Juan Manuel Fangio's illustrious name is indelibly inscibed in the record books and many consider him to be the greatest driver in history. Yet his life was as remarkable as his racing achievements. It was 45 years before his tally of five World Championships was equalled, and his success - winning nearly half the Grands Prix he entered - will surely never be surpassed. But his exceptional Formula 1 career, which included some of the greatest displays of skill and daring ever seen, was preceded by super-human exploits in epic South American road races that made competition at the pinnacle of motor spot seem like child's play. he lofty heights of international celebrity, was strewn with obstacles that would have stopped a lesser man in his tracks. But Fangio fought back, overcoming despair to meet adversity head on, surviving disasters and speeding past setbacks to triumph time and time again. And he did it with style, grace, nobility and a sense of honour never seen before or since. drivers manhandled machines on daunting and dangerous tracks that are no more. Ascari, Moss, Farina, Brooks, Gonzalez, Varzi, Fagioli, De Portago, Castelloti, Musso, Schell, Collins and Hawthorn - larger than life characters one and all, and all of them beaten by Fangio, who was also left to mourn the deaths of far too many of them.