Stirling Moss

Sir Stirling Moss (born September 17, 1929 in London, England) was a Formula One auto racing driver.

He was a pioneer in the British Formula One racing scene and is still regarded as one of the greatest drivers of all time despite never winning the Formula One Drivers World Championship. He came second four times in a row from 1955 to 1958.

Over his career, Stirling Moss won 194 of 466 career races and 16 Formula One Grand Prix.

In 1958 his gentlemanly conduct whereby, as second driver, he gave over his car to Mike Hawthorn when his own car expired, saw him lose the Championship to Mike Hawthorn by a single point, despite winning four F1 races compared to Hawthorn's single one.

In 1962, Moss was badly injured in a crash at Goodwood. He recovered, made a premature attempt for a comeback, didn't find himself fit enough, and retired from GP racing. However, he has continued to race in Historic cars, retaining his deceptively smooth driving style.

One of his most famous drives was in the 1955 Mille Miglia, the Italian 1000-mile open-road endurance race, which he won in record time of just over 10 hours. His co-driver in the Mercedes 300 SLR with the number 722 (indicating the time of the start) was journalist Denis Jenkinson, who supported him with notes about details of the long road trip. Later, he wrote extensively about the experience.

Moss' first ever Formula One win was in 1955 at his home British Grand Prix at Aintree. It was the only race where he finished in front of his team mate at Mercedes, Juan Manuel Fangio. It is sometimes debated whether Fangio, one of the all-time great 'gentlemen' of sport, 'allowed' Moss to win in front of his home crowd. This can be viewed as unkind, and it is likely that Moss won the race on merit.

Stirling Moss has a younger sister, Pat Moss who was also engaged in Rally racing, she is married to Erik Carlsson, another rally racer.

In 1990, he was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame.

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