Club Arnage

He has just climbed from his car during practice for saturdays Legends Race and called it a day. He won't take the wheel again. He doesn't want to be 'the old bugger  that holds everyone up' and no longer wants to race.

A sad day, but huge respect for the old fella.

He's being a bit harsh on himself - I saw him race at Goodwood a couple of years ago and he still looked pretty handy. Most blokes his age are driving the wrong way down the M1 while looking for the incontinence clinic.

On an unrelated note I see Damon Hill has stood down from chair (or whatever he was) of the BRDA (or whatever it's called)

Massive respect for him to have the guts to stand up at such a public event and say so.

I wonder if the injuries to his feet have had anything to do with it?

It took four people to get him out of the car.  We were sitting opposite when he stopped.  One of the great British drivers and sensibly got out while he still could.  What a career to look back on, eh?

I've just read about this elsewhere but it wasn't clear if he was retiring immediatly or after the race.

Great shame not to race and deny the fans the opportunity for a farewell.

I'm stuck at home this year, first time since 2005 - TV just ain't the same!

No race. The show is over. When he got out after practice he said that was it. The end. Finito.

Vive la Maestro!

Sorry about the quality but here it is:
(http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q103/cooperlola/FujiLM20111057.jpg)

A shame, but at the same time it's up to Sir Stirling whether or not he wants to race anymore. If he's decided that he's done with racing then all the best and a happy retirement to him. Seeing him race in support races at Le Mans was a privilege in and of itself.

I suspect that some of the old injuries from Spa and Goodwood have really caught up with him, he broke both of his legs badly at Spa in '60 and I imagine they're quite uncomfortable now in his senior years.
Its actually a great shame that he retired from competitve racing as early as he did.  He readily admits that he didn't give himself enough time to recover from his Goodwood head injuries before making that decision.  He was still quite young when he called it a career, and he would have been something to see in a Ford GT-40,  Lotus 49 (in the blue livery of Rob Walker of course).
Fax

Fax. Don't forget about his more recent plummet down the lift shaft at home too.

Good catch there, I completely forgot about his tumble at home.  At least he's still with us, a great many of his contemporaries never lived long enough to become old geezers.  Would've been fun to see he and Tony Brooks sharing a laugh their countrymen Mike Hawthorne and Peter Collins at a Goodwood Revival meeting.
Fax

As I understand it Miike H. had a kidney condition and was never going to live long.