Stirling Moss

Sir Stirling Moss OBE was born on 17 September 1929 in London. Moss is a former British racing driver who succeeded in many categories of racing, making him one of the world’s elite. He has often been called the “greatest driver never to win the World Championship”.

Stirling Moss raced from 1948 to 1962 and won approximately 194 out of the 497 races that he entered and took part in. This incorporated a total of 16 Formula One Grand Prix events. Once when he was interviewed he told the interviewer that over the years he had participated in 525 races in total and that he raced as many as 62 races in one year in just as many different cars. Drivers who came out of that era competed in many categories, often at the same time.

Stirling was a pioneer in British Formula One racing and was second four times in the Drivers’ Championships from 1955 to 1958. His first win was at the British Grand Prix at Aintree, with the incredible Mercedes-Benz W196 Monoposto. One of his favourite drives was the 1955 Mille Miglia, a race 1597 km long endurance race on open road through Italy. Here he managed to beat teammate Fangio in second place when he finished with a record time of 10 hours and 8 minutes. His navigator was there to support Moss with notes on the long trip and anything that might affect Stirling’s decision making. This helped immensely as Stirling competed against many local drivers and this gave him as much information as what they would have had.

In 1957 Moss completed one of the longest Grand Prix circuits, winning the daunting 25 km Pescara Circuit. He again beat friend and archrival Fangio showing his skills at high speeds and over a long distance. Stirling Moss was equally gifted in the sports car as he was in the Grand Prix car, winning for three years consecutively the hard and tiring 1000 km race at Germany’s Nurburgring.

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