Has this decision ever been questioned? Who knows, but I was sitting behind Autocar’s Alan Henry as I wrote the story. “Ingenious?” he mumbled, filing the story for a third or fourth selling point as I finished my first summary. “Fuckin ‘practice, rather!”
There were times when Mosley’s love for verbal or mental combat seemed to know no bounds. I distantly remember standing in Monte-Carlo on the eve of the opening of the World Rally Championship season in, I believe in 2001, a media meeting that was held face to face with him and asked him to justify the latest round of regulatory proposals. In truth, Formula 1 was his sport, and while pushing off all comers, he ended up contradicting himself on a detail note. I reported this to him right away. “I can see why you say this, but of course you have to understand…” and he left, pointing out why I was wrong.
It’s hard to follow an argument, let alone an accomplished legal mastermind, while trying to write the words, so I left it there. It wasn’t front page news. The group broke up, but as they walked away Mosley leaned towards me. “You almost got me there…” He could have conceded more openly, but he wasn’t going to accept defeat in front of everyone. Have mercy on the poor souls who had to fight him on more familiar grounds.
Of course, this attitude led him into many other battles, both related to motorsport, motor racing – most notably through the creation of Euro NCAP, which of course gave him a step from which to lead. war with the automakers, advancing safety for all as it has done, and otherwise. I wouldn’t be true to myself if I wasn’t clear that I have tremendous concern about some of the former, especially the seemingly insatiable feeling he lashed out with Ron Dennis – a man I would call the more principled and honorable man I have met, though sometimes conflicted as a result – and McLaren during Spygate in 2007. In a sport where the will to win is everything, it was sometimes obvious that he wanted to win even more than the competitors themselves.
I suspect Mosley would have been the same whether he raced motorsport or his local country club. Or, maybe, if her family heritage allowed it, maybe even a country. Perhaps prompted by this imposing intellect, he provoked – even savored – conflicts wherever he went, always confident in his ability to emerge victorious.
Those who now write his epitaph will no doubt be torn apart by the contradictions left behind with which they must judge him more fully but, as I hope these quirky memories point out, his essence was that of a man who knew how to get that. he wanted, whatever. the results.
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Source: www.autocar.co.uk
This notice was published: 2021-05-24 16:05:51
