Throughout the history of motor­sports, men and women have pushed the boundaries, physically, mentally and technically. Here are 10 heroes who embody this year’s theme at the Goodwood Festival of Speed: True Grit — Epic Feats of ­Endurance.

Steve McQueen 12 hours of Sebring, 1970

Even in Hollywood, the script would be rejected as too implausible: the film star with a foot in plaster, driving an uncompetitive race car, takes on one of the greatest Formula One stars in a wildly more powerful works Ferrari and damn near wins. But that’s what happened at America’s Sebring 12 Hours endurance race in 1970.

McQueen raced his Porsche 908 despite having broken his foot after falling off a motorcycle; his team-mate was Peter Revson, the Revlon heir. One by one the quicker cars broke down until McQueen and Revson led outright. And they’d have won, too, had Ferrari not put Mario Andretti, its top F1 driver (whose car had already retired), in the second-placed Ferrari 512S and told him to drive as only he knew how. McQueen was denied his fairytale ending, Andretti’s 5-litre Ferrari just beating his 3-litre Porsche.

Pierre Levegh 24 hours of Le Mans, 1952

In today’s Le Mans 24 Hours endurance race, the rules stipulate a minimum of three drivers per car, but back in 1952 Pierre Levegh attempted the apparently impossible — not only to drive the race solo, but to win. Each time the Frenchman brought his Talbot into the pits his team-mate tried to take over, but each time Levegh refused. Leading, with little more than an hour to go, he missed a gearshift and destroyed the engine.

Vic Elford Nürburgring 84 hours, 1967

In 1967 Porsche had a new gearbox that allowed changes without the use of a clutch. What it needed was a way of proving to the world the system’s reliability, which is why it entered a race at the Nürburg­ring circuit in Germany that ran non-stop for half a week. In that time the Porsche 911R, driven by Hans Hermann, Jochen Neerspasch and the celebrated British all-rounder “Quick” Vic Elford, logged more than 6,500 miles around the track. Elford and his team-mates took the win, and that car will be ­driving at the Festival of Speed.

Gilles Villeneuve Dutch Grand Prix, 1979

Villeneuve’s Ferrari started the race in sixth place but was second by the first corner. The Canadian took the lead, then started to build a gap until one of his rear tyres exploded at maximum speed. Almost any other driver would have crashed, but Villeneuve reversed back onto the track and started to drive the 2½ miles back to the pits, at racing speeds. Soon the bare wheel collapsed, dropping the car onto its rear suspension, lifting the opposing front wheel off the ground. Undeterred and now on two wheels — one driven, one steered — he screamed around the track, the car disintegrating around him. Somehow, he made it to the pits and demanded a new wheel and tyre be fitted so he could rejoin the race. Only when shown the remains of his wrecked Ferrari was he persuaded that retirement was the only option.

Jackie Stewart German Grand Prix, 1968

Even in perfect weather the old Nürburgring was still the most terrifying place a driver could race. When Jackie Stewart left home to compete there, he’d look at his front door and wonder if he’d see it again. Yet in 1968 the Scot raced there with a broken wrist in a plastic sleeve, the legacy of a crash in a Formula Two car. What’s more, the track was flooded. Stewart qualified sixth but led at the end of the first lap. After four laps he was a minute clear of the field. By the end of the race, more than four minutes separated him from the next-best driver.

Michele Mouton World Rally Championship, 1982

Only a handful of women have risen to the top levels of motor sports. And having got there, only one has managed to beat the best of the best. Her name is Michèle Mouton, and in 1982 she was widely seen as one of the greatest rally drivers in the world. The previous year, she had won the San Remo rally, becoming the first woman to win a world championship rally, and in 1982 she won a further three in Portugal, Brazil and Greece, more than any other driver in the championship. Only a lack of reliability in her Audi quattro and the consistency of her rival Walter Röhrl’s Opel Ascona denied her the title.

Mike Hailwood Isle of Man TT, 1978

Despite winning four 500cc motorcycle world titles, Mike Hailwood will always be best remembered for his heroics in the Isle of Man, which he first entered in 1958. He had won 12 motorbike titles when he retired in 1967 to pursue a career on four wheels, in F1. In 1978, 11 years after last racing a bike and with the machinery changed beyond all recognition, he was tempted back to the island for one last shot at glory on a new Ducati. At the time, friends and colleagues regarded his comeback — he was middle-aged and the course was potentially lethal — as little short of lunacy. But they reckoned without the man. He didn’t just win; he walked it.

Niki Lauda Italian Grand Prix, 1976

Apparently, nothing out of the ordinary happened. Lauda qualified in fifth place at the 1976 Italian GP, drove a steady race and finished fourth overall. So why mention it here? Because just six weeks earlier, a Catholic priest had administered the last rites to him. Niki Lauda’s crash at the Nürburgring during that year’s German Grand Prix had left him with many visible injuries but what threatened his life were the burns to his lungs caused by inhaling flame and smoke as he sat helpless in the blazing wreck of his Ferrari, helmet torn off by the impact. Many presumed that even if he survived, his career was over. In fact Lauda not only raced again with his wounds still fresh but won the F1 World Championship the following year.

Tazio Nuvolari Mille Miglia, 1948

By 1948 Tazio Nuvolari, the greatest driver of the pre-war era, was a gravely ill man. He was 55 years old and, suffering from chronic asthma, had spent most of the winter in bed. But when Enzo Ferrari asked him to drive one last Mille Miglia, Italy’s demanding 1,000-mile road race, Nuvolari was unable to resist. At halfway he led all the young hotshots in the race, but his Ferrari was falling to bits around him. At three-quarters distance he still led, despite coughing up blood, and didn’t even stop when he spun the car and damaged the suspension. His seat collapsed, so he sat on a box of oranges, and his race was ended only when the suspension gave way altogether.

Alex Zanardi Italian Super Touring Championship, 2005

During a Champ Car race at Germany’s Lausitzring in 2001, Alex Zanardi, a former F1 racer, was t-boned by a fellow competitor doing more than 200mph, and both legs were instantly severed above the knee. After that, you’d think he’d be happy just to be alive. Not Zanardi. In 2003 he symbolically completed the 13 remaining laps of the race in a car equipped with hand controls, and by the end of 2005 he’d won the Italian Super Touring Championship.

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