Sir Stirling Moss: 1929 – 2020

The first and last time Stirling Moss could possibly be accused of being slow, was on his way off the race track we call life.

Sir Stirling Moss was quite simply one of the greatest natural talents behind a steering wheel the world has ever seen. He was equally one of the greatest sportsmen of all time and although it is 59 years since he last participated in a Grand Prix, all motorsport enthusiasts know his name. In fact, so do even a lot of people outside of that world – he truly transcended his sport.

With all of today’s focus on “success” and winning, it is perhaps rather striking that Stirling Moss never actually won a World Championship in the top league of motorsport, Grand Prix Racing. What one can clearly deduce from this is that the number of championship titles does not necessarily say anything about a driver’s talent as such. Moss was really given his big chance with Mercedes-Benz in 1955 and subsequently also enjoyed great success between 1956 – 1959. So much so, that many agree that he really should have won the title in both 1958 and 1959. But Moss had very strong ideas of good sportsmanship, and even when his closest competitor Mike Hawthorn stood to lose points due to a supposed infringement on the track in the 1958 season, whereby Moss would have then won the title, Moss defended him in front of the race judges. Because of this, Hawthorn retained his points – and became world champion ahead of Moss. Only a true gentleman would stand by his own principles to that extent – and that was Moss in a sporting context.

There is no doubt that Moss was a better driver than Hawthorn – but the Ferrari was the better car.

He was also a very British gentleman, and that was probably what ultimately cost him the most wins: Moss repeatedly chose to race for British teams and cars rather than faster competitors. His camaraderie with Rob Walker and Moss’s achievements in the dark blue cars of the small private team is yet another legendary part of his racing life. Even though this approach to racing might have cost him a championship, some of his most famous victories are probably in the Lotus – underdog and underpowered, but aided by talent and courage nonetheless able to beat the superpower of Ferrari. Admittedly he never won the Formula 1 World Championship, but there were still plenty of race wins: Moss is credited with 16 Grand Prix victories, and it could have easily been many more if his beloved Vanwalls and other British race cars hadn’t been so damned unreliable.

Moss in the Lotus 18 on his way to victory in Monaco.

Speaking of “love” perhaps this would be an appropriate word to describe Moss’s relationship with racing itself, and which partly explains why he was not bitter over the missed Grand Prix championship titles. He raced Grand Prix’s because he loved it – and it didn’t stop there: like many of his contemporaries, Moss would race in anything and everything he could get his hands on, and according to his own records, he started in as many as 80 races during his busiest season.

Therefore, even in his relatively short career, the numbers accumulated rapidly: 529 starts in total and an incredible 212 wins along the way. So while he did not become a champion in Grand Prix Racing, his contemporaries as well as most modern observers of the sport, recognise that Moss was no doubt one of the very best – if not the best. And on the subject of best, many believe that his victory for Mercedes-Benz in the Mille Miglia of 1955, with Denis “Jenks” Jenkinson alongside him, is a candidate for the title “Moss’s best victory”, while others believe it was his David against Goliath victories for Lotus in the early sixties, for example in Monaco in 1961.

Probably his most well known victory, Mille Miglia in 1955. A great deal must be attributed to his navigator Denis Jenkinson.

This is obviously difficult to determine completely objectively – and it is an interesting thought that there would in fact have been many other races in the run-up if Moss’s career had not been cut short by that violent accident at Goodwood in 1962. The cause of the accident is still unknown, but Moss was in a coma for a month and took another six months to recover. When he finally tested again (at Goodwood – talk about getting up on the horse again!), he was actually fast enough, but stated himself that something had changed: He now had to think consciously about what was previously a reflex, and on that basis he chose to stop his career.

Moss drove whatever he could get his hands on: Open wheelers, sports car and GT’s. – here’s a Ferrari 250GT swb at Goodwood.

Had it not been for this accident we would have seen Moss in a Ferrari for 1962, and who knows where that would have taken the two? Enzo Ferrari himself had longed for the Brit in his cars for a long time. As this dream team was not to be, things could have turned quite sad from here on, but not so with Stirling Moss. Within a short time, Moss reinvented himself in the role of motorsport expert, commentator, advisor and ambassador. Finding his feet in new fields he also managed to stay in the lead, and became well known as not only a very knowledgeable person, but also as someone who had his own opinions and was not afraid to utter them, even when controversial such as addressing that of danger as an essential part of motorsport. Over the years Moss remained closely associated with Mercedes-Benz, where he experienced some of his greatest successes as a teammate with the great Fangio. And yes, he actually had business outside of motorsports as well, which he managed with his wife Susie from their home in Mayfair, London. Eventually he retired from active racing at the age of 81 (!) and even then kept himself busy in others areas of motorsport, almost right to the end of his adventurous life.

Moss demoing a Mercedes-Benz, accompanied by his wife Susie.

In his own words, he was never bitter about not becoming a world champion, and felt that it might have even allowed him to enjoy his sport even more: “I am not a driver, I am a racer” he once stated about himself, valuing the single races as more than the points, the victory, the championship. He also kept on pushing for life and not surprisingly took up historic motor racing as it grew bigger in the Eighties and Nineties. As I only started watching motor racing in the Eighties it is indeed from the historic scene that I personally remember his driving style, and I have often joked to friends that if I could just be as fast today as Moss was in his Eighties I would be able to win every championship here in Denmark.

As the above hopefully reveals, I am a great admirer of Moss, his accomplishments, and not least his gentlemanly way of achieving them. So great an admirer that his autograph is the only one I’ve ever asked for. I got it written in his biography when he participated in the opening of the special themed display “Racing Cars: The Art Dimension” at the Danish museum Aros. His autograph was small, quick, and bursting with history from when motorsport was an entirely different world than it is today, and the book has held a prominent place in my archive of motorsport history ever since. Moss’ talent, style and person were outstanding and there will probably never be a driver like him again.

Sir Stirling Moss will be forever remembered, not just for his driving skill and his many race wins, but also for the way he lived his life – the ultimate gentleman racer.