Sir Stirling Moss — A british legend in Formula 1 Golden Era, a career retrospective.

Growing up watching all types of motor racing from the late 90’s to the present day, the career of Stirling Moss was something I was really unfamiliar considering the respect he has throughout motor-sport. After the announcement of his death over the easter weekend and finally looking over his 14 year career, its very clear to see he paved the way for future stars in British motor-sport and more importantly formula 1.

He will always be remembered for being part of Formula one’s golden era in the 1950s with the likes of Fangio & Ascari & being described as the greatest driver not to win the world championship. Motorsport was definitely in his blood but not only competing in formula 1 but also racing in different types of racing he could get his hands on including road races, single seater and endurance races in cars such as the Aston Martin DBR1, Ferrari 335 S & the Maserati 300s just to name a few. He also broke 3 speed records in races & Moss did all this whilst still competing in the F1 world championship year in & year out.

Moss competing in formula 1 when he did in the 1950’s was so extremely dangerous, 15 drivers lost their lives in the sport which is such a scary fact especially with how safe the sport is now. Every driver in that era would go into a race that it could be their last which does have the same risks in 2020 but not to the scale from the golden era

The high death rate was really no surprise considering there was no such thing as barriers around the circuit & no protective equipment for the drivers as they only had a pair of goggles and their shirt on their back. Also the majority of drivers didn’t even wear seat belts as some drivers were reported to prefer to be thrown out the car instead of a car going up in flames if a crash to take place.

Every driver in the 1950s can be classed as a hero getting into a car with no safety standards and driving so fast with the driving skill,determination & bravery and Stirling Moss exceeded all those skills

Looking over the facts of Moss’ formula 1 career, he was really unlucky not to win the world championship as between the years of 1955 to 1961 he finished either 2nd or 3rd in the final standings of the championship missing out to Fangio in 1957 by 3 points & to Mike Hawthorn in 1959 by a point.

Moss had 16 wins during his F1 career which is an incredible achievement considering the era he drove in. 3 of those wins did take place at Monaco with the memorable one being in 1961 with the car overheating, he decided to take his Ferrari’s side panel off to keep the car and himself cool. At the time of his last race in 1960 he had the competed in the most races with 67 just goes to show how dangerous the sport was in that era.

One of Stirling’s other major achievements was in the 1955 Mille Miglia by winning the 1000 mile endurance race around Italy which took over 10 hours & 7 minutes to complete with Fangio finishing 2nd thirty two minutes behind Moss which was a record that would was never broken as the Mille miglia was banned two years later to the fatalities in the race.. Moss would win the race in a Mercedes 300 SLR which was rare in the Mille Miglia series as ninety percent of the time, the winner would be in an Italian car and Moss would also go down in history as the only British winner.

Towards the end of his F1 career, Stirling Moss was lucky enough to win the prestigious sports personality of the year award in 1961 and was the first person to win the award from Formula 1 industry to do so which is another record which will go down in history. With all the achievements & his status in motor-sport Stirling Moss would go on to be knighted in 2000 by Prince Charles at Buckingham palace.

The Goodwood Crash in 62

After finishing his F1 career, Moss was competing in a race in 1962 at good wood where he was in a serious crash which put Moss in a coma for 1 month. The steering wheel had a head indentation from the impact of the crash. For a limited time, Moss was paralysed but again broke boundaries by getting back in the car the following year. The crash did take an impact on his career with Moss calling it quits due to losing his instinctive reflexes & racing edge.

Sir Stirling Moss was the first British star to emerge from Formula one, which paved the way for drivers like Jim Clark, Jackie Stewart & Graham Hill. The UK wouldn’t have had the impact in motorsport if Stirling Moss wasn’t at the forefront of it.

Thank you & rest easy Sir Stirling.