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Born: September 17, 1929 - West Kensington, London

Grands Prix contested: 66 (1951 – 1961)
Pole positions: 16
Fastest lap: 20
Wins: 16
Monaco wins: 1956, 1960, 1961

Stirling's greatest Monaco win was also his last, a gloriously defiant gesture holding off the much more powerful works Ferraris in an obsolete privately run Lotus. In many ways that sums up his immense competitiveness; Moss loved being cast as the underdog, loved racing for Rob Walker's private team, loved winning in British cars. His last GP victory at the Nurburgring that year was another triumph of tactics, skill, bravery and a cool head over an obsolete car.

Just over a year later he was an ex-racing driver, a huge crash at Goodwood gravely injuring him and ending his career. A return was talked of a few years later, but the famous Moss reflexes, the subconscious skills, were never quite the same. He is still an integral part of the racing scene.

Right from the start of his career it was obvious that Stirling was touched by greatness, though it took a while for him to turn his early brilliance in sports cars and F3 into Grand Prix success because of the lack of a top-class British car. Moss, patriotic and perhaps somewhat quixotic, initially wanted to succeed for his country. 1954 saw him in a private Maserati (his performances rapidly brought into the works team), yet this was merely a stepping-stone to a works Mercedes seat alongside Fangio for 1955. Stirling took his first GP win at Aintree; elsewhere he ran as the rear-end of `The Train' behind Fangio. 1956 saw a move back to Maserati after Mercedes' departure; wins at Monaco and Monza followed.

Vanwall weren't ready for the first race of 1958 after a rule change, so Moss stepped into Rob Walker's tiny F2-based Cooper for the Argentine GP. He won after a brilliant drive, conserving his tyres and finishing with them worn to the canvas ahead of stunned Maserati and Ferrari opposition. For the rest of the season he was back at Vanwall, winning three more times but -- again -- losing out in the Championship struggle to Hawthorn, by a mere one point (Hawthorn won only once, but had a more reliable Ferrari). But he wasn't only awesome in Grand Prix cars, also in F2s, sports-racers, GTs, and even big Jaguars.

1959 saw Moss move to his friend Walker's team full-time, but the season was blighted by the team's use of a Colotti transmission; the Cooper works wouldn't supply their latest gearbox. Two wins came their way though. 1960 was also inconclusive, with the Cooper joined by a Lotus 18, which took another brace of wins, and also left Moss seriously injured at Spa. But he soon recovered, and was back before the end of the season. Moss's luck didn't run out for another year or so, and his greatest victory was still ahead of him... When it did, possibly the most complete driver the sport has seen bowed out, amazingly still without a championship title despite having been the man to beat for so long...

Alfred Neubauer in 1955 had a conversation with Stirling Moss:
Stirling Moss always tailed Fangio with the result that he got all the dust, stones and other debris from Fangio's car, which made him crash.
”My dear Stirling, says I, dragging him to a corner, I have had enough of all this, why on earth do you insist on tailing Fangio?”
Answer from Moss: “Well! it seems to me the best way to study his style and learn something from it.”
”I always thought you considered yourself a better driver than Fangio, therefore you have nothing to learn from him.”
Moss blushes in embarrassement, and walks away. And from then on he kept a reasonable distance from Fangio.”

Sir Stirling Moss official homepage

Biography at Dennis David

With the Mercedes 300 SL
1956 tour d'honneur in a personally re-designed Maserati

Monaco Triumph in 1956 Drivers briefing 1958
Monaco win 1960

With Bella Darvi always ready to give charming advice...