Continuation racing drivers

Sir,

With reference to Gordon Cruickshank’s article ‘Revive, Recreate’ ( Jan 2013), the debate regarding how far to go when restoring or simply maintaining a historic car will surely never achieve consensus. The following comment might help, but probably won’t!

It’s general knowledge, I believe, that most of the cells in the human body are replaced during a normal lifetime — often several times over. Apparently the human skin is gradually replaced every five to seven years. So you can preserve/replicate/revive old cars as much as you like, but old racing drivers are, without exception, anything but the original. Stirling Moss and his ilk are, literally, not the men they once were. But the important thing is, we love to watch them having a go at Goodwood and accept them for who they are. Or were.

I also wanted to say how much I loved ‘Lunch with Rick Mears’. What a driver — and what a great magazine. Richard Tudor-Owen, lxworth, Suffolk