Motorsport legend Nigel Mansell has recalled how his career - and life - nearly ended long before he ever set foot in an F1 car.

Mansell, who became Britain's first world drivers' champion since James Hunt when he romped to the 1992 title, has spoken about the time he had such a horrific crash while karting that he ended up in hospital being given the last rites by a priest.

A few years later, he moved up to Formula Ford and broke his neck in a crash at Brands Hatch. He didn't mention that bit during his appearance on the Road to Success podcast, but it did happen (he also came back the same season and won the championship).

Mansell discussed the high-speed karting crash, which happened at Morecambe when he was just a teenager, on that podcast, talking about the steering failure which had caused the crash and his memories - such as they are - of the aftermath of his serious head injury.

Mansell: I saw a bright light down a tunnel

"I was racing at Morecambe and Heysham in the world championships in karting," he began.

"I was in 210 [Class] at the time and Martin Hines, great world champion in 250s was there, and I came down the straight and the steering broke on the kart.

"So I hit the fence on the inside of the circuit, and with karts you get thrown out of the kart, so I was thrown out at well over 100mph, flying through the air going 'oh, this is neat' until you hit the ground.

"Then hitting the ground was pretty painful, but it was more painful when a kart came past and hit my in the head at 120mph. It compressed my helmet and just completely split my head wide open.

"I woke up, or I have a memory of waking up, when I was in the theatre and they were sewing my head up. I was having an out-of-body experience, looking at my body and going 'oh that's me down there! Oh look, they're sewing me up, that's quite good', and then I had fluid coming out the ears, nose, because I was haemorrhaging.

"So I wasn't in good shape. I never woke up for a couple of days, and then I was seeing this wonderful bright white light, and I'm going 'ooh, it's a nice white light. Oh, it's down a tunnel! Oh, I'll walk down there'.

"So I'm walking down there and all I could hear in the background was a man saying 'and what else can I do for you my son, besides pray?'

"I was being given the last rites, I never knew, because I was unconscious, but it was irritating, this guy doing all the talking and praying and the rest of it. And it made me wake up.

"I remember waking up, and when you wake up from a really serious head injury like that, you tend to, ahem, exhaust a lot of fluid which is red, covered the guy, told him to go away and passed out for another few days. But he saved my life! He brought me back. I know for sure I was dying."

Mansell 'told priest to sod off' after crash

This isn't, in fact, the first time that Mansell has delved back into the memory banks to talk about his crash and his brush with the divine (or, at least, a priest). His 1995 autobiography dedicated some time to the incident, which he wrote with long-time F1 journalist and commentator James Allen.

"Unbeknown to me," he wrote some 30 years ago, "the steering column on my kart was cracked when I started the race.

"I was coming down the hill on the fast kart track at Morecambe, travelling probably 100mph and approaching a slight left-hander. I realised that I had no steering and at that speed there is no time to scrub off speed before you go off.

"I was in big trouble. I took off over a kerb and somersaulted. There was a huge impact and the back of my helmet struck something hard. I was knocked unconscious. It must have looked like a serious crash.

"Whenever they race a driver's helmet off and his whole face is covered in blood you know that it's been a significant blow.

"I was taken to the Royal Lancaster Hospital where I was found to be haemorrhaging from the ears and the nose. The scar tissue which is caused in the channels of the ears by an injury like that stays with you for life and I have actually lost some of my hearing as a result. I remember drifting in and out of consciousness. It was rather like a dream.

"I also recall hearing a voice and as I came to, I caught a glimpse of a priest standing at the end of the bed. He was saying prayers, and his last words were, 'And what else can I do for you my son?' I realised he was giving me the last rites. My head hurt and I was struggling to keep awake.

"I vividly recall coming to the realisation that the situation was very serious. I knew I had to fight. I was not about to let life slip away from me. I summoned up the strength to speak...and promptly told the priest to sod off. Then I collapsed back into unconsciousness."