Memories of the year: Mr Motor Racing retires

Picking this year's Le Mans 24 Hours meeting probably isn't that surprising as my highlight of 2011. There was another great Audi v Peugeot battle, which went to the German manufacturer by a paltry 14 seconds, and Allan McNish and Mike Rockenfeller survived two of the worst crashes I have ever seen.

But what will really stick in my mind is not the main race. Before the 79th running of the French classic, a British legend finally decided to retire.

For many people, the career of Stirling Moss ended with his terrible Goodwood crash in 1962. I wasn't around to see him before that, nor did I get to watch his British Touring Car Championship foray of the early 1980s, but I did get to see him in historic racing.

Of course, by the time I did, he was a shadow of his former self, but still it was a privilege to watch him at work. At the Goodwood Revival in 1999 he showed his class by storming through the field to fourth in appalling conditions, driving a Maserati 250F, and his smooth and composed technique always caught the eye even when the pace wasn't there.

My dad has always rated Moss as the greatest driver of all time and I grew up reading old issues of AUTOSPORT and Motor Sport covering the period when he was the benchmark in pretty much any car he jumped into.

Turner is a tad too young to have seen Moss hustling the RS61 in period © LAT

So when former AUTOSPORT editor Bruce Jones came up to the Le Mans press room to tell us that Moss had just decided he would not race again, I rushed off to find the man himself.

Moss, 81, had been attempting to qualify his Porsche RS61 for the Legends race supporting the 24 Hours, but he hadn't been happy. He brought the car in, got out, and said he was done.

"I realised I was scared and I've never been scared before," he said when I found him resting in the paddock. "I've frightened myself before, but I've never been scared to race and it's just happened - it's quite extraordinary.

"I do it for fun and that's not fun. Once you lose that you don't get it back."

On the one hand, I realise you shouldn't feel too sad for someone who has competed in over 600 races since 1948, won a great number of them, and survived a dangerous period in the sport's history. He certainly spoke with no regret.

And yet it was a poignant moment, something felt by all his fellow competitors. After all, Mr Motor Racing wasn't going to race any more. I'm glad I was there.

Read about Andrew van de Burgt's Memory of the year, watching Lewis Hamilton try out Tony Stewart's NASCAR.