goodbye to the iconic Marlboro white and red they had raced with since the days of Prost and Senna.

At the time the Spice Girls were the biggest act in the country after the staggering success of their debut hit 'Wannabe' which was released just seven months earlier.

The perfect choice then to host an awkward on-stage exchange between the pop stars and two racing drivers.

David Coulthard looks like he's enjoying himself but Mika Hakkinen doesn't know what the hell is going on here. Take a look here (skip to 3mins in for the arrival of DC and Mika)...

Especially brilliant is the part where Mika comes on stage and gives Scary Spice a kiss on each cheek (to "woooo" noises from said Spice), then, perhaps realising that with four more members of the band plus presenter Davina McCall, this double kissing could take all night, he cuts it down to one for Baby Spice, before giving up altogether.

But they are not done with him and before he knows what's happening Ginger Spice (now Mrs Christian Horner) saucily asks what he's wearing under his race suit, and starts to forcibly undress him, aided and abetted by Posh Spice. Poor old Mika.

After the business of showing off the new car and the BANTER between the drivers and the Spicers, Jamiroquai then came on to ROCK THE HOUSE.

Now say what you want about all this, but at least it was a proper launch, in a fancy venue with pop stars and everything. Still - this was 1997 when anything seemed possible. What happened, Tony? What happened?