PALMA
SIR Stirling Moss OBE, the man who could have been Britain's first world champion 51 years ago but is still considered as the greatest Formula One driver never to have won the championship, celebrated his 80th birthday earlier this month but he has no intention of putting the brakes on his racing career.
Moss will be here in Majorca next week to continue the 80th birthday celebrations with his close friend of 20 years, fellow racing driver and current sponsor Peter Ratcliffe.
Apart from coming down to enjoy the island for a few days with his wife Lady Susie Moss, Stirling is also going to be cracking a bottle of champagne over Ratcliffe's new yacht called Number 7 in honour of Moss's and his racing numbers. The guy's a phenomenon. I'm sponsoring him in this and in fact, this is the first time ever Moss has worn a sponsor on his helmet. Yesterday he was qualifying in Spa, today he's racing there and tomorrow at 5am he's flying back to England to watch the Singapore Grand Prix and then he's jumping on a flight down here. Not bad for an 80-year-old, he said admiringly. I've been an amateur racer for many years driving Porches, Mustangs and 911s and I have raced all over the world from Australia to South Africa and China and we've been close friends for 20 years.