Stirling’s return to racing so nearly ended with a victory in the RAC Woodcote Trophy at the Silverstone Classic at the weekend. Stirling had changed over with his driving partner Ian Nuthall and was at the wheel of his 1956 1.5-litre OSCA leading his class ahead of musician Chris Rea, as was his stated aim.

However, with just ten minutes of the one-hour race to run, Stirling was forced to pull up in the pit lane. At the time he was lying in 19th position overall after they had started 33rd on the 48-car grid.

Stirling said of his retirement: “She was stuck in fourth gear and I couldn’t get it to come out. That’s a bit too high a gear to become jammed in. Third I could have coped with. But we were flying and I’ve really enjoyed it.”

This was his first race since the accident at his London home in March. His retirement from the race meant Rea and co-driver Richard Hodson, in their Lotus 6, were able to speed by and take the class win instead.

A short highlight of him racing was shown on the BBC 1 coverage of German Grand Prix on Sunday, with further footage of his race due to be shown on Inside Out Midlands, again on the BBC, later in the year.