My hero: by Willie Green

“Every era has a hero, right back to anyone who drove in the Paris-Madrid road race. That said, 1920s Bugattis are easy to drive, but they were doing so on marginal roads rather than billiard table-smooth tracks. I haven’t driven the Mercedes W125 or the Auto Union from the 1930s, but I followed Neil Corner around the Nordschleife when he was driving a W163 and I was almost overcome by the fumes from its fuel. That’s a factor I’d never considered. It’s not surprising that Tazio Nuvolari had lung disease… Stirling Moss was my hero as he was the first professional. Tony Brooks was too, but he wasn’t a self-publicist and you had to do your homework to be aware of his feats.”