British motor racing legend Sir Stirling Moss was recovering in the hospital Monday after he was nearly killed falling down an elevator shaft at home.
Moss tumbled 30 feet and broke both his ankles, suffering four broken bones, gashes and four chipped vertebrae.
He underwent surgery to have pins and plates attached to his shattered bones after the fall from the third floor of his up-market pad in London's Mayfair on Saturday.
Moss, 80, expected the lift to be waiting when he walked through the doors. Instead a malfunction jammed the carriage but allowed the shutters to open.
He was last night said to be "comfortable" in a London hospital.
A family friend said: "Stirling was seriously injured after what was a horrific accident but he is in good spirits and won't let this beat him.
"He was nearly killed several times during his career and always bounced back. This is no different."
Moss won 16 Formula One Grand Prix titles and was dubbed "the greatest driver never to win the World Championship."
He retired aged just 32 after a horrific car crash in his famous blue Lotus that left him in a coma for 38 days and paralyzed for six months.
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