Motor Sport's 'the last word' with Stirling Moss: reflecting on a legendary career

In my era we raced more than one type of car in more than one championship – and sometimes on the same day! It was a lot different from the challenge that today’s grand prix drivers face. Here I recount a month in 1959, which shows the variety of cars and events that one could enjoy.

French Grand Prix, Retired
BRM Type 25. July 5, 1959, Reims (F)
F1 World Championship, round four
SM: Race day was punishingly hot and Tony Brooks simply ran away with the race. I ran second from the start, then dropped to fifth and, despite driving as hard as I could, I found myself making virtually no impression at all on the leading bunch. Eventually I caught Brabham for third place and set off after Phil Hill’s Ferrari. Then I spun on melted tar at the Thillois hairpin and, because the clutch had packed up, I exhausted myself by fruitlessly attempting to push-start the car while it was in gear. There was simply no chance of achieving that and I was out of the race.

Coupe de Vitesse, 1st
F2 Cooper-Borgward. July 5, 1959, Reims (F)
Makes you think, doesn’t it? After wrestling the BRM in the grand prix, I had a short break before it was time to line up for the Formula 2 supporting race, still with the temperature nudging the wrong side of 100 degrees Fahrenheit. I had a good start and went straight into the lead, ahead of Hans Herrmann in the Behra Porsche Special, which was a bit quicker than my Cooper. But Herrmann overdid his braking and slid off, so I came home to win, feeling exceedingly tired in that terrific heat.

Coupe Delamere Deboutteville, 1st
Maserati Tipo 60. July 12, 1959, Rouen-les-Essarts (F)
SM: Maserati’s racing programme may have been all but wiped out the previous year after the big crash in Venezuela, but the team still had high-octane fuel coursing through its veins and, after the Monaco Grand Prix, I had been invited to Modena to test its new 2-litre sports car.

My first impression of this distinctive little machine was that it was absolutely fantastic – responsive and agile in equal measure. I had then persuaded Maserati to let me drive the car at Rouen in the supporting race to the Formula 2 international, in which I was racing Rob Walker’s Cooper-Borgward. I started from pole position and led all the way. What a great little car it was.

Rouen Grand Prix, 1st
F2 Cooper-Borgward. July 12, 1959, Rouen-les-Essarts (F)
SM: There was an unwelcome glitch with the timing system during practice, with the result that Hans Herrmann, driving the Behra Porsche Special, was credited with pole position, although we were convinced that I had done the fastest time in Rob Walker’s Cooper-Borgward. As events transpired, this mattered precious little because I took the lead from the start and held it throughout to score my second victory of the day at this excellent circuit. I won by half a minute from Harry Schell.

Aintree, Retired
Cooper-Monaco. July 18, 1959, Aintree, Liverpool (GB)
SM: This really was not too good a start to the day of the British Grand Prix. I qualified on the front row but the car jumped out of gear and I was hit from behind by the Hon Edward Greenall. After a precautionary stop to check for damage, I flew through the field until an oil-pipe burst and started a small fire in the cockpit. The fire soon went out, but my race was over.

British Grand Prix, 2nd
BRM Type 25, July 18, 1959, Aintree, Liverpool (GB)
F1 World Championship, round five
SM: After that unfortunate spin at Reims, I was looking forward to trying the P25 at Aintree, where I had guarded hopes that I might do reasonably well. I took the short flight from Heathrow to Manchester on the Wednesday evening and was soon comfortably ensconced at the Adelphi Hotel in Liverpool.

On the Friday, the weather was patchy, both wet and dry, and I spent a lot of time battling with clutch slip on the BRM. I was disappointed that I had to settle for seventh place on the grid in the middle of the third row. Brabham had taken pole by a full second from Roy Salvadori’s Aston. I made a good start to the race but lost ground on the opening lap as the damned clutch slipped again.

After about 10 laps I had moved through to second place behind Jack and I pressed on hard until I had reduced his lead to about nine seconds. Then I had to make a pitstop to change worn tyres, followed by another to top up with fuel due to a fuel-feed problem. By the chequered flag, though, I was back up to second place, just ahead of Bruce McLaren’s Cooper.

Trophée d’Auvergne, 1st
F1 Cooper-Borgward, July 26, 1959, Clermont-Ferrand (F)
SM: The thing I remember most about this race was that the start was given by the legendary French official Raymond ‘Toto’ Roche, whose antics on the starting grid in front of the assembled field were only matched by the infamous Louis Chiron at Monaco.

On this occasion, Roche elected to stand right in front of my car, then dropped the flag and ran for his life. That allowed Chris Bristow’s BRP Cooper-Borgward to take the lead from the outside of the front row. Bristow was looking very ragged and I passed him on the sixth lap, leading all the way to the finish to win ahead of Henry Taylor’s Parnell-entered Cooper.