Nigel Mansell has said he was given the last rites as a teenager, years before his Formula 1 career began. A karting crash at Morecambe left the future world champion with a serious head injury and put him in hospital being given the last rites by a priest.

The 1992 world champion told the story on the Road To Success podcast, hosted by Ben Fowler. The episode covers his fierce rivalry with Ayrton Senna, the terrifying crashes that nearly cost him his life, and why he thinks modern F1 has lost some of what made it special.

Mansell talked through the steering failure which had caused the crash and his memories - such as they are - of the aftermath of his serious head injury.

Mansell: the steering broke on the straight

The crash happened at the karting world championships at Morecambe and Heysham. Mansell said he was racing in the 210 class, and the meeting also featured Martin Hines, whom he called a great world champion in the 250s.

The fall was not the worst of it. Mansell said that "it was more painful when a kart came past and hit my in the head at 120mph." He added: "It compressed my helmet and just completely split my head wide open."

Woken up by the priest's prayers

Mansell said his first memory afterwards was from the operating theatre: "I woke up, or I have a memory of waking up, when I was in the theatre and they were sewing my head up." He also described having an out-of-body experience and seeing a bright light down a tunnel.

He only learned about the last rites afterwards. In the end, Mansell said, it was the priest at his bedside who brought him round.

Not the last serious injury of his career

The Morecambe crash was not Mansell's last serious injury before F1. In 1977 he became British Formula Ford 1600 champion despite suffering a broken neck in a qualifying session at Brands Hatch. GPFans pointed out that he did not mention that crash on the podcast.

Doctors told him then that he would be confined for six months and would never drive again. Instead, Mansell discharged himself from the hospital and returned to racing.