25 Years at the Goodwood Festival of Speed

Stirling Moss and Denis Jenkinson in 1995

I actually kick off with something non-American, but please bear with me. I'd always been a motorsport fan and one magical piece of history captivated me. In 1955, the year of my birth, a talented 25-year-old Stirling Moss and his 34-year-old bearded and bespectacled journalist navigator, Denis Jenkinson, won the highly dangerous and demanding Mille Miglia in their Mercedes 300 SLR sports car. This was a 1000-mile-long race on closed public roads around Italy, taking in towns, villages and twisty mountain passes.In places, they nudged 180mph. Astonishingly, they finished in 10 hours and seven minutes at an average speed of 97.93mph, a record time that was never bettered.

And here I was, 40 years later, witnessing the reunion of Moss, Jenksand the Mere. This was a magical turning point for me and I decided to pursue a career in historic motorsport. Jenksdied the following year and Sir Stirling died in April this year. Over the last 25 years I was lucky enough to interview Stirling at his London home many times on many topics and he even whizzed me around the Goodwood track in a C Type Jaguar.

They say be wary of meeting your heroes, but Stirling was mine and I'm so glad I did. He set me on a path where I have thoroughly enjoyed myself and met so many champions, high achievers and interesting people. Thank you Sir Stirling.

Jim Hall and Chaparral

Jim Hall was a great race driver turned ingenious car constructor. His Chaparral cars were innovative and well-engineered, but sometimes contentious. At the 1997 FOS,Jim drove his 1970 6.0-litre, Chevy-powered ground-effect