The Alexander Calder Art Car made its first and only race appearance at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1975, driven by Sebring 12 Hour–winner Sam Posey and two French drivers, Jean Guichet and the team’s owner, Herve Poulain. The 3.0 CSL drove for 9 hours, well into the night, before retiring. An exhibit piece since then, it still wears its Le Mans race number 93.

Photo Source: Favcars.com

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There’s a nod to this legendary tale – and a number of other aspects of Moss’s life and career – in “The Last Blast”, a new short film by Mercedes-Benz Classic. A police motorcycle outrider admonishes the over-enthusiastic driver of the very Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR made famous by Moss’s win in the 1955 Mille Miglia race. As the camera zooms in on the front wing of the bike, we see a sticker bearing the famous question.
With this, part of a police-escorted drive across central London, ‘The Last Blast’ celebrates the life of Moss, who died on April 12, 2020 at the age of 90. Filming took place at the end of September 2021 in London – where he lived for more than 60 years – yet somewhere the famous Mercedes-Benz racing car, with its legendary Mille Miglia starting number of 722, has never been driven before.

But while the Silver Arrow is the visible star of the show, there’s an invisible one, too: the late racing driver himself. In this very car, together with navigator Denis Jenkinson, he achieved a famous victory for Mercedes-Benz in the 1955 road race from Brescia to Rome and back. And it is in Moss’s honor that the company had the straight-eight engine howl for one last blast on a drive across central London before the car is retired, returning to its permanent home in the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart.

The starting point of the drive, very early one Sunday morning, is The Temple. It then takes in the Houses of Parliament, Trafalgar Square, the Royal Automobile Club and the The Ritz hotel. On the way, “722” passes what was Sir Stirling’s very own 300 SL “Gullwing” – the car in which he travelled from London to the Mille Miglia in 1955. Its drive through the city ends in front of Moss’s own home in a Mayfair mews. There, his son, Elliot Moss, stands in front of the door and looks at the watch on his wrist, which his father wore for many years. It’s exactly 7:22 am, the original start time of Moss and Jenkinson’s Mille Miglia entry and the reason for the car’s racing number. The 300 SLR rolls to a halt one final time, and its engine is switched off.

This is Mercedes-Benz Classic’s tribute and thanks to Sir Stirling Moss who dedicated decades of service to the brand. And also to his family, for the unwavering support they showed him, and for their personal involvement in this very special film project.

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Brooklands Museum, the home of British motor racing, is celebrating the life of one of the UK’s greatest racing drivers, Sir Stirling Moss, with a special event featuring over 35 of Moss’s cars.

The one-off event, to be held on Sunday, September 12, will include live demonstrations of cars raced by Moss on Brooklands’ famous Finishing Straight and Members’ Banking, allowing visitors to experience the sights, smells and sounds of motor racing from the 1950s and ’60s.

Moss was the first President of the Brooklands Members, a role now held by 1996 Formula One World Champion Damon Hill.

Among the unique collection of cars booked to attend the celebration is the Rob Walker Racing Lotus 18 (pictured top) which Moss memorably raced to victory at the 1961 Monaco Grand Prix, beating the Ferraris of Richie Ginther and Phil Hill. Also attending will be the Ferguson P99 – the only four-wheel drive car to win a Formula One race – and a 1958 Vanwall complete with period transporter.

Expert commentary of the demonstrations will be provided by broadcaster and author Simon Taylor, while visitors will be able to discover the stories behind these iconic cars through pit lane interviews with their current drivers and owners.

Away from the action on the circuit, there will be paddocks displaying Moss’s race and rally cars, as well as a collection of classic Jaguars from the era and a members’ parking area for owners of period road cars. There will also be live 1960s music and the chance to explore the rest of the museum.

Ticket holders will be able to join the owners and drivers of Moss’s cars and enjoy hospitality in the ‘Brooklands Driving Club’ throughout the day. Tickets for the exclusive club are limited in number.

The Stirling Moss celebration will be a pre-booked ticket event subject to any government restrictions which apply at the time.

Tickets are on sale at brooklandsmuseum.com

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It was at the Goodwood Motor Circuit that Moss took part in, and won, his very first motor race, on 18 September, 1948, a day after his 19th birthday. In the years that followed, Moss contested 56 races at Goodwood, winning 21 of them and finishing on the podium a further 13 times. Goodwood was the scene of four of Moss’ seven Tourist Trophy victories; two for Ferrari and two for Aston Martin, including clinching the British marque’s world championship title in 1959. Tragically, it was also the scene of his career-ending accident on 23 April, 1962.

One of the founding patrons of the Festival of Speed, and a regular competitor at the Revival, it’s little wonder that Moss became a favourite of the fans, who christened him ‘Mr Goodwood’. Given his racing record – winning in almost everything he drove – it is fitting that Moss should be remembered at the 2021 Festival of Speed presented by Mastercard, the theme for which is ‘The Maestros – Motorsport’s Great All-Rounders’.

This weekend marks the anniversary of the 1955 Mille Miglia, which Moss won with the invaluable help of co-driver Denis ‘Jenks’ Jenkinson. The daring duo completed the epic 1000-mile race in 10 hours, 7 minutes and 48 seconds, at an average speed of 99mph – a record which will stand in perpetuity. Honouring this achievement at the Festival of Speed, Mercedes-Benz will be displaying the fearsome 300SLR ‘722’ in which the pair competed, and which is rarely seen outside the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart. Mercedes-Benz will also be bringing a W196 Formula 1 car of the type Moss used to win his first Grand Prix, at Aintree in 1955.

The Goodwood Revival in September will host perhaps the largest ever gathering of Moss’ competition cars, celebrating his life and career in a way that sadly wasn’t possible in 2020. Returning for the parade will be ‘722’ in what will be one of its last public outings for many years. Assembling on the track with it will be the Lotus 18 in which Moss defeated the mighty ‘Sharknose’ Ferraris at both Monaco and the Nürburgring in 1961. Returning to Goodwood will also be the Rob Walker Racing Ferrari 250 GT SWB which Moss drove to his last Goodwood win, at the Tourist Trophy in 1961.

Many of the Moss parade cars will also be racing in earnest again during the Revival, including the Aston Martin DB3S in which he finished second at Le Mans (in the Freddie March Memorial Trophy), and the Nürburgring 1000km-winning DBR1 (Sussex Trophy). Also invited to compete in those two races respectively will be his Reims-winning Jaguar C-type and Cooper T49, while a real rarity, the Ferguson P99 four-wheel-drive Grand Prix car which Moss piloted to victory in the International Gold Cup in 1961, will join the grid for the Richmond Trophy.

The Revival will also be the setting for the second running of the Stirling Moss Memorial Trophy. Formerly the Kinrara Trophy, this race was renamed for Goodwood SpeedWeek presented by Mastercard in 2020 and will now become a permanent fixture on the Goodwood calendar. Contested by Jaguar E-types, Ferrari 250s, Aston Martin DB4 GTs and AC Cobras, this has been described as ‘the most beautiful race in the world’, taking place as the sun falls on the Friday night of the Revival weekend.

Finally, the 78th Members’ Meeting in October will see the third running of the Moss Trophy for GT cars of a type which raced up to 1962 – a fitting way to keep the Moss name alive at Goodwood’s most exclusive race meeting.

The Duke of Richmond said: “Stirling and his wife Susie were such an important part of the Goodwood family for so many years. All of us here felt his loss especially keenly as we weren’t able to commemorate his incredible life as we would have wanted last year. We hope that fans at our events around the world will join us in celebrating his racing career and bidding farewell to ‘Mr Goodwood’ in 2021. Stirling’s supreme skill and love for his sport will continue to be remembered at Goodwood for many years to come.”

For more information visit goodwood.com

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The Stirling Moss Memorial Trophy will be presented to the winners of a 60-minute two-driver race for GT cars of a type that raced before 1963. The race was previously contested as the Kinrara Trophy, and has been a highlight of the Revival since it was first introduced in 2016. Taking to the track will be some of the most beautiful and iconic machinery of the day (and indeed of all time), including the Ferrari 250 SWB, Aston Martin DB4 GT and Jaguar E-Type. These cars were raced by Stirling at the very peak of his career, including his victories in the Tourist Trophy at Goodwood in 1960 and ’61.

Lady Susie Moss said: “Stirling and I always received such a warm welcome at Goodwood from the family and the fans. He would have been touched to be remembered with a race in his name. In fact, he’d probably be raring to have a go at it himself.”

Sir Stirling Moss developed a close and longstanding association with Goodwood over the years; the circuit was the scene of some of his greatest victories as well, sadly, as his career-ending accident. When motorsport returned to Goodwood in 1993, Stirling became a patron of the Festival of Speed, and was an ever-present at the Revival from 1998.

Always keen to get back behind the wheel, Sir Stirling became a familiar sight to the fans who gave him the nickname ‘Mr Goodwood’. Competitive in a range of sports, touring and single-seater cars well into his seventies, Sir Stirling captivated and charmed the Goodwood audience on every appearance.

The Duke of Richmond said: “Stirling Moss was known as ‘Mr Goodwood’. More than anything, though, he was our friend and played a huge part in our history. We miss him terribly and felt there could be no better way of recognizing this than by naming a race in his honor.”

The inaugural Stirling Moss Memorial Trophy will be preceded by an on-track celebration of the great driver’s career. Lady Susie will join The Duke of Richmond in the famous Rob Walker Racing Ferrari 250 GT SWB in which Moss won the 1960 RAC Tourist Trophy here at Goodwood, and former Dire Straits frontman Mark Knopfler (a personal friend of Stirling) will perform live.

The Stirling Moss Memorial Trophy will take place on the afternoon of Saturday October 17 and can be viewed in its entirety on the Goodwood Road & Racing website and its social channels. It will be one of 13 races over the weekend, including fan favorites from the Revival and Members’ Meeting like the St Marys Trophy, RAC TT Celebration, Gerry Marshall Trophy and SF Edge Trophy.

Viewers and fans can sign up for alerts at: https://www.goodwood.com/motorsport/goodwood-speedweek/

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Exactly 60 years after it all began, Lotus is paying tribute to the beginning of its truly remarkable Formula 1 history, which has seen legendary drivers such as Mario Andretti, Jim Clark, Jochen Rindt, Emerson Fittipaldi, Graham Hill, Ronnie Peterson and Ayrton Senna all claim wins for the Norfolk-based outfit.

After the first victory by Moss, Lotus racecars went on to take the chequered flag a further 80 times, delivering six Drivers’ Championships and seven Constructors’ Championships.

It was at Monaco, in 1960, where Sir Stirling Moss cemented his reputation as a rain master. He drove his new Lotus 18 relentlessly through the wet streets with supreme confidence to take the chequered flag.  

After setting new lap records in practice, then claiming the first-ever pole position for Lotus in qualifying, it was a near-flawless display. In a real race of attrition, only the top three drivers completed all 100 laps of the course and just five racers were classified. Moss beat his nearest competitor, Bruce McLaren, by 52 seconds.

The Lotus Type 18, which Lotus founder Colin Chapman believed was the marque’s first proper Formula 1 car, was perfectly suited to the tight, twisting streets of Monaco. The lightweight aluminum-bodied racer was agile and dynamic, taking the field – including a trio of entries from Ferrari – by storm. 

Phil Popham, CEO, Lotus Cars, added: “Today we mark not just a legendary driver and a remarkable achievement, but the start of a defining period in the history of Lotus. Sir Stirling Moss is a name etched into motorsport folklore, and his skill at the Monaco Grand Prix exactly 60 years ago was the catalyst for our successful heritage in Formula 1. That overwhelming drive to defy expectations and explore the limits of what’s possible is still engrained within the Lotus DNA to this day.” 

Clive Chapman, Managing Director of Classic Team Lotus and son of Lotus founder Colin Chapman, said: “Moss winning the 1960 Monaco GP was a classic David vs. Goliath-type story, which was well-received and an important boost to the Lotus marque, still in its relatively early days. Moss was naturally quick, thoughtful and mechanically sympathetic – all characteristics which were of utmost benefit at Monaco, back when the race was three hours long.”

Moss was driving a Lotus Type 18 for the privateer Rob Walker Racing Team and had already proven that talent and reliability were a match for the very best and well-equipped manufacturer outfits. The team was founded by Rob Walker, the heir to the Johnnie Walker whisky empire, who decided for 1960 he would concentrate solely on Moss and, starting with Monaco, switched to using Lotus cars. It was an inspired move. 

Chapman continued: “Rob Walker and my father enjoyed a mutually beneficial relationship which realized great success throughout the 1960s. Walker’s enduring relationship with Sir Stirling Moss was even stronger. Evidently Walker, as privateer entrant and sponsor, provided Moss with what he needed in order to realize his prodigious ability.”

It was Moss who began the special relationship between Lotus and Formula 1’s most famous Grand Prix, with a further six wins in the principality after 1960. Chapman explained. “The 1960 win came just two years after the first Team Lotus GP entry, at the 1958 Monaco GP with Cliff Allison racing his Lotus Type 12 into an extraordinary sixth place.”

Sir Stirling Moss is considered the greatest driver never to have won the Formula 1 Drivers’ Championship. He died just last month (April 12, 2020), aged 90, at his London home.

Mastering the Rain – Lotus and Moss in Monaco

The 1960 Monaco Grand Prix weekend got off to a flying start with Moss setting new lap records in practice and qualifying, earning him a spot on the front row of the grid and giving Lotus its first ever pole position. But this was to be no ordinary ‘lights to flag’ victory.

With eight drivers not qualifying, only 16 cars made it to the track. Up the hill from the start Moss was passed by Jo Bonnier in the rear-engined BRM, who led for 17 laps until his brakes began to fade and he surrendered the lead to Moss. 

A few laps later the rain began to fall and Jack Brabham overtook Bonnier for second place as the drivers slowed to cope with the worsening conditions. The wet track became the leveller, forcing supreme concentration as the drivers battled to remain on the tarmac. Exemplary car control and driver input were critical in such treacherous conditions. 

On the 43^rd lap, Brabham was hounding Moss for the lead but succumbed to gearbox problems. With the rain gradually easing, Moss began to pull away from the pack until he had to pit on the 60^th lap with a loose plug lead, allowing Bonnier to regain the lead.

The race was one of attrition. Pools of water remained across the track surface and Graham Hill collided with the commentators’ box. But it was in this tricky period of the race where Moss used his finesse and car control skills to catch Bonnier and continue to victory, finishing ahead of the duelling Bruce McLaren and Phil Hill. It was the first chapter of an epic story for Lotus.

Lotus has recorded a new US LOT Sessions podcast celebrating the 60^th anniversary of his victory. It features an interview with motorsport journalist Damien Smith and discusses the significance of the race for Lotus and Moss. Download and listen at iTunes, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher and ShoutEngine.

Moss won at Monaco in a Lotus 18, and it’s one of many significant Lotus road and race cars which are included in the newly launched Heritage section on media.lotuscars.com. Part of the site’s continuing development, there is also a newly written biography of Colin Chapman and a history of the Lotus HQ in Hethel, Norfolk.

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The design used for this prototype is taken from the Maserati Eldorado, the iconic single-seater driven on its debut in Monza in 1958 by Stirling Moss himself, at the “Trofeo dei due Mondi”.

It is very fitting that the Trident Brand has chosen the date of May 13 to recall the great British driver, since there is no doubt that his victory in the Monaco F1 Grand Prix on 13 May 1956, at the wheel of the Maserati 250F, stands out amongst the many trophies in the champion’s collection. It was an amazing win, since Moss led the race from the first to the last of the 100 laps around the winding, demanding Monaco circuit. Maserati’s day of triumph was completed by taking third place as well – also in a 250F – by French driver Jean Behra.

Moss, who recorded 16 victories in 66 starts in Formula 1 Grand Prix racing, is one of the most successful drivers never to have won the world title. Sir Stirling came within a whisker of the crown on more than one occasion, finishing in second place on four occasions, and third in three championships. For this reason, he was known as the “king without a crown”. In the 1956 season and some 1957 races, Moss drove a Maserati 250F (“his favourite”, as he often recalled), beaten only by Juan Manuel Fangio. Moreover, Moss’s Argentinian rival took his 1957 title at the wheel of another 250F, confirming the reliability and superiority of the Modena-built car.

Through this MC20 prototype with Stirling Moss’s “signature”, Maserati wishes to commemorate one of the greatest names in the annals of world motorsports, who wrote some of the finest pages in its own racing history. The list of Maserati cars driven by the British driver also includes the Tipo 60 Birdcage, Tipo 61 and 300 S.

The choice of a prototype of the MC20 to dedicate to Sir Stirling is no coincidence: through this model, the Trident Brand aims to underline its sporting vocation, and above all return to a leading role on the racing circuits, after the latest world championship won in 2010 with another extraordinary car, the MC12.

The arrival of the MC20 is an important event for the Modena-based company, not only because of the racing comeback, but also because it will be the first car to adopt a new engine 100% designed, developed and produced by Maserati itself.

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An irascible motorcycle cop in a ’70s British TV advertisement for Renault pulled up next to the car he had been chasing and asked the driver gruffly, “Who do you think you are, Stirling Moss?”  The man at the wheel just turned to the cop and grinned…because he was Stirling Moss! And that just shows the unprecedented popularity this hyper-energetic, extraordinarily efficient human being, who is one of the greatest racing drivers of the 20^th century has enjoyed since the early ’50s. Despite his being in his 80s, walk into a London restaurant with him today and the diners will start nudging each other and whispering, “That’s Stirling Moss.” He is an institution.

Britain was not the only nation that wrung its hands in anguish as its battered hero lay unconscious in hospital for a month after his horrific accident at St. Mary’s corner, Goodwood, on April 23, 1962. But the world heaved a huge sigh of relief when Moss eventually pulled out of it and began charging around the hospital’s corridors in a suspiciously fast wheelchair.

Stirling is a highly articulate man with a roguish twinkle in his eye, a love of life and a sense of fun that seems to know no bounds. He is also a man only the churlish would deny a place in their list of the five greatest racing drivers of all time.

His success rate was phenomenal in a sport that was not as kind to him as it might have been. I am sure Stirling is sick to death of reading about him being a king without a crown, the driver who was runner-up to four Formula One World Champions, and does not need me to say he long ago came to terms with this weird quirk of fate. But he did.

Anyway, one only has to look up his entry in any motor racing “Who’s Who” to be reminded of his stunning achievements.

Alfred Moss, Stirling’s father, was not only a successful dentist but was also a gifted amateur racing driver, who competed in the Indianapolis 500 in the ’20s: our hero’s mother Aileen was an enthusiastic rally competitor. As children, Stirling and his late sister Pat were outstanding show jumpers before both graduated to cars, in which Pat became the world’s top woman rally driver of her day.

Stirling started by racing a BMW 328, in 1947, and the following year broke into 500-cc F3 racing to become its undisputed star. From 1950-’52, he also raced for the under-financed and under-developed British HWM F2 outfit and was invited by Enzo Ferrari to drive one of his cars in the Bari Grand Prix, way down there on the heel of Italy. But after struggling across post-war Europe and down the length of Italy to claim his drive, Moss was told the car had been reassigned to Piero Taruffi without so much as a by your leave. A slap in the face if ever there was one that embittered Stirling towards Enzo Ferrari for years to come.

In 1953, Mercedes-Benz had let slip that they would be coming back to Grand Prix racing in a year’s time. American writer Ken Gregory, Stirling’s manager at the time, and Alfred Moss campaigned for a place in the German team for him, but wily old Alfred Neubauer was not so sure. He wanted to see Moss Jr. compete in a full-blown F1 car before he would say yes or no.

He got his proof. Stirling was pulling away from Juan Manuel Fangio’s state-of-the-art Mercedes W196 in the 1954 Grand Prix of Italy until waning oil pressure put his private Maserati 250F out of the race. But Neubauer had got the message and invited Moss to join the M-B team for 1955.

And what a year that was. Moss won his homeland’s British Grand Prix at Aintree in the Mercedes-Benz W196 and the ’55 Mille Miglia navigated by the late Denis Jenkinson in a 300SLR in which he set an unbeaten record average speed of 98.5 mph. He and Juan Manuel Fangio were battling Mike Hawthorn’s Jaguar for the lead in the 1955 24 Hours of Le Mans before Pierre Levegh’s disintegrating Mercedes killed over 80 people, injured many more and the German team withdrew from the event. And Stirling and Peter Collins drove the 300SLR to victory in the 1955 Targa Florio to give their Stuttgart employers the World Sports Car Championship. But Mercedes retired from racing at the end of 1955, so Moss moved to Maserati as their team leader and won the 1956 Monaco and Italian Grands Prix for them in the fabled 250F.

Steadfastly patriotic, Stirling achieved a long held ambition to lead an all-British team into combat when he joined Vanwall in 1957. He won the British Grand Prix at Aintree again that year with Tony Brooks, the GP of Pescara and relished beating the Lancia Ferrari D50s in the Italian GP at Monza to win. The following year it was more of the same, but this time Moss led Vanwall to the Formula One Constructors’ World Championship. The British team withdrew at the end of ’58 and Moss moved to Rob Walker’s private squad to score a string of Grand Prix victories in the gentleman entrant’s Coopers and Lotuses.

Stirling still had little time for Ferrari after their shabby treatment of him at Bari, but his mood was mellowing. He was down to drive a Ferrari Dino 156 for Rob Walker, in 1962, until the Goodwood accident shattered his career. Imagine what could have been—a privately entered Ferrari beating the works team!

Hardly a year after Goodwood, Moss tested himself at the wheel of sports racing car, but decided to retire. He felt he was not at the top of his game any more, but now believes his retirement decision may have been premature.

But what a glittering career he had had. Stirling Moss won 16 world championship Grands Prix at a time when there were nothing like as many F1 events as there are today: 20 non-title GPs; 12 World Sports Car Championship races, including the 1954 12 Hours of Sebring; 12 other major races, among them four Tourist Trophies, the 1956 Australian GP, the 1956, 1959 and 1962 Grands Prix of New Zealand; and 159 other less exalted but hotly contested races.

Stirling was knighted in 2000 and said at the time, “I can’t begin to put into words just how much receiving this honor and being able to share it with my wife Susie has meant to me. Motor sport and this country have given me so much. And to know that I am remembered 40 years after my forced retirement has to be the best feeling in the world.”

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In the 1950s, Britain struggled to find its place in Formula One racing. Fed up with BRM’s attempt, Tony Vandervell took the bit between his teeth and fielded cars of his own devising. The result was heartening success against the dominant Italians.

At the age of 32, Guy Anthony “Tony” Vandervell had an epiphany. A great motor sports enthusiast who had raced motorcycles since he was 15 and was a dispatch rider in the Great War, he learned in 1930 of a new kind of engine bearing that was developed in America. This was of interest to him because his successful industrialist father had bought a small bearing business in a London suburb and put Tony in charge. His dad felt that this was the best way to get his willful and opinionated son involved in the business world.

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There will be many column inches written about the life and times of Stirling Moss, indeed there are many tomes littering enthusiasts bookshelves already, so in this obituary It would be impossible to include all the facts and figures about the great man.  Simply, Moss was the trail blazer for today’s professional racing drivers.  He knew he couldn’t work in a factory or an office block, it was the heroic, valiant, courageous and colourful world of motorsport that appealed.  A war torn Great Britain craved a peace time hero, not the fictitious comic types like Batman, Superman, or Spider-Man, a real life hero and Moss gave all he could.  Competing in around 500 races from 1948 to that dreadful crash at Goodwood in 1962, he won 212.  Unlike today’s drivers it wasn’t a one race series per year, Moss would sometimes compete over 60 races per year and during his racing career drive almost 90 different makes of car.  His 16 Formula One victories were not enough to give him a World Championship, although his record of four runner-up and three third places in his greatest years of Grand Prix racing, between 1955-1961, gives some measure of his mastery of his art. It was when he was in the running to win a title in 1958 he gave evidence to the race officials exonerating Mike Hawthorn from being excluded from the results after bump starting his car against the flow of traffic.  Hawthorn’s second place remained intact and presented him the title.  Moss simply brushed off his intervention by saying, ‘I’m sure Mike would have done the same for me.’  Commentators, journalists and many others have always bestowed the crown upon him as the greatest driver never to win a Formula One Championship, which he so richly deserved.  The greatest title he wished for was respect from his fellow drivers, which he gained immeasurably.

When I asked him for his most memorable moment in motor racing for a book I was compiling, his reply was unswervingly instant ‘Mille Miglia 1955’.  It was possibly one of the most frightening races of his life, threading his Mercedes 300SLR through the tight and twisty tracks and roads at break neck speed unable to read the turns, undulations and ad hoc buildings until the very last minute and avoiding the many mobile chicanes including pedestrians, cattle and horse and carts.  His recollection liked it to racing at Monaco, ‘It was like driving through the tunnel, where you can’t see the exit of the corner until you’re past the apex, but all the time, for 10 hours.’  Monaco was the venue of one of his other great victories in the Rob Walker Lotus 18 beating the all conquering ‘shark-nose’ Ferraris.  Whilst confident of his ability he wasn’t the type to brag or become arrogant of his racing prowess.  His signature post race wave to the crowd was an endearing quality, that was affectionately accepted by many generations to his very last competitive lap at Le Mans in 2011, racing his own Porsche RS61 at the Classic weekend at Le Sarthe.  In an interview sometime ago he regretted not racing at Indianapolis and not being allowed to race flat out at Le Mans, ‘I never raced in the Indy 500. I would have loved all that bullshit. And I’m sorry we could never go flat out at Le Mans, like they can now. A really hard race for 24 hours would be something, but in my day you had to cruise to preserve the car. Actually, with the Mercedes 300SLRs in 1955, Neubauer didn’t set us any limits it was down to us. I’m certain Fangio and I would have won. We had a big lead when the call came from Stuttgart at 1.45am to withdraw because of poor Levegh’s accident.’  One other regret was being persuaded to race a front wheel drive Audi in the British Touring Car Championship in 1982.

Despite the tragedies, Moss was always thankful of driving during the period he did.  The camaraderie of the drivers, the ambience of a race weekend during the 1950s and 1960s was a world away from the multi-million pound F1 circus that perambulates around the globe today. Unlike Jackie Stewart, Moss believed the dangers and tragedies were all part and parcel of a racing driver’s lot, ‘Obviously the sport is safer now and that’s a good thing. In my time I was losing three or four friends a year. But I always liked to have danger lurking on my shoulder – it was an aphrodisiac. No-one was pushing your foot to the floor. You went as fast as you could, and the faster you went, the greater the erection and the greater the pleasure. I believe that racing should be dangerous. If you don’t like it you should do something else.’  To prove not everyone  was tolerant of Moss’s driving style, in April 1960 when testing a Mini on a public road the local constabulary charged him with dangerous driving – he was subsequently fined and banned from driving for 12 months.

After his racing career, Stirling Moss forged his own brand and excellence as an ambassador of the sport commentating, after dinner speaking and the face of many products and services.  Everything from Insurance to pills for erectile dysfunction were on his radar, he concurred he’d almost always agree to sell his time across the world for whatever function – if the price was right.  I recall many shows and events he’d attend and the hundreds of fans who’d queue to get their book, model car, or their particular piece of memorabilia signed.  He’d always say, ‘A book not signed by me must be the most valuable as I’ve signed so many’.

His political incorrectness seemed to put him on a par with many of his generation including the Duke of Edinburgh who ‘put their foot in it’.  A couple of instances come to mind when he severely upset the Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual and Transexual communities by saying he wanted a ‘masculine’ actor playing his part should a film be made of him and he also perturbed the feminists by saying he was very doubtful a woman could ever win an F1 Grand Prix as they lacked ‘mental aptitude’, but they were his straight up and forthright opinions.  Whilst occasionally aggrieving some he’d always remain a national and international treasure to his multitude of fans and followers who he’d make them feel so special when spending even the most minuscule amount of time with them.

Whilst being married twice before, it was Moss’s marriage to Susie Paine in 1980 that has made him the most content.  Indeed, he said he would like to live for ever, as long as ‘I could have Susie with me’.  Lady Moss, who embraced everything Stirling stood for, has done a great deal in organizing the logistics of many trips, social, business and racings events he’s attended over the years and is the lynchpin in the business Stirling Moss Ltd.  In later years, with his somewhat failing memory, she would be the one to surreptitiously prompt him to save any awkwardness, or embarrassment.  However, in the early days, she’d not only keep the laps chart for him, but on more than one occasion was his mechanic, and very accomplished too!

Whilst many enthusiasts recall his racing accidents particularly at Goodwood in 1962, in 2010 it was the accident at his home when he fell three floors down a lift shaft that most of his latter day fans will recall.  It’s says much of the strength, stamina and resilience of the man, then an octogenarian, not only surviving but recovering from such an incident.  However, sadly, it was the virus and related complications he suffered whilst travelling to Singapore in 2016 that finally called time. Throughout it all Susie never left his side.

My special moment with Sir Stirling was in 2002 when he agreed, along with Sir Jack Brabham, Roy Salvadori and Tony Brooks to attend a charity event I was organised to celebrate the 45th Anniversary of him and Brooks winning the British GP at Aintree driving for Vanwall.  I’d found out that the pair had missed out on the presentation of the Fred Craner Trophy – awarded to the first British, or Commonwealth drivers of the British GP.  So, it was left to me to complete the business of the 1958 Grand Prix, awarding the huge gold trophy to them – truly memorable!

During his lifetime Stirling Moss had many honours bestowed on him.  The most notable being made a Knight in the year 2000 honours list.  Prince Charles, stood in for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth and dubbed him with the sword in March 2000, after previously being awarded the Order of the British Empire.  Until very recently he held the record for holding 10 Gold Stars presented by the British Racing Drivers’ Club and in the mid 1990s he was inducted into the International Motor Racing Hall of Fame. You may ask where Stirling Moss felt he stood amongst the Grand Prix greats, in fact it was 4th place behind Fangio, Clark and Senna and likened himself to Gilles Villenueve, who he described as ‘unbelievable to watch’.  In the mid-2000s he was also awarded the FIA Gold Star and the Royal Automobile Club’s Seagrave Trophy both for outstanding service to motor racing.

As I’ve said, there is so much more that can and will be written about this incredible man who gave and meant so much to motor racing and his many race fans.  To Lady Susie, son Elliott, their family and friends, Vintage Racecar wishes to extend deepest sympathies.

The post Sir Stirling Craufurd Moss OBE, 1929 -2020 appeared first on Sports Car Digest.

Even so, Stirling knew nothing of his surprise 60^th birthday party as he and Susie strolled into the sumptuous ballroom of The Berkeley Hotel in London on September 4, 1993, to a wildly enthusiastic chorus of applause from the more dignified among us and cat-calls, wolf whistles and other boisterousness from that other faction of the unofficial Stirling Moss fan club.

I could see he was taken aback at the sight of 400 shouting, whooping, clapping men and women in dinner jackets and twinkling dresses, especially as he thought he and Susie were going out for a quiet dinner with a couple of friends. But Stirling is quick at everything. He soon recovered and, as he neared my table, his face wore one of those “I’m gonna get someone for this” expressions. To make his point, he gave me a crippling slap on the back as he passed my table, as if he had seen straight through me and knew I’d had a hand in the proceedings by supplying the filmed tribute to him, which was to be shown later that evening.

Once the guest of honor had sat himself down at the top table Stirling, who loves a joke, broke into a rather suspicious grin and muttered something to Susie sitting to his right. That seemed to be the signal for dinner to be served and, apart from the odd bread roll flying through the air and outbursts of ribald laughter from a table or two, we ate and drank in relative peace. Filet de Sole Balmoral, Noisettes D’Agneau Pèrigourdine and Gateau Bon Anniversaire were washed down with some exquisite wines as I enjoyed the company of the attractive Pat McLaren, Bruce’s widow, who was sitting on my right.

But coffee had to be served sooner or later and most of us, not least Stirling, feared the worst. Things got off to a dignified start, right enough, when Rob Walker, a true gentleman and Stirling’s team boss for many years, gave an eloquent tribute to the man many of us regard as the greatest all-round racing driver Britain has ever produced. Rob said all the right things in the right way and was warmly applauded for his efforts.

The trouble started when the night’s second speaker rose to his feet and let rip. The irreverent Innes Ireland kept everyone, including Stirling, reeling in their seats with 45 minutes of gut wrenching fun, at one point describing Moss as a man with “one of those tight little arses that the girls always go crazy about!” People laughed until they ached, so much so that many were relieved when Innes called it a day and toasted Stirling’s health with his customary glass of whiskey. It was a wonderful night.

A couple of years later, I suggested to Susie that we should begin a campaign to encourage the British government and Queen Elizabeth II to bestow a long overdue knighthood on my schoolboy hero. But, within months, I was ‘posted’ by my company to the United States and the campaign never got off the ground.

So you can imagine what a kick it gave me eight years later to sit at my computer and write an e-mail of congratulations to Sir Stirling and Lady Moss!

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An amazing feat!

info:

Paul Chenard

Contact Info:

Pen & ink, arcrylic and markers on gray archival stock 11.75″x 9″ (29.8cm X 22.8cm)
© Paul Chenard 2015

Private collection. Available as a limited edition.

The post Mille Miglia 1955 appeared first on Sports Car Digest.

Initially, motor racing in Great Britain was, in the main, a rich man’s sport, entertainment for the aristocracy and directly related to the “Sport of Kings,” horse racing. The Brooklands slogan, “The Right Crowd and No Crowding,” substantiates this idea that motor racing was the preserve of the wealthy amateur. However, the industrial revolution, two World Wars and the Depression did a great deal to evaporate the class system and its resultant social structure, not only in the UK, but mainland Europe as well.

500-cc Racing 

The post Monaco Winner – Cooper MkIV-J.A.P. 500-cc chassis T12 appeared first on Sports Car Digest.

Twenty-three-year-old artist Masha Pasichnyk from Kiev, Ukraine, is on an extended tour of the USA at present under the guidance and representation of Orgeon-based automobile art dealer Steve Austin. This sketch captures Sir Stirling Moss in the aftermath of a race during his glory days, the coating of track grime on his face helping to illuminate his post-race personna.

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It is almost safe to say that a Maserati saved the Grand Prix career of a promising young Stirling Moss. Sir Stirling went on to race Maseratis over a seven-year period, and was a factory driver during late 1954 and 1956. Ian Wagstaff sat down with him at his unique town house in Shepherd Street, London, to discuss his experiences with the marque’s single-seaters.

Your first competitive Formula One car was a Maserati 250F in 1954. Ken Gregory said that, if he had not bought the car for you, you “might have called it a day.” How did it come about that you were able to run your own 250F?

The post Sir Stirling Moss appeared first on Sports Car Digest.

The scene is just prior to the start of the 1955 British Grand Prix at Aintree, and local favorite Stirling Moss is pictured amid the hustle and bustle of the starting grid talking with the brilliant manager of Mercedes-Benz Motor Sport, Alfred Neubauer. This race would end in victory for Moss, some say gifted by teammate Fangio, others say Moss fought a hard race. Moss himself, even today, is not too sure whether Fangio lifted or not as they approached the finishing line. Whatever the politics, it was a famous win for Sir Stirling, with the World Champion Juan Manual Fangio in 2nd place, both aboard iconic Mercedes W196 racing cars.

The post “Stirling Moss at Aintree 1955” appeared first on Sports Car Digest.

My personal record with the Mercedes 300 SLR was six starts, three wins, two 2nd places and one “withdrawn when leading”…under protest. That was at Le Mans after the big crash when one of our cars was involved and the Mercedes board in Stuttgart decided to withdraw the other cars.

The SLRs were really sports-bodied versions of the W196 Grand Prix car, which first appeared in 1954, but with a 3-liter cast-block engine very similar to the Grand Prix straight-eight desmodromic valve unit. Mercedes tested these cars before their debut in the 1955 Mille Miglia. In preparation for that race, we had done the most comprehensive reconnaissance I ever experienced. Mercedes were determined to win the Mille Miglia and spared no expense to do so. There was a three-month period of practice, testing and development for this one race. In addition to flogging round Italy in 220 saloons and 300 SLs, the first two 300 SLRs were flogged mercilessly over the route as well.

The post Moss and the 300 SLR appeared first on Sports Car Digest.

I have had many co-drivers in my career…John Fitch, Juan Fangio, Peter Collins, Harry Schell, Tony Brooks…but Dan Gurney was the best co-driver I ever had, along with Fangio. There was no question that he was a superb driver. I only did a very few races with him but have always rated him very highly.

It was only toward the end of my long involvement with Maserati that I actually did a race with Dan. I had started with Maserati in 1954, and had pretty much finished with them in the beginning of 1957 in Grand Prix races, though I did most of the sports car races that season with either the 200S, the 300S, or the 450S. In 1958 I did a few minor sports car races and the Race of the Two Worlds at Monza and thought that was pretty much the end of driving Masers. Although by 1959 the company was in serious financial trouble, Alfieri and Bertocchi were still coming up with some very interesting ideas. I was invited to go to Modena to test the amazing new Tipo 60 “Birdcage” with its complex spaceframe chassis and de Dion rear end. As soon as I drove it I knew it would be a superb car; the handling was good, the steering very light and the brakes were fantastic.

The post Driving with Dan appeared first on Sports Car Digest.

Fortunately the 80-year-old Moss survived the three-story tumble with “only” two broken ankles, four broken bones in his feet and vertebral damage, but thankfully no internal injuries. After being initially admitted to London Hospital he was moved to Princess Grace Hospital under the direction of Professor Sid Watkins where the operation to set his broken bones was performed.

While in his hospital bed, the indomitable Moss busied himself with deep-breathing exercises, and lifting his arms and legs, doing as much as he could to try to keep himself mobile.

He issued a general email of thanks for all the well wishes he received during his hospitalization, in which he offered that “if I had looked where I was going, I wouldn’t be here at all, so it’s my own damn fault.”

Get well soon, Sir Stirling.

The post Sir Stirling Survives Leap of Faith appeared first on Sports Car Digest.

Sir Stirling Moss has just been given a special honor to mark 60 years as a member of the BRDC.  He had just turned 19 when he was elected to the club and was the youngest member to that time.  It struck me that he has been part of my landscape for most of my sentient life and still is, yet his top-line racing career ended in 1962, before the Beatles ever had a hit. It was even before I worked in the same joint as Ringo.

Queen Victoria reigned for 64 years, so people lived and died as Victorians, in retrospect. But she was merely a figurehead by accident of birth. Victoria never won the Mille Miglia!

The post Sir Moss appeared first on Sports Car Digest.

1960 Maserati Tipo 61 “Birdcage”

Across the annals of automotive history, few families can lay claim to more engineering genius than that of Rudolfo and Carolina Maserati. Between 1880 and 1898, Carolina gave birth to no less than six sons, Carlo, Bindo, Alfieri, Mario, Ettore, and Ernesto. All but one would go on to design and build remarkable racecars. Yet, even the odd man out—Mario, an accomplished artist—would leave his mark on the automotive world by designing the now-famous trident of Neptune logo that would grace the nose of every car to ever carry the Maserati name.

The first car to formerly carry the Maserati name was in fact a Diatto, modified by Alfieri Maserati in 1926. Alfieri himself drove this Tipo 26 to a class victory in the 1926 Targa Florio, instantly linking the Maserati name with speed and performance. After Alfieri’s untimely death in 1932, surviving brothers Bindo, Ernesto, and Ettore went on to design and build a steady stream of competitive single-seat racecars under the Officine Alfieri Maserati name. However, by 1937, the brothers grew weary of the difficulties of running a business in post-WWI Italy and so sold the Maserati name to Italian industrialist Adolfo Orsi, under the term that they would stay on for the next 10 years as consultants, to continue to guide the design and engineering of Maserati.

The post Gilded Cage appeared first on Sports Car Digest.

Depicting Sir Stirling Moss at the wheel of the victorious Maserati, this original painting was created by Swiss automotive fine artist Nicolas Hunziker. A relation of the late Prince Bira, Hunziker is the fourth-generation fine artist in his family and resides as a full-time automotive fine artist in the United States.

info:

Nicolas Hunziker

The painting is an original creation, acrylic on canvas, measuring 40″ by 60″ and is available from

www.nicolashunziker.com

US 310 748 1984

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Moss at His Best

When it was announced in 1958 that the capacity limit for Formula One would change from 2.5 liters to 1.5 liters for the 1961 season, many constructors thought the changes would never be implemented and that the “lack of power” from smaller engines would not be popular. The British constructors particularly stuck their heads in the sand and thought the problem would go away. They even went so far as to support an alternative Intercontinental Formula for larger engines.

Ferrari and Porsche, however, were actively involved in Formula 2 and had 1.5-liter engines that they could adapt and develop for the new Grand Prix formula. Much of 1960 was spent, especially by Ferrari, in trying the smaller engine in the then-current F1 chassis, followed by development of an all-new, rear-engine car. This car showed up at Monaco in 1960 with the 2.5-Dino engine and was very impressive. Throughout the season, it was improved in a number of F2 races. It had, of course, been a huge move by Ferrari to go to a rear- or centrally mounted engine. In spite of Cooper’s success with their cars in the 1959–60 Grand Prix season, even they were not ready to compete when both the new Ferrari and Porsche appeared in 1961.

The post The 1961 Monaco Grand Prix appeared first on Sports Car Digest.

Photo courtesy of: THE KLEMANTASKI COLLECTION
PMB 219 – 65 High Ridge Road, Stamford, CT 06905-3814 USA., Tel: (203) 461-9804 • Fax: (203) 968-2970
E-mail: klemcoll@aol.com • Web site: www.klemcoll.com

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1959 Cooper T-51 and 1960 Cooper T-53

The two Formula 1 Coopers you see here represent one of the key moments in the evolution of Grand Prix racing. From the beginning of the Drivers’ Championship in 1950, front-engine cars were the norm. Through the years of the 2.5-liter engine formula, Ferrari, Maserati, Mercedes, and Vanwall dominated. The British Vanwall rose to the pinnacle during the first year of the Constructors’ Championship in 1958 and took that title. Enzo Ferrari proclaimed that Grand Prix cars would always be front-engined. “You wouldn’t put the donkey behind the cart” was his view.

But behind the scenes, there was a shift going on in the “lesser” formulae, and the 500-cc F3 category was becoming largely the province of John Cooper and his father Charles Cooper with their peculiar looking little cars. But in F1, it took a long time before most people took rear-engine design seriously, and that was in spite of the huge prewar success of the Auto Union. Despite the presence of the odd Cooper in F1 toward the end of the ’50s, as 1958 came to a close with Vanwall glory, there is limited evidence that serious consideration was being given to “turning everything backwards”…except by the Cooper father-and-son team.

The post Super Coopers appeared first on Sports Car Digest.

Photo courtesy of: THE KLEMANTASKI COLLECTION
PMB 219 – 65 High Ridge Road, Stamford, CT 06905-3814 USA., Tel: (203) 461-9804 • Fax: (203) 968-2970
E-mail: klemcoll@aol.com • Web site: www.klemcoll.com

The post Fast Exposure appeared first on Sports Car Digest.

Juan Manuel Fangio was special. Not only as a racing driver but also as a human being. He was the kindest, most gentle and humble person I have ever met, yet he had the talent and grit to win the Formula One World Championship no fewer than five times.

After spending my youth avidly following the fabulous motor racing careers of Fangio and Stirling Moss, I first met the Argentinean 10 years after his retirement, in 1968 when, through my Pirelli colleagues in Milan, I set up an interview with him for ex-Lotus Grand Prix-winner Innes Ireland, who had just been appointed sports editor of the British motoring magazine Autocar. My first encounter with Stirling came many years later in 1986, when he agreed to anchor the film version of my book With Flying Colours, which marked Pirelli’s 80th anniversary as a motorsport competitor.

The post Moss on Fangio appeared first on Sports Car Digest.

1962 Ferrari 250 GTO

There will be no cliches, euphemisms, over-emotional exaggerations, or use of the word “icon” in this article. Right, got that out of the way. We are rational, objective and cool car people—we don’t dribble. With that said, the Ferrari 250 GTO has a predictable influence on both the Ferrari “newcomer” and the jaded veteran. Its sinewy and sexy physical presence reduces both to open-mouthed chin dropping, just by virtue of its shape and form. The design inputs from Colombo, Bizzarrini and Chiti were aimed at producing something beautiful which would win races and at the same time have enough similarity to a road machine that it could be driven to those races. That all the aims were met is evident in the very car you see here. It’s been idolized for over 40 years and millions have been paid for it; it’s been the victor in significant races…Innes Ireland even went to Italy, when it was new, and drove it home to the UK!

GTO Origins

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I did 525 races. I had five wheels come off, I’ve had seven or eight brake failures, and I have had the steering shear twice…where I have been driving along and suddenly my arms crossed…that’s when you know something is wrong! The things you remember are the things that are super and the things that are bloody awful. Looking back, then, I think the Mille Miglia was my best race, and most memorable.

People remember the Mille Miglia, and because they know more about racing today, they can understand what that race was. Of course, it’s not a race that could ever be run today, for several reasons. It’s a thousand miles around Italy on roads which were mostly closed. I say mostly closed because there seemed to be doctors and a lot of refrigerated trucks going places, but in principal it was mostly closed. The race started at nine o’clock at night with little cars at half-minute intervals. There were things like the Isetta…an egg on four wheels…those were the first cars to go, then the Fiat 500s and 1100s right up through every kind of car you can think of. The faster cars were going from midnight, at one-minute intervals, and I went in 1955 at 7:22 in the morning, which was why the Mercedes number was 722. I wasn’t the last cat…there were 10 or 15 after me. If you work that out, it’s something like 700 or 800 entries…a hell of a lot. I think anyone who was around with a number on a car seemed to get top start! There were all sorts of people…Italian hairdressers with go-faster tape, etc. Out of the whole lot, I suppose there were 60 to 80 competent drivers.

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