Stirling Moss

Biography

Stirling Craufurd Moss was born in West Kensington, London, on 17 September 1929. His father Alfred had raced in the 1924 Indianapolis 500, and his sister Pat became a rally driver. He bought a Cooper 500 in 1948 and won in British and international Formula Three. His first major international victory was the 1950 RAC Tourist Trophy, which he won in a Jaguar XK120 on the eve of his 21st birthday.

Moss made his World Championship debut with HWM at the 1951 Swiss Grand Prix, and his first podium came in a Maserati 250F in Belgium in 1954. For Mercedes-Benz in 1955 he won the British Grand Prix at the head of a Mercedes one-two-three-four, the first Briton to win that race. That year he and Denis Jenkinson also won the Mille Miglia in a 300 SLR, covering the 1,000 miles in 10 hours 7 minutes. He was runner-up in the championship every year from 1955 to 1958, missing the 1958 title by one point to Mike Hawthorn, and finished third in each of the next three seasons.

In Rob Walker's privately entered Lotus he won at Monaco in 1960 and 1961, and his last Grand Prix win came in Germany in 1961. A crash at Goodwood in 1962 left him in a coma for a month, and he gave up professional racing. In 66 starts he scored 16 wins and 16 pole positions. Moss was knighted in 2000 and received the FIA Gold Medal in 2006. He announced his final retirement from racing on 9 June 2011 and died at his home in Mayfair on 12 April 2020, aged 90.