Hammond Meets Moss


Hammond Meets Moss

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We all know that we use our brains, our minds, all the time.

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I'm using mine now, looking at things going past the window,

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waving my hands about in the air, talking to you.

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You're using yours watching and listening.

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But we don't really think about how we use our brains.

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We don't think about thinking.

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Despite masses of research we're still a long way from

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understanding the brain, our minds.

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Surprisingly much of what we do know

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has been discovered observing the effect of brain damage.

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I'm going to spend some time now with Sir Stirling Moss who is

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a racing driver of some renown.

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You almost certainly know the name, and if you don't, you will soon.

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"Ladies and gentlemen, Stirling Moss."

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In 1962 he had a crash and damaged his spine.

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He did it crashing at 180-mph on a race track.

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I did it crashing at hundreds of miles per hour

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in a jet propelled dragster.

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I know, it was asking for trouble, but people damage their brains

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falling off ladders, crashing bicycles.

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In fact every year in the UK over one million people will be

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hospitalised with brain injury.

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But the recovery, the business of getting it working again,

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there's a lot of commonalities there,

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and I want to talk to Sir Stirling about how he went about it.

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I can't believe we're here...

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Stirling Moss's house!

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Right, let's go meet a legend.

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Hello?

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-Sir Stirling?

-Yes?

-Hello, it's Richard Hammond.

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-Oh, hang on.

-I'm hanging.

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Morning, morning, nice to see you Stirling, how are you?

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-It's a bit chilly.

-Yes, it is a bit nippy.

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-Sorry about them, we're recording everything. Ignore them.

-So...

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-Right, which one are we going in?

-You're in here, Sir.

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Oh, god we've got the...

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-See it's comfortable.

-Right.

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On the way to the interview studio, Stirling showed me that even

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in his 80s, he's lost none of his boyish enthusiasm for the sport

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that made him.

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Motor racing, I mean, is exciting and the excitement really is being able

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to set a car up and then drive it a bit better than the other guy can.

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I can't tell you, there's no other thing that gives me that same lift.

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The important thing to me always was to get the respect

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of the other drivers.

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That is the most important... If they felt that I was the man to beat,

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that gave me everything I wanted really.

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There's no question - in the late '50s and early '60s Stirling Moss

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WAS the man to beat.

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So, a fearsome competitor and a charismatic winner.

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Mixing fast cars, exotic locations and a glamorous following

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meant Stirling Moss became one of the UK's

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first sporting superstars.

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And in the process, moved motor racing, from a gentlemen's hobby

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to the professional, cut-throat circus it is today.

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'And Stirling Moss has achieved the ambition of a lifetime.'

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This is the make-up suite...

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You know you're bald when they continue make up round the back

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of your head. It think it's a bit wrong.

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-Hello! Pauline, Stirling, Stirling, Pauline.

-Make-up lady? Good.

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Please, go first, I'll sit here and annoy you.

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What have you got there?

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-Do you want some fibre-lift protective volumiser?

-Oh, great.

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-Yeah, I'm a big fan of that.

-Do you eat it or put it on?

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I have no idea...

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She's got a lot of work to do, to repair up there.

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I wish you'd let me do your make up...

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I'd like to feel your hands on my head.

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And you didn't actually look into the mirror, until afterwards.

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-Should we change places, Pauline?

-Yes, please.

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Why does he get the manly, "just slap it on his balding pate...

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"there you go that's big mechanical make up" and...

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She doesn't go around the back of your head to finish the make up!

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Why doesn't she?

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If I give you mine, will you clean them for me?

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Right, I'll put that there...

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My father was a dentist.

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Yes, I know. So you lost four?

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-And that was an early shunt wasn't it?

-Yes, a wheel came off in Naples.

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That night my father flew me home, and two knocked out,

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and two broke. And so he pulled the other two out right then and there.

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-Right, so how old were you when that came out?

-19.

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Ah, well, any 19 year old man, losing his teeth is going to feel...

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Yes, pretty difficult with girls you know, because of the gap.

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Especially with your extra-curricular determination,

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-it would have stood in your way.

-Luckily, he was a good dentist

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so they matched!

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We should go and sit down in that room.

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Look at that, magnificent isn't it? Only the best for you.

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-Oh, god, it's huge isn't it?

-Afternoon everybody.

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Is it fair to say, Stirling, there's a good place to start,

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is it fair to say that you've always considered the reason

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for your immense success as a racing driver and accolades

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as the greatest ever, it is down to this as much as anything else?

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-It's down to what's in there.

-Yes, because that controls everything.

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I mean when you... one has to realise that one's brain is what tells

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you to move your finger, I mean, it's as simple as that.

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Therefore, that brain is telling you how much to turn in, when

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to fill her off, when to put the foot down more, so therefore it has to be.

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Yeah, but why is your brain able to do that better

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than another man's brain.

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Is it a better brain or is it a particular type of brain?

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I think it's a particular type.

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I think you take what you've got, and then you try to improve on it.

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So is it then, a result of a crude experience perhaps beyond

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simply racing. Is it a combination of experiences outside your box

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in the competition?

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I know you had a tough time at one of your schools.

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Did all these inform you as a man, that that's part of this?

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I think they way you are composed which comes from the

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life you have led, and the way you have been brought up.

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I think all of those things obviously help.

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I think the fact I was sympathetic towards what motor racing was,

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because of my father and mother being in there, gave me a leg up.

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Both of Stirling's parents were into motor sport, his dad was known

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as the 'racing dentist'. Winning and being brave was instilled at

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an early age, whether on a horse or in a boxing ring... aged four!

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My father would put me into the thing, you know four year old

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boxing and I went in there and I want to win. I don't want to just

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be beaten around, I want to win.

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That's what I'm there for.

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Whether I like boxing or not

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is irrelevant, what I want to do is beat the man I'm against.

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Spotting Stirling's competitive streak,

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his father let the 18 year old loose in a race car.

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He won his first competitive drive and there began a lifetime's craving

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for the danger of racing and the joy of winning.

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'And the Moroccan Grand Prix of 1958 goes to Stirling Moss.'

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I mean, I love motor racing.

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I love the sport, I like the danger is an important...

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I mean when you're a kid, I was racing because I liked the danger.

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The danger was something that made it really important.

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It was something, if I make a mistake this is serious, and somehow

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that increased my pleasure of being able to race.

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I mean if I can go into a corner and come out one yard,

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or five feet or something ahead of the man behind or gain that much,

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I'd feel like a million dollars.

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Our brains have a reward pathway, evolved

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to encourage beneficial actions, like eating, sex or winning.

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Victory triggers Stirling's brain to release a feel-good

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chemical called dopamine.

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The sense of satisfaction and wellbeing motivates the desire

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to do it again. For top racers like Moss, the pleasure of winning,

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is amplified by the adrenaline type rush of risking death.

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In the 50s and 60s it was often just around the corner.

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In the 50s, because we were racing on ordinary roads,

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if you made a mistake, any one mistake could be your last mistake.

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There were an average of three to four you know, good drivers,

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top drivers killed every year, throughout the '50s.

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In 1957 Tony Brooks crashed out at Le Mans.

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Less than a month later he and Moss would be team-mates

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at the British Grand Prix.

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'Tony Brooks' excursion into the sand at Terre Creuse

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'and the leg injury he received

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'was to have an important bearing on the British Grand Prix at entry.'

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Brooks and Moss were racing a car each for the Vanwall team,

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but Brooks was still suffering.

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Stirling started in poll position, then his car failed.

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Drivers could switch cars back then, so Moss took over from Brooks.

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'Still stiff and sore from his Le Mans injuries, Tony

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'was not sorry to hand over

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'to Stirling, who was in the cockpit almost before Tony was out of it.'

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The race now became a master class from Stirling.

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'Moss is always at his best when the odds are against him and he set off

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'on one of the most 'Stirling' drives of his career.'

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He gained 12 seconds, four places and went on

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to win in a characteristically determined display of concentration.

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'He's already acknowledging the cheers of the crowd and they raise

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'and cheer to our man, watch it!'

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I guess motor racing is unique as a sport because it's

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this level of concentration that is sustained for hour after hour

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and your races were...

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Well, up to ten hours. Although in Mille it was over ten

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hours and Formula One were all three hour minimum.

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So three to ten hours of concentrating at a level

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that you never do in anything else.

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Other sports, tennis they concentrate very hard

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but then they have a nice sit down and...

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Yes, you know in racing obviously you can't, I mean your life's

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dependent on it, so that's the one thing in your favour,

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is that when you might be killed you pay more attention, know what I mean?

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Well, you're really concentrating...

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-Exactly. You don't want to go that way.

-Let's just look

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at the Mille Miglia.

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In the early '50s the race that demanded more concentration

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than most was the infamous Italian road race, the Mille Miglia.

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Some 800 cars raced 1,000 miles around central Italy,

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with excited crowds lining the winding route.

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-It was a recipe for disaster!

-Look at the people, do you see?

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Look at that. I mean I do not like

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driving towards people, you know at that sort of speed I mean it really

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is quite an awful thing because you just don't want to touch somebody.

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As well as avoiding enthusiastic spectators, the other hazard

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needing extra attention,

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was the other drivers. The race was open to all-comers.

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You might say to your friend, when you're in the pub

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let's go in this and have a go, and of course they could.

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If you had a car and were around there, you could get a number

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on the side and you'd be off!

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With all that to contend with, driver concentration was intense.

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In the 1955 race, Stirling's extraordinary ability to concentrate

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created an unusual problem.

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On this concentration point,

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the story runs that when in the Mille Miglia they

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were attempting a system where by you could communicate

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with your co-driver through headphones.

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-Yes.

-Quite technologically advanced at the time, I imagine?

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Yes, but that didn't work. I mean, we tried that out and I was

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speaking to someone long, long after that and they said

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when you're really concentrating you don't feel pain or hear things.

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I mean it's what you see, so it just wouldn't work.

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When concentrating, the higher reasoning part of the brain,

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the frontal cortex, diverts attention to inputs demanding

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the most thought, the most effort.

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The effect is to ignore other inputs.

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You know, "men can only do one thing at a time" kind of thing.

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Well, it's medical. That's the way our brains work.

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Moss was concentrating so much on the road ahead that his brain

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was blanking out the sounds around him.

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He was even "deaf" to the instructions of his navigator,

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Dennis Jenkinson, Jenks, who was in the seat beside him.

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You came up with a solution, didn't you to the problem of you couldn't

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-hear because your brain zoned it out?

-Yes, we had this thing,

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the gadget, we had this thing we called the toilet roll.

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Which is this thing here.

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Now on that, that was Jenk's information pad.

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As we went along he would just wind this on, and he would see

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whatever it is coming flat out.

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He would interpret that by into hand signals.

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If he wanted me to go slower he would go like 'this' slower,

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and then he'd speed it up however much more he wanted me to slow.

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And this wasn't necessarily because of the noise which was tremendous

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I should imagine, this was

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because your brain had prioritised visual was all it was interested in.

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Exactly, I could see him in the corner of my eye and I'm

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concentrating down the road but I could see his signals

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because he put his hand far enough forward I could see it.

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The brilliant, yet simple hand signals from his navigator

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solved the problem of Moss being unable to hear when concentrating.

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The pair went on to famously win the Mille Miglia in record time,

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clocking an astonishing average speed of 97.8 miles an hour.

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But racing at these speeds not only demands extreme concentration,

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it also requires that when concentrating, the brain

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must process huge quantities of ever changing inputs.

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Once the flag falls and then you're off, and you've got to...

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you're watching where people are, can I dash in there, should I hold

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back here, wait till we go round the corner, you know, all the time

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trying to read the track, so you can work out how you're going to

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pace yourself, you know watching the temperature gauges and seeing

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how the tyres are, so it isn't just a case of being able

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to hold your foot on the floor.

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This "racing brain",

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able to compute lots of data quickly, is a characteristic

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of all top drivers, both in Stirling's era and today.

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Professor Sid Watkins is motor racing's best known neurosurgeon

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and remains astonished by how a driver's brain processes the mass

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of information that bombards it.

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I make a lot of jokes about, you know what is a neurosurgeon doing round

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racing drivers because they've obviously got no brain,

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but in fact, they are a very highly intelligent group.

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They take all of the data that is coming in to them, from the body,

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from the way the head is moving on a neck and their computers

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come out with the right solution.

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I have first hand experience of this need for high speed data processing

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in a race car, and I can safely say it's just like Sid tells it.

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And I can't do it.

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I'm going to try and... OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD!

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No! There's no temperature in the brakes.

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My thinking time, that was my problem, where I had a bit of

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an off, it's because I thought I'd left it too long to brake.

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Then I realised I hadn't, but because I was thinking that, the car

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was already around the corner and I was in the wrong gear and I span.

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I can't think fast enough, more than anything.

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The thing to remember more than anything

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is there's professionals and amateur.

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That's the point. Of my era, of when you tried,

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any time you like, there's a big gap between the very best amateur

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and the very poorest, you know, professional.

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It's rather like a singer.

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I mean, anybody can sing but only a few people sing really well

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and they get trained and it gets better,

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and I think the same thing with racing, experience

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is an enormous benefit.

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What I try to do is, against you in the same vehicle,

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is I try to say to the car,

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OK I'm going to try and benefit from this with my experience, and that is

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why I'm likely to get in that car and go faster than you would.

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'And the flag falls for Stirling Moss,

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'to mark his third victory in the Monaco Grand Prix...'

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Monaco's winding street circuit is the most testing

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for a driver's brain.

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By the time of Stirling's third win here, he had ten years

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experience of over 500 races.

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His brain had changed... learning to process the data bombarding

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his senses more efficiently.

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You don't just get in a racing car and become an expert driver,

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it's all about, as I suppose in life, it's all about practice.

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You know 5 % inspiration, 95% perspiration.

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We can assume that racing drivers, those parts of the brain are going

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to be more developed than other people, because they have

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practised it over and over again,

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Practising an action improves the brain's performance...

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and the body's. ultimately, we can unconsciously perform complex

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actions, they become automatic.

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If I swing at you, you're going to duck.

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If you don't, you're hit. So obviously you duck.

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Well, in motor racing to me, I went out there and I did it automatically.

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If you're going to really fast and get things to go with the flow,

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then it has be something you do, without realising you're doing it.

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And it's well known that a lot of automatic unconscious movement is

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actually quicker, than if you actually have to think about moving.

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Brain research has proved, unconscious reactions are quicker

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than conscious ones.

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It's called the gunfighter dilemma and it goes like this.

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The gunfighter that draws first draws slower

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because he thinks about it.

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The automatic reaction of the second guy is quicker.

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Experiments have revealed that a reflex reaction takes a different,

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shorter pathway through the brain than a conscious thought.

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It makes sense, when you think about it.

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Thinking about drawing the gun takes longer than just doing it.

0:19:340:19:39

Have you ever heard of, it's a theory based around Gunfighters

0:19:390:19:43

or Gunslingers and it was an experiment that was done,

0:19:430:19:45

the theory runs that the second person to draw in a gunfight,

0:19:450:19:50

will actually be faster than the first person.

0:19:500:19:53

-Is that relevant to...?

-I think it is.

0:19:530:19:55

I think if a driver has to think about it, I mean the reason

0:19:550:19:58

I couldn't continue after my accident

0:19:580:20:00

is because I knew exactly what to do, but I had to think what to do.

0:20:000:20:03

I knew I had to turn in here. Where did I turn in?

0:20:030:20:06

I turned in 100 metres away. Where did I aim for?

0:20:060:20:09

I aimed for exactly... whereas before it was all automatic.

0:20:090:20:13

So Stirling's brain was acting automatically so extra quickly.

0:20:140:20:19

Along with his courage, his ability to concentrate with intensity

0:20:190:20:25

for long periods, and by now, his considerable experience

0:20:250:20:29

it was perhaps inevitable he'd rise to the top of his profession.

0:20:290:20:32

'And Stirling with his favourite number seven, wins the Grand Prix

0:20:320:20:35

of Europe, by sheer brilliance.'

0:20:350:20:37

And he might well have stayed there but for a dark day in 1962.

0:20:370:20:42

It was April 24th, Easter Monday.

0:20:450:20:48

The top drivers of the day gathered at the Goodwood Race circuit

0:20:480:20:52

for the 100 mile Formula One event, the Glover Trophy.

0:20:520:20:56

33 years old and in his prime, Stirling strutted his stuff,

0:20:560:21:02

sparring with rival Graham Hill even before the race began.

0:21:020:21:05

On poll position, in his lucky number seven lotus at the track

0:21:080:21:12

that was the scene of his very first circuit victory,

0:21:120:21:15

Stirling was bristling with confidence.

0:21:150:21:17

what could possibly go wrong? three laps from the finish, not

0:21:170:21:21

in contention for a win but as ever pushing hard for a lap record,

0:21:210:21:27

Moss went to pass Hill at St Mary's corner.

0:21:270:21:30

Going around 100mph he left the track

0:21:300:21:34

and ended up smashing head-first into the banking.

0:21:340:21:38

Stirling is still unconscious.

0:21:530:21:54

He's been unconscious ever since the accident, the mystery as to exactly

0:21:540:21:59

what caused this accident remains, but a rather disturbing thought

0:21:590:22:04

is that perhaps we shall never know because the chances are that

0:22:040:22:07

Stirling who has a concussion,

0:22:070:22:09

a broken left leg and a cracked rib, as well as gashes around the face,

0:22:090:22:13

might himself never remember.

0:22:130:22:15

Your memories of the actual crash?

0:22:170:22:19

I have none of them. I have amnesia of four weeks.

0:22:190:22:23

I remember chatting up a bird the night before at a cocktail party,

0:22:230:22:26

a South African lady,

0:22:260:22:28

and then the next thing I remember

0:22:280:22:30

is coming to in the hospital, which was a month later.

0:22:300:22:33

I mean, I didn't know it was a month, and I assumed straight away

0:22:330:22:36

that I would be racing in the next couple,

0:22:360:22:38

two or three weeks because I had done that before. That had happened.

0:22:380:22:42

Otherwise I don't remember anything else.

0:22:420:22:44

That was the most expensive day of my life. I had to work for a living,

0:22:440:22:47

until then I was being paid to do what I liked.

0:22:470:22:50

Suddenly I had to work for a living so it was pretty

0:22:500:22:52

come down to Earth all of a sudden.

0:22:520:22:54

So although you can't remember exactly what happened,

0:22:540:22:57

there was press coverage and there are some staggering photographs,

0:22:570:23:01

if we can find them in here, of you at the time. I'm just...

0:23:010:23:04

-There, here.

-Yes.

-So this is immediately after it had happened?

0:23:040:23:08

And the interesting thing there, although I was unconscious

0:23:080:23:11

I'm actually holding that nurse's hand.

0:23:110:23:14

I mean, you can see I'm gripping it, rather than just having it out.

0:23:140:23:18

-When they got there did they think, "he's had it"?

-I reckon they did

0:23:180:23:22

because I was cramped up, look, the whole front was smashed in,

0:23:220:23:25

as you can see look. This...

0:23:250:23:28

that is actually before that because

0:23:280:23:31

they've obviously just arrived and they haven't pulled my head back.

0:23:310:23:35

I've got the steering wheel, you see, this is the wheel,

0:23:350:23:38

I'll get it up the right way, so that's the way I'd be driving.

0:23:380:23:41

Like this with the thumbs on there, and then my head obviously went

0:23:410:23:44

forward because no seat belts, which is amazing I wasn't thrown out.

0:23:440:23:48

But anyway I went like that and that obviously gave damage, you know,

0:23:480:23:52

struck my head.

0:23:520:23:53

So that was straight impact?

0:23:530:23:55

Yes, and my brain would have gone 'bah-bom' like that,

0:23:550:23:57

when it happened and, you know, that was it.

0:23:570:24:00

So what do you now know did happen?

0:24:000:24:05

Well, I know I went into the bank,

0:24:050:24:07

-I suppose that's the biggest thing.

-Yes...

0:24:070:24:09

Well, I was coming up actually, Graham Hill was in front of me...

0:24:090:24:13

'Stirling Moss was following me through Fordwater,

0:24:130:24:16

'a very fast right hand on the back leg of the circuit...'

0:24:160:24:19

And I was a lap behind because I had to stop for the gear box

0:24:190:24:22

so I was trying to un-let myself.

0:24:220:24:25

We were doing about 140-mph and approaching a right-hand

0:24:250:24:29

leading into St. Mary's...

0:24:290:24:30

And I came up, and Graham was on the right...

0:24:300:24:33

At this point we slowed from 140 to 110, brake and drop

0:24:330:24:39

the gear from fifth to fourth.

0:24:390:24:40

And I think they probably gave him a flag saying look somebody

0:24:420:24:46

is going to pass you.

0:24:460:24:47

He may have gone like this because you acknowledge the flag usually,

0:24:470:24:50

or I did certainly.

0:24:500:24:51

I was on the outside of the circuit when I saw Stirling's car out of the

0:24:510:24:55

corner of my eye, on my left with the outside two wheels on the grass.

0:24:550:24:59

I probably saw him doing 'this' thinking he said right, pass me here,

0:24:590:25:03

for he was on the narrow line and normally Graham was one of those

0:25:030:25:06

drivers who went quite wide, took a wide entrance.

0:25:060:25:09

I immediately backed off and saw that he was in great trouble

0:25:090:25:12

and watched his progress across the grass towards the bank.

0:25:120:25:16

You see here's Graham Hill's line, and I would have gone onto the grass,

0:25:180:25:22

the grass was damp and of course but that was a werther then I went

0:25:220:25:25

straight into the bank and you know,

0:25:250:25:28

crashed the car.

0:25:280:25:29

I noticed there were flames coming out of the exhaust pipe,

0:25:310:25:33

and I thought it was rather strange at the time.

0:25:330:25:36

Half an hour went by and we still didn't have any news,

0:25:380:25:42

and the first news we got was when it came over the tannoy, that he'd

0:25:420:25:47

had this accident and was being cut out of the car and of course we were

0:25:470:25:52

shocked and we waited around until we knew what was happening,

0:25:520:25:56

and he was taken in the ambulance and somebody drove me to hospital.

0:25:560:26:01

And then the long vigil started.

0:26:050:26:09

Of course, following your crash there was a lot of photographs of

0:26:090:26:12

it, but there wasn't really straight footage of it?

0:26:120:26:15

No, it was all from the side.

0:26:150:26:18

Because when I did mine, it was being filmed for the television,

0:26:180:26:21

so I have got footage

0:26:210:26:22

-of mine which I have...

-Yes, I would like to see that actually.

0:26:220:26:25

We did show this on the telly,

0:26:250:26:28

and we wondered whether to, but do you want the honest truth?

0:26:280:26:31

-Why we did it? It was because...

-Because it's interesting.

0:26:310:26:34

Yes, and because if just one person watching, one 17 year old kid

0:26:340:26:39

thinks, crikey, things can go wrong in the world of television,

0:26:390:26:42

even in our silly, controlled world,

0:26:420:26:45

they can go wrong in real life.

0:26:450:26:46

Maybe they will think twice before going round a corner and think maybe

0:26:460:26:50

there will be a tractor with a bailing spike coming round

0:26:500:26:53

the other way, so I'll be careful.

0:26:530:26:56

You should have seen the palaver when the medics let me watch

0:26:580:27:02

this for the first time.

0:27:020:27:04

Bloody hell fire, that's a jet engine.

0:27:040:27:08

Oh, that was the first run.

0:27:080:27:10

Oh, crap. This is terrifying!

0:27:100:27:15

And did you hold, you know, on the brakes?

0:27:150:27:18

-Yeah? You did?

-Yeah you build it to a certain point and then...

0:27:180:27:21

Boy, it gets a move on straight away, eh?

0:27:210:27:25

Well, yes, but it accelerates in that way that jet cars do

0:27:250:27:29

which is kind of it builds and builds.

0:27:290:27:32

The initial acceleration is nothing spectacular.

0:27:320:27:35

It doesn't hang about, that.

0:27:350:27:38

Now when you put that chute out, how much does it actually stop you?

0:27:430:27:47

Do you really feel a big G?

0:27:470:27:49

Oh, yes, it's about minus three and a half G it's a proper...

0:27:490:27:52

-Oh, is it? Oh, oh.

-But it's quite gentle in its constant, and then it

0:27:520:27:55

sort of drops off.

0:27:550:27:56

-Oh, yeah.

-Oh yes!

0:27:560:27:58

I'm SO alive!

0:27:580:28:00

Four months after my accident I returned to the Top Gear studio.

0:28:000:28:04

I talked about my early runs in the jet car and then the crash itself.

0:28:040:28:09

And we had the runway until 5.30... and...

0:28:090:28:12

AUDIENCE LAUGHS

0:28:120:28:14

It is strange watching yourself, when you know you were unwell,

0:28:150:28:18

because watching me there then talk, I don't remember that.

0:28:180:28:21

-I don't remember sitting at all.

-Oh, don't you?

0:28:210:28:24

No, not even slightly, but I know that I wasn't very well then.

0:28:240:28:30

Oops. That's when the tyre goes.

0:28:370:28:39

-Sends it off.

-Oooh.

0:28:390:28:42

-Cor, blimey!

-And that's the point where it goes down, that's when

0:28:420:28:45

I was gone, I thought.

0:28:450:28:48

Good Lord! I'm amazed you got away with it at all actually.

0:28:540:28:59

-That's more bashed up than mine was, wasn't it?

-Hm...

0:29:000:29:03

Mine was only a fragment compared to yours.

0:29:030:29:05

I made a more thorough job of the back end of mine compared to yours.

0:29:050:29:09

You can see it start to go...

0:29:090:29:11

and it's just the track to the right...

0:29:110:29:15

And you're trying to steer there.

0:29:150:29:16

-Yes, I was steering but clearly that was never going to work, was it?

-No.

0:29:160:29:22

But now tell me, when the wheel...

0:29:220:29:25

when the tyre started to go,

0:29:250:29:26

that must have given you notice, my God, something's up.

0:29:260:29:29

I can't remember. I can remember...

0:29:290:29:33

the problem is you don't know how much your brain reconstructs

0:29:330:29:36

afterwards. You said a couple of things you thought,

0:29:360:29:38

-you had maybe thought of afterwards.

-Sure, yes.

0:29:380:29:41

But in the versions of it that ran through my mind, when I was kind of,

0:29:410:29:44

in hospital, in and out of consciousness, there was a real

0:29:440:29:49

sense of fighting something,

0:29:490:29:51

which was when steering was going on.

0:29:510:29:54

I think there was a degree of steering as the tyre fell apart.

0:29:550:29:58

But then when it burst...

0:29:580:30:00

..there was a sense of "this is an emergency."

0:30:050:30:07

I think I had then gone to pull the chute, which didn't deploy

0:30:070:30:11

and the tyre burst and it turned round.

0:30:110:30:14

And then it started to roll...

0:30:140:30:16

As the car achieved that sort of angle I thought, "Well, this is it."

0:30:200:30:23

-What I don't get is why did the chute not go?

-I don't know...

0:30:260:30:30

And they never found out?

0:30:300:30:32

No. It didn't deploy possibly because the car was sideways

0:30:320:30:36

and the chute is designed by a drogue to pull it out that way,

0:30:360:30:39

and it kind of...wouldn't.

0:30:390:30:41

-You must have memories of some of your shunts.

-Oh, I have.

0:30:510:30:54

In fact I've seen you say it, on that Face To Face interview,

0:30:540:30:57

when you said... He asks you, "Have you ever thought, that's it?"

0:30:570:31:01

-Yes.

-And you have?

-Yes, oh sure, when my steering broke.

0:31:010:31:04

-Have you ever really thought you were done?

-Yes, I have.

0:31:040:31:08

-When?

-At Monza, my steering sheared at 165 on this bank track.

0:31:080:31:12

I mean, I knew going at 165 or 170 or whatever it was,

0:31:120:31:15

suddenly, when my arms crossed, there was something wrong. I'm not stupid.

0:31:150:31:19

I'm not normally afraid of killing myself,

0:31:190:31:22

I am frightened of being killed

0:31:220:31:24

by something over which I have no control.

0:31:240:31:26

And I thought, "God this is it."

0:31:260:31:28

I mean, that's it. And I remember closing my eyes and forcing back.

0:31:280:31:32

I was absolutely convinced that I was a goner.

0:31:320:31:35

Well, that's a very similar memory then to when mine went,

0:31:350:31:38

that's what happened to me, I did everything I could...

0:31:380:31:40

Did you black out at all, do you reckon?

0:31:400:31:42

After that, yes, but I've never been able to ask anybody else this,

0:31:420:31:46

but when you've really thought it, and really thought, "That's it,"

0:31:460:31:50

the thing that came out of that memory, was that there was no fear.

0:31:500:31:53

It was the next thing to do on my list.

0:31:530:31:55

If I'd had a to-do list it would have said "Get in car, drive car,

0:31:550:31:58

"crash car, die." And I would have just...

0:31:580:32:01

"Oh, I've got to the die bit now." It felt no more...it felt no more...

0:32:010:32:05

Yes, it opens a thing. I must say, I can remember so well

0:32:050:32:08

closing my eyes and thinking, "Christ, what's going to happen?"

0:32:080:32:11

-Yep.

-I'm going to die.

-And what happens next?

0:32:110:32:13

What does it mean? How's it going to be?

0:32:130:32:15

Death is something which frightens me,

0:32:150:32:19

and by thinking of it isn't going to make it less likely to happen,

0:32:190:32:23

therefore I don't think about it.

0:32:230:32:24

I was so worried to find out...and that's where the guilt came from.

0:32:240:32:29

Ah, things still come back!

0:32:290:32:31

-The guilt came from thinking it was my fault.

-Yeah.

0:32:310:32:35

That's back to what you were saying on the Face To Face interview.

0:32:350:32:38

You're not scared of killing yourself

0:32:380:32:40

-but you're scared of being killed.

-Yeah.

0:32:400:32:42

Mechanical failure or whatever. I was so scared...

0:32:420:32:46

I felt so guilty that I'd done something wrong, I'd messed it up,

0:32:460:32:49

so all I wanted to hear was that I hadn't risked leaving my wife

0:32:490:32:56

a widow and daughters without a father because I had cocked up.

0:32:560:32:59

-Which is all you could do.

-It's only when they told me

0:32:590:33:02

from the telemetry from the car, they confirmed that I had pulled

0:33:020:33:06

the parachute lever, that's all I wanted to hear.

0:33:060:33:09

I'd rather you than me, old boy.

0:33:090:33:11

Ha! Well, let's face it, I didn't dislodge the right-hand side

0:33:110:33:14

of my brain so let's not get competitive about shunts!

0:33:140:33:17

The papers were full of it,

0:33:190:33:20

the news hounds were there camping out on the doorstep

0:33:200:33:24

and we told everybody, you know, that there was nothing

0:33:240:33:29

that anybody could say - that he was in a coma,

0:33:290:33:32

there wasn't any news and we'd let them know when there was.

0:33:320:33:36

The state of coma, you were in a coma for a month?

0:33:380:33:40

-Yeah, for a month.

-I was only for a day or two. But that's a strange...

0:33:400:33:44

-It's not asleep but not awake.

-You don't know what's happened.

0:33:440:33:47

-Do you have any coma memories or dreams or anything?

-No, none at all.

0:33:470:33:51

'Although a coma appears like a deep sleep,

0:33:510:33:54

'and, in fact it's the Greek word for deep sleep,

0:33:540:33:58

'the brain activity in a coma is very different.

0:33:580:34:02

'It's described as an unconscious state

0:34:020:34:05

'where you can't respond physically to light, sound or pain.

0:34:050:34:09

'You can't wake a person from a coma,

0:34:090:34:12

'they must regain consciousness of their own accord.'

0:34:120:34:16

So you're in a coma for a month,

0:34:160:34:19

I woke up, I don't, I have no recollection but my wife Mindy has,

0:34:190:34:22

she was there when I briefly stirred out of coma...

0:34:220:34:25

The first thing he did was just...

0:34:250:34:27

there was the tube, the ventilator right down...

0:34:270:34:32

and he just got hold of it and was...

0:34:320:34:35

Started pulling that out. Just fighting off intervention.

0:34:350:34:39

-There was nobody in the room?

-Yeah, my wife and the medics were there.

0:34:390:34:42

I was fighting them off at the same time I was trying to pull it out.

0:34:420:34:45

I looked at the guy and said, "Well, what...what happens now?

0:34:450:34:49

"Can he cope without it?" He said, "Well, we'll wait and see."

0:34:490:34:51

I was pulling the pipe, which was not pleasant,

0:34:510:34:54

Mindy was saying, "What shall we do?" and they just said, "Well,

0:34:540:34:57

"he'll hurt himself if he keeps fighting with us, let him do it."

0:34:570:35:00

Then because I pulled it out, I couldn't breathe any more and I keeled over again

0:35:000:35:04

I'd rather go the way I did, boy, I wasn't awake to do all that mess.

0:35:040:35:07

-A nice sleep for a month!

-Yes, nice and easy.

0:35:070:35:10

'Media interest never let up whilst Stirling lay unconscious.

0:35:130:35:17

'His father Alfred updated reporters,

0:35:170:35:21

'whilst his mother Aileen regularly made visits to be with her son.'

0:35:210:35:26

I held his hand, you know,

0:35:260:35:28

and squeezed it and he squeezed it back,

0:35:280:35:31

and then after a little while

0:35:310:35:33

I said to him, "Hello, darling, it's Mum, can you hear me?" And I THINK,

0:35:330:35:38

I don't think it was imagination that he just muttered, "Mum."

0:35:380:35:43

'Also, in constant attendance, was his secretary and assistant

0:35:460:35:50

'Val "Viper" Pirie. As well as dealing with up to 3,000

0:35:500:35:54

'letters a day, she tried to be at his bedside as much as possible.'

0:35:540:36:00

I was at the hospital and sat with him

0:36:020:36:05

during the days after the accident, all during his coma.

0:36:050:36:11

You sit there and you were told to talk to him

0:36:160:36:18

to try to bring him out of the coma.

0:36:180:36:21

I think they thought that hearing a familiar voice

0:36:210:36:26

would get the brain going, to help them come out of the coma.

0:36:260:36:30

'The common wisdom that talking or reading to someone in a coma

0:36:330:36:37

'may help has not been disproven. In fact, although a patient can't

0:36:370:36:43

'outwardly respond to stimulation of the senses, some recent research

0:36:430:36:47

'has shown that in some cases, the brain is registering inputs.'

0:36:470:36:53

I got him to speak to start with,

0:36:540:36:56

because I was telling him about a chap that was putting in

0:36:560:36:59

an internal vacuum cleaner into the house,

0:36:590:37:05

and this chap was not terribly good.

0:37:050:37:10

And I was regaling Stirling with the latest up... on-goings of the house

0:37:100:37:16

and what this chap had been up to and I said, you know,

0:37:160:37:20

"He's a real bastard! A real bastard!"

0:37:200:37:23

And I heard this little voice say, ("Bastard, real bastard").

0:37:230:37:26

So I thought, "Oh, yes, you're going to be all right then!"

0:37:280:37:31

What is your actual first memory of coming out?

0:37:390:37:42

Bearing in mind you've been in coma for weeks and weeks.

0:37:420:37:45

Yes, I was in a coma for a month, four weeks.

0:37:450:37:48

The first thing I remember is waking up, seeing all the flowers in there

0:37:480:37:51

and facetiously saying, "They must have thought I was going to die."

0:37:510:37:55

-Which of course was pretty near the mark.

-They did!

0:37:550:37:58

I hadn't realised that at the time.

0:37:580:38:00

My best friend was there and I remember lifting my arm like this

0:38:000:38:03

and he said, "What are you doing that for?" and I said,

0:38:030:38:06

"Well, in case you didn't know, I had an accident four weeks ago

0:38:060:38:09

"and broke my arm," and he said, "No, no you didn't."

0:38:090:38:12

He said, "You banged your head." I said, "Don't be ridiculous,

0:38:120:38:15

"how can banging my head mean I've got to lift this arm around?"

0:38:150:38:18

He said they wouldn't tell me because they were frightened it'd worry me,

0:38:180:38:22

and he said, "I'm afraid that you're paralysed on that side."

0:38:220:38:25

I said, "Don't be ridiculous!"

0:38:250:38:27

So he said, "All right, move your fingers," and, of course, I couldn't.

0:38:270:38:31

That sounds, to me anyway,

0:38:310:38:34

as though you were still in a bit of a confused state at that point.

0:38:340:38:37

Probably, but you don't see it that way do you?

0:38:370:38:40

No, it's reality to you at the time.

0:38:400:38:42

Because it's you and that's all you know. Oh, absolutely, I mean

0:38:420:38:46

it's quite frightening how you can believe one thing but it isn't right

0:38:460:38:50

and I was obviously still, you know, mentally a bit...

0:38:500:38:55

-Mixed up?

-Knocked about.

0:38:550:38:57

Coma, classically will move on and people then tend to come out,

0:39:000:39:05

through a period of confusion, and into post traumatic amnesia.

0:39:050:39:09

Memory is no one structure,

0:39:140:39:17

memory is part of an integral system that goes throughout the brain.

0:39:170:39:21

And of course memory is what we judge ourselves by.

0:39:230:39:25

That is where we are in life,

0:39:250:39:27

that is what happened a few minutes ago, that is what we're worth,

0:39:270:39:31

that is who we love, that is what is going on.

0:39:310:39:34

It is very integral to our souls.

0:39:340:39:36

Did you have, I'm just interested at exploring

0:39:410:39:44

different states of mind, post traumatic amnesia?

0:39:440:39:47

-I don't know if that hit you at all.

-Yes, yes, I did.

0:39:470:39:50

-Obviously if you can't remember...

-I think I've still got it actually!

0:39:500:39:54

I think now it's age orientated!

0:39:540:39:55

I was going to say, "That's called being 80!"

0:39:550:39:57

I think that's the problem now, but certainly, I did. Oh, terrible.

0:39:570:40:01

I mean, I met this stunning girl, and I didn't know

0:40:010:40:03

where we got along, where to got to in our relationship.

0:40:030:40:07

I met her afterwards and I more or less said to her,

0:40:070:40:10

had to say to her, you know, "How far had we gone?"

0:40:100:40:12

If you know what I mean, which is a pretty difficult place to be,

0:40:120:40:16

because I just could not remember.

0:40:160:40:18

But that's when it becomes alarming for the people around you.

0:40:180:40:22

-Well, yes, yes.

-My wife would come and sit with me

0:40:220:40:25

and at first I denied that she was my wife,

0:40:250:40:27

-because apparently I said my wife's French.

-Oh, really?

0:40:270:40:30

(Tricky.) I don't know why.

0:40:300:40:32

He said to me, when he came round,

0:40:320:40:34

"You probably should go cos my wife will be here soon."

0:40:340:40:37

I said, "I'm your wife," and he went, "No, you're not. My wife's French."

0:40:370:40:41

But she never said, "We have a happy loving relationship,"

0:40:410:40:44

because she didn't want to plant... she never wanted years down the road

0:40:440:40:48

to think, "He only thinks that because I planted that seed

0:40:480:40:51

"in his head when he was vulnerable."

0:40:510:40:52

The difficulty is that our memories can be biased,

0:40:520:40:57

and we start to incorporate those other people's representations,

0:40:570:41:03

into our own feelings of what is true.

0:41:030:41:06

I think Mindy was very wise.

0:41:120:41:14

She didn't push the point and I think it can be very disturbing

0:41:140:41:17

for people whose memories are slowly returning

0:41:170:41:20

to have questions and doubts put into their mind,

0:41:200:41:23

because they're trying to deal with enough already.

0:41:230:41:26

So she let me, and I did thankfully,

0:41:260:41:27

fall in love with her again - which is good.

0:41:270:41:30

'Feeling oneself stuck in an alternate reality

0:41:300:41:34

'or being deeply confused are just some of the symptoms

0:41:340:41:37

'of post traumatic amnesia.

0:41:370:41:39

'Recovering from brain injury, patients might emerge with

0:41:390:41:42

'incomprehensible memories, or inexplicable skills,

0:41:420:41:45

'completely changed attitudes.

0:41:450:41:48

'Stirling was briefly fluent in a language he can hardly speak.

0:41:480:41:51

Well, he was lying asleep one night and he suddenly started to speak

0:41:510:41:56

in French with an absolutely superb French accent.

0:41:560:42:01

It isn't as though I'm bilingual, I'm not.

0:42:010:42:03

I mean I can get away with French if my wife's there to help me.

0:42:030:42:06

-It was apparently quite fluent?

-Yes, apparently.

0:42:060:42:09

I'm not sure it wasn't better than I could speak.

0:42:090:42:11

My Birmingham accent returned,

0:42:110:42:13

I haven't lived in Birmingham for over 35 years.

0:42:130:42:15

-I left when I was a tiny child.

-But you haven't got it now?

0:42:150:42:18

-It did return briefly.

-Did it?

-Took about 30 seconds to get rid of it!

0:42:180:42:23

The whole of brain injury recovery is a roller-coaster but normally

0:42:360:42:40

by the time that the patient comes out into post traumatic amnesia,

0:42:400:42:45

he seems to be relatively normal.

0:42:450:42:47

So people will come flocking to see him, they'll be elated

0:42:470:42:50

by the good news that suddenly he's better and he will be swamped.

0:42:500:42:54

Everybody, all of his friends and family were coming to see him,

0:42:570:43:00

he didn't feel that he'd had an accident, he couldn't remember

0:43:000:43:04

the accident at that point, so he was thinking, "What's going on?"

0:43:040:43:08

And it must have been like being in

0:43:080:43:10

a bizarre sci-fi movie or something, you know.

0:43:100:43:13

"I'm being kept here against my will,

0:43:130:43:15

"everybody else is getting on with their lives,

0:43:150:43:17

"Why don't I know where I am, or who I am, or what I am?"

0:43:170:43:20

'Good morning Dr Artuzzio, I hope we're on time.'

0:43:200:43:23

'Good morning. Yes, we have a few minutes yet.'

0:43:230:43:26

'Dr Mazir, will you go ahead and prepare this patient?'

0:43:260:43:29

What then happens is it's totally overwhelming

0:43:320:43:36

and absolutely exhausting.

0:43:360:43:38

They can't follow the conversation,

0:43:380:43:40

we believe the frontal lobe has a almost filtering effect,

0:43:400:43:44

so that it can cut out too many stimuli.

0:43:440:43:48

If it has been damaged in the head injury,

0:43:480:43:50

that filter doesn't seem to work.

0:43:500:43:52

He'd had quite a few visitors one morning,

0:43:520:43:55

and then I sort of left him for about 15 minutes,

0:43:550:43:59

walked back into his room and he was on his hands and knees on the bed,

0:43:590:44:03

elbows and knees rather,

0:44:030:44:04

with his hands round the back of his head, going,

0:44:040:44:07

"Argh, the pain! My head, my head!"

0:44:070:44:10

They feel like they're going crazy.

0:44:160:44:17

They feel like their brain is not working,

0:44:170:44:21

and it just unfortunately further hinders their progress

0:44:210:44:24

because they have this crisis of confidence.

0:44:240:44:27

'The threatening clouds which have been there all the morning

0:44:280:44:31

'turned this afternoon into rain,

0:44:310:44:34

'rain which obviously is going to slow the practice times enormously,

0:44:340:44:37

'as we see Graham Hill in the BRM...'

0:44:370:44:40

I don't think that he really realised how bad he was.

0:44:400:44:43

And it wasn't until he saw the first race,

0:44:430:44:46

which I think was Monaco after that, on television,

0:44:460:44:51

that he asked for a car and he wanted to go there.

0:44:510:44:56

He was a little bit pathetic to start with, you know,

0:44:560:44:59

"Oh, I want to go there. Can I go there?"

0:44:590:45:01

"No, you're not capable of doing it." "Oh, I can, I can!"

0:45:010:45:04

'But also of driver, a test...

0:45:040:45:06

'There's Graham Hill coming into the fifth,

0:45:060:45:08

'obviously something not quite right, or he may feel,

0:45:080:45:11

'and justifiably so, that with these...'

0:45:110:45:13

One of the difficulties during recovery from frontal lobe

0:45:130:45:16

can be a lack of insight. Patients seem to almost have

0:45:160:45:20

a physical centre somewhere within that part of the lobe that enables

0:45:200:45:24

them to self-regulate and work out what they can and can't do.

0:45:240:45:28

How long do you think this is going to take?

0:45:280:45:30

There's talk of you being back to racing in no time at all.

0:45:300:45:33

Well, the doctor's are better qualified to answer

0:45:330:45:36

but I reckon it may take a month before I'm allowed to go off,

0:45:360:45:39

you know, to get fit,

0:45:390:45:42

and maybe a month getting fit and then straight in the car.

0:45:420:45:46

Are you going to try and persuade him to stop racing after this?

0:45:460:45:49

I shall ask him, yes.

0:45:490:45:51

I haven't before, but this time I shall, definitely.

0:45:510:45:56

What is so often difficult is a patient is desperate to get back

0:45:560:46:00

and prove themselves well again and they can have

0:46:000:46:03

totally unrealistic expectations as to what is possible.

0:46:030:46:07

Stirling, your doctors have been quoted today as saying

0:46:070:46:10

that you're still very weak. How do you feel yourself?

0:46:100:46:13

Well, there are weaknesses, of course, down this left side.

0:46:130:46:17

I mean, this arm is not as strong as this one, but I feel all right.

0:46:170:46:20

I feel very well in fact.

0:46:200:46:22

How soon do you think you'll be back on the track again?

0:46:220:46:25

Well, that depends on the doctors quite honestly,

0:46:250:46:27

but I think I'll be back in time for the British Grand Prix,

0:46:270:46:31

which is the middle of July. About a month

0:46:310:46:33

You reach a point where you think, "I'm fixed, I'm better,"

0:46:330:46:37

and then a month goes by and you look back over the previous month

0:46:370:46:41

and think, "Cor, I wasn't better then, was I? Now I am."

0:46:410:46:44

Then another month goes by and you think,

0:46:440:46:47

"Whoa, I was still a bit wonky."

0:46:470:46:48

Yes, but I had the paralysis to help me, if you like.

0:46:480:46:51

Because it was a physical manifestation?

0:46:510:46:53

Yes, because it was there for, you know, for another six months.

0:46:530:46:57

And so I think the fact that I obviously was not right,

0:46:570:47:01

and I knew I wasn't right until I got rid of that problem.

0:47:010:47:04

But the danger there is that was only one manifestation

0:47:040:47:07

of the problems that you had.

0:47:070:47:09

Did you immediately then think, "That's it, I'm fixed"?

0:47:090:47:14

No.

0:47:140:47:16

No, because I went and tried myself out with a car

0:47:160:47:18

to see if I could race again, and the answer was no.

0:47:180:47:22

And I'm the only person who can make that...

0:47:220:47:25

The decision of having to say no to myself and think,

0:47:250:47:28

"No, I'm not going to do it," caused an enormous change in my life.

0:47:280:47:32

What made you decide finally to retire from racing?

0:47:330:47:36

Well, I went out today to Goodwood, where I had the crash it so happens,

0:47:360:47:40

with a racing sports car and did about 45 minutes of lapping.

0:47:400:47:45

And while I was doing that I decided that I would be foolish to continue

0:47:450:47:49

because I had lost certain things that I took for granted

0:47:490:47:52

such as my dexterity, my concentration

0:47:520:47:54

and you know, many things happened that normally I wouldn't even

0:47:540:47:59

think about, and today I had to think about doing them.

0:47:590:48:02

Do you remember that drive, when you decided?

0:48:030:48:07

Yes. Yeah I do, because it was...

0:48:070:48:13

very depressing.

0:48:130:48:15

I tried not to show the depression but, you know,

0:48:150:48:18

realising that this was the only decision I could make

0:48:180:48:21

which was obvious to me because I had been...

0:48:210:48:23

I knew if I went back to racing I'd either kill myself

0:48:230:48:26

or kill somebody else so it was not a difficult decision to make,

0:48:260:48:30

because it's something that had to be intuitive

0:48:300:48:34

and it was no longer intuitive.

0:48:340:48:36

'Now, although apparently fully recovered to normal health,

0:48:380:48:41

'Stirling Moss has made the decision to race no more.'

0:48:410:48:45

So in Stirling's case,

0:48:490:48:51

he was about a year after his accident, wasn't he?

0:48:510:48:55

-The paralysis had left him, he was physically OK.

-Yep.

0:48:550:48:59

Then he decided

0:48:590:49:02

to go for a drive and to make his own assessment.

0:49:020:49:05

How do you feel about him doing that? How do you feel about that?

0:49:050:49:08

Well, as he says,

0:49:080:49:09

he was very glad I wasn't in charge of them in those days,

0:49:090:49:13

because I wouldn't have let him get in the car,

0:49:130:49:16

and I wouldn't have let him get in the car for two years.

0:49:160:49:19

And I wouldn't have let him get in the car until I serially assessed

0:49:190:49:23

his psychomotor skills, over a period of time.

0:49:230:49:27

He says, "I couldn't wait that long."

0:49:270:49:31

It was far too soon to make a decision like that.

0:49:310:49:34

I'm not saying that he would have been able to go back

0:49:340:49:39

and be competitive for a few years, actually,

0:49:390:49:44

but, even so, it was far too early to make that decision.

0:49:440:49:48

I mean, I know when I got out of racing I didn't want to leave,

0:49:480:49:52

but I left because it was the only intelligent thing for me to do.

0:49:520:49:55

Because if you couldn't win, you didn't want to be there?

0:49:550:49:59

If I wasn't in there to win... Yeah, exactly. And...

0:49:590:50:02

I'm not a good loser, I don't want to go out there and make up the field

0:50:020:50:06

and therefore it wasn't that difficult, but it was hard.

0:50:060:50:10

-Trying to meet you in that period after, say a year afterwards.

-Yeah.

0:50:100:50:15

Does this resonate at all with you?

0:50:150:50:17

I went through a long phase of wanting to wear a T-shirt,

0:50:170:50:20

on the front of which said, "I'm absolutely fine, thanks for asking."

0:50:200:50:25

And on the back said, "I'm still poorly you know." Because sometimes,

0:50:250:50:30

with recovering from brain injury people will just,

0:50:300:50:33

"Wow, he's walking about and moving and everything! He's fine."

0:50:330:50:36

As they would with you because by then, you're physically fixed,

0:50:360:50:40

still the same robust soul as you were when you hit the bank.

0:50:400:50:42

Your T-shirt, the equivalent of mine, would say on the front,

0:50:420:50:45

"I'm absolutely fine, thank you - and lucky," on the back...

0:50:450:50:49

I think I'd have had on my back I'd think that I had lost, you see.

0:50:490:50:54

I'd reckon I wasn't doing what I wanted to do,

0:50:540:50:57

therefore my life is not at the moment complete.

0:50:570:51:00

You know, that was it, that was the end of it.

0:51:000:51:04

-But what had changed? Was it your ability to control your arms?

-No.

0:51:040:51:08

No what had changed was what I used to do was automatic,

0:51:080:51:13

now it was a conscience thought.

0:51:130:51:15

Everything had to be thought out.

0:51:150:51:16

It was no longer what my life was.

0:51:160:51:19

No longer could I write a piece of prose that was really worth reading,

0:51:190:51:24

you know what I mean, and so therefore I had changed.

0:51:240:51:28

I mean, my life had been changed and I, obviously, along with it.

0:51:280:51:31

'The pathways in his brain,

0:51:340:51:37

'developed and honed by years of top flight racing,

0:51:370:51:41

'had not fully recovered from the accident.

0:51:410:51:45

'for Stirling what was once second nature behind the wheel,

0:51:450:51:49

'was now a conscious, tiring and slower effort.'

0:51:490:51:54

These days what we try to do is,

0:51:590:52:01

we try to ensure that people only have positive experiences,

0:52:010:52:04

because the risk of a set back is so overwhelming in head injury

0:52:040:52:09

because it seems to affect their very entity.

0:52:090:52:11

You see when can you go back?

0:52:130:52:17

And he couldn't have been an also ran.

0:52:170:52:19

And he wouldn't have wanted to tarnish his image, ever.

0:52:190:52:23

'Stirling led across the line to win his first Grand Prix and

0:52:230:52:27

'to go down in history as the first British driver to win this event.'

0:52:270:52:32

And I'm going from being one of the most successful drivers,

0:52:360:52:40

at the top of my form,

0:52:400:52:41

and now suddenly all that I had worked for was taken away.

0:52:410:52:45

And I had to then start building up another life,

0:52:450:52:49

which was away from that.

0:52:490:52:50

Forget that, I can't, I mustn't look at that any more.

0:52:500:52:53

I've got to build an entirely new life. I had nothing.

0:52:530:52:56

The only thing I had was my name.

0:52:560:52:59

'The new two litre Renault 20,

0:53:000:53:03

'is equipped with centralised door locking,

0:53:030:53:06

'adjustable head lights, electric windows,

0:53:060:53:09

'in fact more luxury features as standard than any car in its class.

0:53:090:53:15

'Oh, and of course, a powerful new two litre engine.'

0:53:150:53:19

ENGINE REVS

0:53:190:53:20

'Who do you think you are, Stirling Moss?'

0:53:200:53:23

'His name still sells today

0:53:260:53:28

'even though he never made a successful comeback.

0:53:280:53:31

'But a little of the old racing Moss can perhaps be glimpsed

0:53:310:53:35

'at vintage car rallies which he loves.'

0:53:350:53:38

So this DVD is from 92

0:53:380:53:42

and this is you in a rerun of the Mille Miglia.

0:53:420:53:45

-Right, so this is behind the wheel, 43 years later.

-Yeah.

0:53:450:53:50

-'What the

-BLEEP?

-Why didn't you tell me then, you prat?'

0:53:530:53:56

-Language!

-STIRLING CHUCKLES

0:53:560:53:58

'BLEEP. BLEEP. BLEEP.'

0:53:580:54:00

-STIRLING CHUCKLES

-Straight in, no mercy!

-Terrible!

0:54:000:54:03

'Put it on your head and then put it on.'

0:54:030:54:06

You're back in business here.

0:54:060:54:07

You're driving the same route, the same car,

0:54:070:54:10

shouting at your co-driver, who is THAT Stirling Moss?

0:54:100:54:13

You know, that's the modern one because, you know, it isn't a race.

0:54:130:54:18

If it had been a race then obviously I would be very upset,

0:54:180:54:22

in this one I was a bit frustrated.

0:54:220:54:24

'320. Three kilometres, 20.'

0:54:240:54:26

-'No not the kilometres the

-BLEEP

-minutes you

-BLEEP

-!'

0:54:260:54:29

THEY LAUGH

0:54:290:54:30

It is two men arguing in a car.

0:54:330:54:35

So there you are, doing what you do.

0:54:350:54:39

I know it's not in a race situation, but seriously,

0:54:390:54:44

try and tell me, rummage about in there,

0:54:440:54:46

there will be some emotions going on cos I know even you feel emotions.

0:54:460:54:49

What were you feeling behind the wheel of that car again

0:54:490:54:52

-and doing things like that?

-Frustrated.

0:54:520:54:54

I mean, the Mille Miglia now, of course, is not like it was at all.

0:54:540:54:59

It's not a speed event.

0:54:590:55:00

But, to go and make mistakes, as we were doing, was very frustrating

0:55:000:55:06

quite frankly, and I can't contain myself that well,

0:55:060:55:11

I am someone who says what I think, which I shouldn't quite often

0:55:110:55:15

and so I'm a bit embarrassed at that actually.

0:55:150:55:17

I think the world will forgive you for saying what you think, Stirling.

0:55:170:55:21

Then you cross the line and you pretty much nail it on time.

0:55:210:55:24

-You're absolutely bang on. How did that feel?

-Luck.

0:55:240:55:29

We were ill-prepared and we were very lucky, it was as simple as that.

0:55:290:55:33

Lucky is such an interesting word in this context

0:55:330:55:36

because I will guarantee you've been told how lucky you are to be here

0:55:360:55:40

many, many, many, many times. But lucky?

0:55:400:55:42

The world's greatest racing driver can't race anymore?

0:55:420:55:45

-That's not luck. That's bad luck, isn't it?

-Yeah, I'm told I'm lucky.

0:55:450:55:49

I'd be a hell of a lot luckier if the tyre hadn't blown at 300mph.

0:55:490:55:52

-Yes, quite!

-That's unlucky if you ask me!

0:55:520:55:54

Do you think you got over yours completely?

0:55:540:55:58

I always think that and then a year goes by and you look back

0:55:580:56:01

and think, "Oh, you know what? I hadn't."

0:56:010:56:03

I met somebody yesterday who I haven't seen for a year,

0:56:030:56:06

who said straight away, "Big difference!"

0:56:060:56:10

-Oh, really?

-Yeah. I think it's a very, very long road because of,

0:56:100:56:14

because we're not hard-wired are we?

0:56:140:56:16

There's not a load of wires and flashing lights in there,

0:56:160:56:19

it's a hideously complicated beast in there

0:56:190:56:23

made up of experiences and tendencies and inclinations

0:56:230:56:26

and it takes a long time to build it

0:56:260:56:29

and if you mess it up as heavily and as strongly as we did,

0:56:290:56:32

and as a lot of people do,

0:56:320:56:34

then I think it takes a commensurately long time to

0:56:340:56:37

-settle back down and reboot itself.

-Yes.

-I find it a bit frightening.

0:56:370:56:40

Yes, it's frightening because it's something we can't control.

0:56:400:56:44

We can't control our brain.

0:56:440:56:45

Our brain controls us, doesn't it?

0:56:450:56:48

'I said at the start of this programme that much of what

0:56:500:56:53

'we know about the brain was learned from observing what happens

0:56:530:56:58

'when someone damages it.

0:56:580:57:00

'But it's not just medical science that learns.

0:57:000:57:02

'Stirling and I have learned a lot about our own brains

0:57:020:57:05

'as a result of damaging them.

0:57:050:57:08

'OK, so Stirling felt he couldn't react as quickly behind the wheel

0:57:080:57:12

'and he gave up racing. But it hasn't stopped him continuing to be

0:57:120:57:16

'a much-loved, respected and admired character in the racing world

0:57:160:57:21

'about which he's still so passionate.'

0:57:210:57:23

'Welcome to the Inaugural Motor Sport Hall of Fame.'

0:57:250:57:30

-Is this where we're meant to be?

-That's right, sir.

0:57:300:57:33

-Oh, good, what time shall we be here?

-You're absolutely on time, sir.

0:57:330:57:36

Sir Jackie Stewart and Sir Stirling Moss.

0:57:360:57:41

Nevertheless, you see the difference is we're diametrically opposed,

0:57:450:57:49

because I think racing should be dangerous,

0:57:490:57:52

because I think to me, that was what it was about.

0:57:520:57:55

Here's the thing, Stirling is 80 now.

0:57:550:57:58

He's just spent three, four hours in a studio with me

0:57:580:58:03

talking pretty intensely, and now he's up there, doing that.

0:58:030:58:08

His brain's still absorbing so much,

0:58:080:58:14

and then putting out the required output.

0:58:140:58:18

I think he got better.

0:58:190:58:22

'Ladies and Gentlemen, Sir Stirling Moss.'

0:58:220:58:24

APPLAUSE

0:58:240:58:27

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

0:58:420:58:46

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0:58:460:58:49

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