Stirling Moss announces retirement at age of 81

Published : 9:46 am  June 11, 2011 |  No comments so far  |     |   (7)  |  

Formula One great Stirling Moss announced his retirement from motor racing at the age of 81 on Thursday. The Briton, widely regarded as the greatest driver never to have won the Formula One championship, made his decision in the Le Mans pitlane where he had been due to race his own restored 1961 Porsche RS61 in a Legends race.

“This afternoon I scared myself and I have always said that if I felt I was not up to it or that I was getting in the way of fellow competitors, then I would retire,” he declared on his website. “I love racing, but now it is time to stop”.

Four times a Formula One world championship runner-up, Moss ended his professional career after a bad accident at Goodwood in 1962 but had continued racing historic cars for his own pleasure.

The Porsche he would have raced at Le Mans was damaged at Laguna Seca in California last August when he spun off and was hit by a Lotus.

LONDON, June 9 (Reuters)