{"id":651015,"date":"2020-04-21T15:47:43","date_gmt":"2020-04-21T14:47:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/?post_type=issue_content&p=651015"},"modified":"2022-02-02T16:19:57","modified_gmt":"2022-02-02T16:19:57","slug":"stirling-the-legend","status":"publish","type":"issue_content","link":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/archive\/article\/june-2020\/46\/stirling-the-legend\/","title":{"rendered":"Stirling Moss: The Legend"},"content":{"rendered":"
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“Motion is tranquility”<\/p>\n

That was the motto by which Stirling Moss always lived. But for most of 1962 everything came to an abrupt halt for the-then 32-year-old, when he hit the earth bank at St Mary\u2019s on Easter Monday. The recovery would be long, painful and numbingly frustrating for a man with so much energy for life. But it was also a time for contemplation and introspection, much needed given how foggy his future had suddenly become. Would he race again? And if not, what the hell would he do with the rest of his life?<\/p>\n

Since his emergence from the post-war gloom of heavily rationed Britain in 1947, Moss had been a much-needed beacon towards a brighter, modern future. It\u2019s perhaps hard for us younger generations to understand the impact he made as a sportsman, at a time today when Lewis Hamilton<\/a> somehow seems to be divisive despite (or perhaps because of) his extreme levels of success. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, life was tough \u2013 for some, more so than during the war itself.<\/p>\n

Yet here was a teenage \u2018Boy Wonder\u2019 with a burning talent, ready to take on the continentals in a colourful, deadly and thrilling sport in which Britain for too long had played merely a supporting role. From his successes in 500cc Coopers and that breakthrough Dundrod TT win in a privateer Jaguar XK120 on the eve of his 21st birthday in September 1950, Moss was the man to give a battered country and its tired people new hope. A child during the hostilities, Stirling was, from the start, a man of the modern age.<\/p>\n

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Moss took Norton-powered Kieft 500cc to a British GP support win in 1952<\/p>\n

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Yet it was golden-haired Mike Hawthorn who initially led the charge, signing for Ferrari and even beating the new maestro Juan Manuel Fangio in a slipstream thriller at Reims in 1953. Moss, in contrast, was frustrated. Sure, he was still the poster boy, the figurehead of the works Jaguar team in sports cars, but in grand prix racing what hope did he have, given the dearth of top drives? Even Formula 1 itself had been forced to revert for two seasons to Formula 2 regulations, given the lack of top-line teams.<\/p>\n

Moss was lucky he came from the right family. How different was he really to young drivers today who rely on parents to push them up the eye-wateringly expensive lower rungs of the single-seater ladder? In 1954, his father Alfred Moss, himself a successful racer and a well-off dentist, and manager Ken Gregory felt compelled to buy the boy a new Maserati 250F \u2013 at \u00a35500, the equivalent of a Spitfire 10 years earlier \u2013 as the only way left open to show the world what Stirling was truly capable of. The investment paid off \u2013 this was Moss, after all \u2013 and by 1955 he was a factory Mercedes-Benz driver, in thrall to but by no means overawed by his team-mate Fangio.<\/p>\n

\u201cMoss was more polished, focused and professional\u201d<\/blockquote>\n

For the next four years, Moss would drive the world\u2019s finest grand prix cars, first Mercedes, then Maserati once more but now as a full factory driver, then on to emerging Vanwall. Each year, he would finish in frustration as F1 World Championship runner-up, but while it was Hawthorn who would edge the race to become the first British champion in 1958, aided by Moss\u2019s towering sportsmanship in Oporto, most of Britain knew which sportsman was pointing towards the future. Even in the 1950s Hawthorn was a throwback, with his bow tie and Mon Ami Mate<\/i> high-jinks. Moss, while far from averse to late nights and the chasing of \u2018crumpet\u2019, was more polished, more focused and more professional. In sport, at a time when England still valued the talented amateur, that was often a dirty word, but as Stirling knew, racing drivers put more on the line than footballers and rugby players. If he was going to risk his life, the least he expected was a decent living, in line at the time with that of a top lawyer.<\/p>\n

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Moss with 1958 title rival Hawthorn<\/p>\n

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After the title loss of 1958 and Vanwall\u2019s withdrawal, hindsight shows a significant shift in Moss\u2019s attitude and approach to racing. Always a patriot, he now chose who he drove for based on nationality, loyalty and friendship. As a patron, Rob Walker was hard to fault \u2013 but as a privateer, inevitably there were limitations to his outfit. Still, it was Moss, not Jack Brabham, that would first win a grand prix in a rear-engined Cooper; and Moss and Walker, not Colin Chapman\u2019s works team, that would deliver Lotus its first victory.<\/p>\n

By 1962, Stirling was still at the top of his game and still the benchmark despite that lack of an F1 title. At Goodwood, he was driving for Gregory\u2019s UDT-Laystall Racing Team in Walker\u2019s loaned Lotus 18\/21. It was far from unusual for Moss to be driving an outdated car, but this was an occasion to try the new Coventry-Climax V8 upon which so much rode that season. The mash-up hybrid had misfired at Snetterton, so here they were at The Glover Trophy to try again, in another race where the stakes were relatively low…<\/p>\n

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Racing the Aston Martin DB3S in \u201956 Daily Express International Trophy<\/p>\n

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Here is an eyewitness account of what happened on that fateful day, from my then 15-year-old father. \u201cWe were at the top of the Lavant Straight,\u201d he recalls. \u201cWhen he came past us he had a misfire and then pitted. But when he came back out again, the V8 had cleared.\u201d Moss had lost two laps, apparently to fix a jamming gear selector on the Colotti gearbox, but Stirling being Stirling was pressing on regardless for the fastest lap when he encountered leader Graham Hill at St Mary\u2019s. \u201cAll we saw over there was a big cloud of dust and dirt. When he didn\u2019t come round behind Graham Hill, we realised it was Moss.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt took 45 minutes to cut Moss from his Goodwood wreck\u201d<\/blockquote>\n

The rescue began, as was common back then, while the race droned on [you can read a first-hand account from a first responder on our Letters page<\/i>]. It took 45 minutes to cut him from the wreck, BRP\u2019s Tony Robinson and Stan Collier removing the battery and fuel tank over his legs, relieved at least that fire hadn\u2019t increased the urgency. \u201cThe ambulance came past us ringing its bell behind a course car, and we could still hear it out on the road as it headed for Chichester,\u201d Dad remembers. \u201cWe could tell it was bad. What a very sad day.\u201d<\/p>\n

From Chichester Hospital, he was transferred early on the Tuesday to the Atkinson Morley Hospital in Wimbledon, where he would be treated and convalesce for the next 13 weeks. The head injuries were the biggest concern: he had massive bruising to the left-hand side of his brain, which had become partially detached from his skull, and his left eye socket was crushed. There was also a broken leg and arm to be dealt with, although he knew nothing of those early weeks. Moss only properly regained consciousness 38 days later. Then at first he was partially paralysed and couldn\u2019t speak. His star that had burned so bright just a few days previously looked to have been extinguished. Which raises the question of just how Moss not only recovered but went on to cement his legend as Britain\u2019s greatest racing driver.<\/p>\n

A book first published in 1963 offers a fascinating insight into Moss\u2019s mindset at this time. All But My Life<\/i> by Ken W Purdy wasn\u2019t so much a biography, but more a contemplation on life, motor racing, women and death. The \u2018interviews\u2019 (they\u2019re conversations more than anything) capture a portrait of a man in transition from one life to the next.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n

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Moss won Monaco \u201956 in a Maserati, two years before a famous Aintree win (below)<\/p>\n

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Moss set to practice for the \u201956 German GP; he would take second in the race<\/p>\n

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One offers some understanding into why Moss was prepared to race almost anything, on any given day: \u201cRacing is rather like painting to me: the car is only the instrument, as paints are to a painter. All right, one car is better than another, fine, and one kind of paint is better than another, very well, but it really doesn\u2019t matter, the painter creates with whatever he has at hand, and if he hasn\u2019t anything better he\u2019ll use a child\u2019s set of crayons. Give Picasso a broken two-shilling set of crayons, and he\u2019ll give you something worth two thousand pounds. After all, I think driving is an art. I really do maintain that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRacing is like painting to me: the car is only the instrument\u201d<\/blockquote>\n

A page over, Moss dispels the notion that it was all about the money. Purdy makes the point that grand prix racing carries the biggest rewards. \u201cI\u2019m as greedy as the next man, but that\u2019s not enough reason,\u201d Stirling shoots back. \u201cA professional is a driver who races out of pride. He wants to win because he wants to beat you, not just to get the extra few dollars or pounds or francs, or whatever. I don\u2019t know anyone racing today\u2026 purely for money.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stirling also tackles his lack of an F1 world title head-on: \u201cPeople ask: \u2018Aren\u2019t you upset about not being World Champion? Doesn\u2019t it bother you, that you were runner-up five times [sic: in fact four times \u2013 1955-58]?\u2019 And the answer is, in honesty, that the first year I was pretty much upset, it would be correct to say, very much upset. But the disappointment got less each time. Partially it was just conditioning, a second disappointment is easier to bear than the first, a third is easier than the second. Partially it was something else, even now I\u2019m not sure what it was, but I might say it was the realisation that while having the championship would mean perhaps a lot to Stirling Moss Limited, it might not mean much to Stirling Moss. Do you understand?\u201d<\/p>\n

Then the killer lines: \u201cBecause I\u2019d rather go down in history as the man who never won the championship, than as the man who won it once. If I won it once, what of that? Mike Hawthorn won it once. If one wins it twice, does that mean one is a better driver than Mike? I think Mike Hawthorn was a splendid person, he did a lot for motor racing, I liked him, and I very much indeed wish he were still with us. But I didn\u2019t consider him a very consistent driver. When he had an \u2018on\u2019 day he was very, very good. If he liked a circuit, as he liked Reims \u2013 Mike really did feel that Reims was his personal property \u2013 right, he\u2019d beat Fangio himself on it. If he didn\u2019t like a race, and he didn\u2019t like the tough ones, the Mille Miglia, the Targa Florio, Sebring, he wasn\u2019t mad keen on the N\u00fcrburgring either, he\u2019d either not run in it or he\u2019d stroke it. I had more respect for Mike as a man than as a driver.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Fateful \u201962 Goodwood race: the career-ending crash was never explained<\/p>\n

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There\u2019s more, and a view that might offer the likes of Fernando Alonso some consolation. \u201cSo Mike won it once, and Phil Hill won it once, and Graham [Hill] won it once [twice by 1968], and Jack Brabham won it twice [three times by \u201966]. Do I have to win it three times to prove I\u2019m a better driver than Jack is? Fangio won it five times. If I won it six times, wouldn\u2019t that make me a better driver than Fangio? No, it wouldn\u2019t. Winning it six times won\u2019t make me as <\/i>good a driver as Juan Manuel Fangio, and winning it 10 times wouldn\u2019t make me a better driver, because I\u2019m not. Fangio was better than I was, and that\u2019s that.\u201d<\/p>\n

On May 1, 1963, a little over a year after the accident, a bearded Moss returned to a damp Goodwood to try a BRP Lotus 19 sports racer. St Mary\u2019s was no problem, there were no flashbacks or anything unpleasant. But he came away that day certain his driving career was now over. The things he had subconsciously been able to do on instinct now required effort, and he could feel it was taking more out of him. It wasn\u2019t the same. In the years to come, he would reflect on that day and admit he\u2019d tried too soon, that his judgement had been too sharp.<\/p>\n

But to his credit, and in a manner that Jackie Stewart would understand, once the decision was taken, he\u2019d stick to it. Stirling Moss was now an ex-racing driver.<\/p>\n

\u201cMoss would reflect he\u2019d tried too soon to make a comeback\u201d<\/blockquote>\n

But somehow for the next five decades, he would remain \u2018Mr Motor Racing\u2019. The old joke about the policeman saying \u201cWho do you think you are, Stirling Moss?\u201d was never swapped for Graham Hill or Jimmy Clark or John Surtees or Jackie Stewart or James Hunt or Nigel Mansell or Damon Hill or Lewis Hamilton \u2013 despite their world titles. Moss was the first of his breed to make a great deal of his living from being an ex-professional sportsman.<\/p>\n

Remember the turgid James Bond spoof Casino Royale<\/i>, starring Peter Sellers, David Niven and a young Woody Allen from 1967? It was Stirling who played the cameo (\u201cFollow that car!\u201d barks Sellers, and Stirling obliges \u2013 running off on foot). He\u2019s also the only real person to be written into Ian Fleming\u2019s Bond stories \u2013 or at least the notes for an unpublished short story. In Murder on Wheels<\/i>, Bond travels to the fictional Nurbering in Switzerland to stop SMERSH agents sabotaging a race and killing Moss while making it look like an accident. 007 is trained to drive the Maserati by Moss himself, then takes over for the race and defeats the agents, thereby saving Moss\u2019s life…<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n

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Moss in a \u201956 OSCA in the 2010 Goodwood Revival\u2019s Madgwick Trophy race<\/p>\n

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Moss raises a glass to the nurses who aided his recovery from his Goodwood injuries<\/p>\n

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After recovering, Moss tried a Lotus 19 at Goodwood. It would confirm his retirement call<\/p>\n

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That\u2019s just one indication of how famous he was, and perhaps why he still meant something to a wider public who generally admired him (when he didn\u2019t say something sexist about female racing drivers). Those of us devoted to motor racing knew why he was special, which is why he would remain the biggest draw wherever he would appear. That distinctive name helped him stand out, too. Just as well his mother didn\u2019t get her wish in calling him Hamish\u2026<\/p>\n

But his relationship with the public was not always straightforward. Inherently a deep man, he wasn\u2019t always comfortable being the focus of attention and his patience could be short. And yet he played his part as national treasure and hero to many, with all the grace he exhibited as a racer in his pomp. As he told this magazine at the time of his 80th birthday in 2009, when his racing career was over Stirling thought that as a man with no formal qualifications he had only two alternative career choices: estate agent or MP.<\/p>\n

He got closer to the former (imagine if he had chosen the latter\u2026), investing in properties around his native London and famously managing his tenants and their menial problems personally. Those investments, coupled with his life as \u2018Mr Motor Racing\u2019, served him well until the inevitable creep of mortality forced him into retirement.<\/p>\n

\u2018Motion is tranquility\u2019. That motto rang true to the end.<\/p>\n

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Moss during his recuperation, sitting at the wheel of a Morris Minor in the Bahamas<\/p>\n

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