Before Moss was understandably drawn in the second half of his career to the winter sun of the Southern Hemisphere – racing in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa – ‘anything, anywhere’ meant tackling European rallies, plugging Derbyshire mud or pounding a French speed bowl in search of another mind-bending record, such as, say, averaging more than 100mph for a week: a true test of Moss’ ‘movement is tranquillity’ mantra.

Check out his 1952 itinerary. For a flat fee of £50 from the Rootes Group, he finished second in January’s snowbound Monte Carlo Rally, missing out on victory by four seconds at the wheel of a three-up Sunbeam-Talbot 90 saloon; he was co-driven by BRDC secretary Desmond Scannell and John A Cooper of Autocar. On his return, Moss contested a trial in a Ford-engined special supplied by ex-racer Cuth Harrison. Then he contested the Lyon-Charbonnières Rally in his own Jaguar XK120 coupé, co-driven by Autosport editor Gregor Grant and finishing second in class. In July, he won his class in the Alpine with a penalty-free run in a Sunbeam navigated by John Cutts. He rounded off this manifold campaign with the aforementioned week-long blat around Montlhéry – in an XK120 coupé shared with Leslie Johnson, Jack Fairman and Bert Hadley – and by driving a Humber Super Snipe through 15 European countries in just four days by way of a publicity stunt. On the latter occasion he was joined again by Johnson, a glutton for punishment clearly, Cutts and mechanic David Humphrey.

The more clement Montes of 1953 and 1954 provided neither the same thrill nor result of his first – Moss finished sixth and 15th in Sunbeams – but the 1954 Alpine Rally more than made up for it, with snow in summer. Moss was endeavouring to become only the second recipient of a Coupe des Alpes en Or, awarded for three consecutive unpenalised runs. He drove so hard at one point that he burst into tears at the conclusion of his exertion. Once again he had left nothing on the table. And that perhaps explains what happened at the finish.