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Stirling
Moss
When you hear the name Stirling Moss the first image
that comes to your mind is motor racing. Moss was born to racing with
both parents involved in motorsports. His father Alfred Moss raced at
Brooklands and when his studies took him to America he raced at Indianapolis.
His mother competed in various trials and rallies. At the age of nine
his father bought him an old Austin Seven in which the young Moss would
drive around the fields surrounding their home. The family was also involved
in horses and competitive riding which saw Stirling and his sister Pat
entering various horse show competitions. While his sister continued to
compete Stirling's heart lay more in horsepower of the mechanical variety.
Despite being a natural athlete he suffered from various childhood health
problems including a kidney affliction which made him medically unfit
for National Service. This would later involve some controversy before
his father had his medical records published. While motorsports ran through
the family it was soon time to consider a proper career. Like his compatriot
Tony Brooks it was once thought that he would follow his dad's footsteps
and become a dentist and take over the family business. His father owned
a lucrative business providing dental care to lower income patients which
Stirling would call a "quick yank and out, next please" operation. But
his indifferent school record made that impossible. He next tried a "crammer"
school but this too failed to dislodge any innate brilliance. At
age seventeen it was decided that the young Moss would go into the hotel
trade. His training included serving as a waiter and later night porter
- another occupation he was totally unqualified for. Still Moss maintained
his interest in cars and was soon driving on the open road, when of legal
age, in a three wheeled Morgan. His next car was a MG and after seeing
an advertisement for a racing car with an Aspen engine he promptly ordered
one for 50 British Pounds. When his father found out, he angrily contacted
the car company and had the order rescinded. Stirling was crestfallen
but eventually his father relented and allowed Stirling to borrow his
BMW sports car that he had recently purchased. It was in this BMW that
Moss would start to compete in local speed trials. His first proper race
car was a Cooper 500 which he used to compete in local hillclimbs. This
car and its descendants formed the breeding grounds of future champions.
Moss became aware of these cars through fellow competitors and went looking
for the Cooper factory which he found in Surbiton. Factory may be to the
wrong word to use as it was actually just a garage but one with a showroom
that had on display one of the little jewels. Stirling contrived to drive
past the showroom one day with his father as his unsuspecting passenger.
Remarking on the car in the showroom he impressed upon his father how
wonderful it would be to race such a car as this. His father agreed that
it would be so if only Stirling would assume most of the cost. Reduced
to selling most of his worldly possessions he was still short of the £600
needed but on his 18th birthday his parents made up the difference. This
would be the beginning of a long association which saw him driving Coopers
on and off for much of his career. Since all of the pre-war racing venues
were no longer available racing in Britain was very much a small time
affair, that is to all except the competitors. Great Britain was still
feeling the effects of World War II with the rationing of Petrol, yet
almost every weekend played host to some form of competition as most of
the race cars used methanol. This
tradition of numerous events every weekend continues to this day as any
visitor to this country can attest. Britain is the center of motorsports
because more of it is happening at any one time than anywhere else in
the world and Moss would enter as many races as he could and began to
win more than his share. His obvious racing talent finally convinced his
parents where his future lay if they needed any convincing as his weekend
races had long become family affairs. With this support group Moss was
on his way driving and racing anything that he could get his hands on.
This became a trademark of his success. In 1950 Moss got his first
works team drive for HWM. Created by John Heath and George Abecassis,
partners in Hersham & Walton Motors the team consisted of three four-cylinder
Formula 2 cars. The team leader was the free spirited Lance Macklin. Moss
would learn his racing craft from HWM and lessons about life from Macklin.
HVM's chief mechanic was an Polish ex-serviceman by the name of Kovaleski
who adopted the English name of Alf Francis and who would later become
a legend himself. At the Monza Autodrome GP he was involved in a terrific
dice with the veteran Ferrari driver Villoresi who later congratulated
the young Moss on his skill. His record with HWM was uneven to say the
least with the cars breaking down more often then not but Moss would remember
this period as a great learning experience. During this time he also raced
other cars including the Jaguar C-Type in which he won the sports car
race leading up to the French Grand Prix. This would be the first win
for a car using disk brakes. In 1951 he was contracted to race for Ferrari
at selected events but when practice began for the first race at Bari
he was told unceremoniously that the car he supposed was his had been
given to Taruffi. Deeply embarrassed he vowed to exact his revenge against
the red cars. In 1955 driving for Mercedes alongside Fangio, he tasted
his first victory at Aintree.  In
1956 he drove a Maserati and won twice more. The following year although
again pursued by Ferrari he chose to drive for the British Vandervell
team. This decision to drive for British teams whenever possible may have
cost him future World Championships. A telling example that shows the
measure of this man happened in 1958 at the Grand Prix of Portugal. During
the race Mike Hawthorn spun his car but was able to continue and eventually
finished second. Which when added to his fastest lap gave him 7 points
to Moss' 8 for the win. Hawthorn though, was accused by the officials
of breaking the rules by restarting in the opposite direction. Moss who
witnessed the incident came to his rival's defense and a relieved Hawthorn
was able to keep his 7 points. Moss would eventually lose the championship
to his rival by one point even though he bested his fellow countryman
in race wins 4 to 1.  It
makes one ponder what any of the current racers would do today in similar
circumstances. Moss would continue to win against larger teams but the
championship was always just beyond his reach. In 1962 a terrible accident
at Goodwood would eventually force his retirement. To say that his career
was in any way a failure is not to know of the achievements that were
made in his name in such legendary races as the Targa Floria, Pescara
and the Mille Miglia. At home in any type of car he partnered with journalist
Denis Jenkinson to win the historic Mille Miglia in 1955, the first foreigners
since Caracciola and the only Britons to ever do so. At the 24 Hours of
Le Mans he was partnered with Fangio in the lead Mercedes, Neubauer rightly
believing that if they were to race in separate cars they would race each
other to the possible determent of finish the endurance race. While leading
the race they had to withdraw with the rest of the team after tragedy
struck and 78 spectators lay dead. The result of a racing accident involving
one of the Mercedes. Moss was considered by many as being the first modern
professional driver who raced for the love of the sport but also was intent
on earning a sizable income. Staying in top physical shape he would travel
all over the world to race. He was not above haggling for more appearance
money and between races he would work at his home office dealing with
correspondence, managing endorsements or recording his thoughts for his
latest book. He had begun writing books about the sport and would later
comment that when he would race in a particular country the sales of his
book there would increase. This would help to increase his fame and conversely
the amount of money he could require in exchange for his appearance. He
courted endorsements as no other driver of his day and was sometimes ridiculed
for this when in truth he was just ahead of his time. In the end he was
a racer who enjoyed driving all sorts of cars and raced only to win. Moss
still keeps track of the current Grand Prix scene and is not hesitant
to voice his opinion on current circuit design and their vast run-off
areas and ubiquitous chicanes. "To race a car through a turn at maximum
speed, is difficult", he said, "but to race a car at maximum speed through
that same turn when there is a brick wall on one side and a precipice
on the other - Ah, that's an achievement."
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