Autosport Plus

When a box-office F1 star wound back the years in tin-tops

Stirling Moss once described his unsuccessful comeback in the British Saloon Car Championship as 'the biggest regret of my life', but he was still capable of producing a standout drive at Brands Hatch in 1981. This is the little-known story of his return

Sometimes I tell people I've raced at Crystal Palace. And sometimes I casually offer up that I've witnessed a majestic wet-weather performance from Stirling Moss at the wheel of a contemporary racing car. Anyone who cares to listen to my boasts usually retorts that I'm far too young for either.

But I have competed at Crystal Palace, in a four-lap race as a matter of fact. Plus an extra nine metres. That made it a nice round mile when you consider that those laps were around the National Sport Centre's 400-metre running track, not the parkland racing circuit that closed in the early 1970s.

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Author Gary Watkins

Gary Watkins has, for reasons best known to himself, devoted all his working life to covering sportscar racing. This season is his 33rd as a motorsport journalist, during which time he has reported on major long-distance events on four continents and approaching 80 24-hour races. He reckons a degree in political philosophy makes him well qualified for covering the sometimes Machiavellian world of international sportscars.

Gary, who also writes for Motor Sport, Autocourse, RACER and others, lives in Surbiton close to the former workshops of the Cooper Formula 1 team but spends more time on the road than at home for most of the year.