04 Sep 07
Imagine being given a part in a film with some of the greatest stars still alive. Newman, De Niro, Pacino, Nicholson - that sort of thing. And this is not some walk on, walk-off, blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo, but equal billing. Well something similar has just happened to me.
I was at the Goodwood Revival, the largest and most prestigious historic race meeting in the world and, as is always the case at this fabulous motor-racing pageant, the place was brimming with stars from the past, all keen to prove on one of the quickest, most challenging tracks in the world, they still had what it took.
In one race alone there was four-times Le Mans winner Henri Pescarolo and five-times winner Derek Bell. Richard Attwood, the grand prix driver who won Le Mans in the Porsche 917 - perhaps the most feared racing car of all time - was there too. They were joined by Desire Wilson, the only woman ever to win a Formula 1 car race, former Ferrari F1 driver Arturo Merzario and saloon car racers all the way from Sir John Whitmore - who could frighten Jim Clark in his day - to multiple BTCC winner David Leslie. Tiff Needell was also there, as was Rowan Atkinson, who can count a considerable ability to drive cars very fast among his many more famous talents.
And then there was Sir Stirling Moss, as keen to get behind the wheel of a racing car as he was when his career started nearly 60 years ago.
