The brief was simple. An email to all the journalists on Autocar: Pick your favourite racing driver of all time. 

What we didn’t expect was quite the repertoire of answers that came back. Covering most eras and a vast spectrum of the sport - from F1 to club racing - it just goes to show how varied motorsport and its followers are.  For once, there are no wrong answers: It has led to many discussions and a fair amount of incredulity but, in the end, it’s all about personal choice.  

Do you agree with us? Would you go for someone different? Let us know in the comments below. 

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Armin Schwarz

I like racing, but not-so-many racing drivers. A certain amount of self-confidence is necessary to be successful in this line of work, quite clearly; but there are far too many racing drivers with too much of the stuff. If winning gives you that problem, it’s fair enough I suppose. I guess I’m not really qualified to comment either way. But there are an awful lot of pretty average racing drivers who, it seems to me, simply don’t have the skill or the success to justify their swagger.

I much prefer a driver you don’t see coming. Not one with a cloaking device on his car (although that’d come in handy at times), but rather the type who’s quiet, unflashy and unassuming out of the car - ‘nice’, dare I suggest it - but then masterful within it. Less of the celebrity playboy or ‘opinion-leader’, more of a human being. 

Armin