Sir Stirling Moss passed away at the age of 90 years following a long battle with an illness, his wife Lady Moss confirmed to the British media early Sunday morning. Sir Stirling had a legendary career spanning from 1951 all the way to 1961 and he drove for manufactures like Vanwall, Maserati and Mercedes. He also participated in sports car racing for both Mercedes and Ferrari. However, the legendary driver never won a Formula 1 World Championship.
With his 10-year career in Formula 1, Moss he took a total of 16 wins and his victories included the Monaco GP and Germany GP, often referred to as his all-time classic wins. One of his most legendary feats in motorsport was the 1955 Mille Miglia that took place on the open streets of the Italian countryside and where Stirling Moss set a record that has not been broken till date. You just have to go over the numbers to realise what a feat Sir Stirling achieved in Italy, considering he was able to cover nearly 1600 km on open Italian public roads in just a little over 10 hours. Other highlights include him winning his home Grand Prix (the British Grand Prix), but being the humble man that he was, in many interviews he said Manuel Fangio handed him the win.
He was referred to as Mr Motor Racing as he was fearless and pushed the limits of the cars that he raced. One of his catchy quotes was “ If you are not trying to win at all costs, what on earth are you doing there.”
Post his racing days he got into real estate and also designed gadgets out of his home in central London and he often consulted with major automotive manufacturers for their research and development activities. He always had a close connection with Formula 1 as you could see him in the pit lane at many of the races. Due to his illness, he took a step back from public life two years back. A lot of touching tributes have come out for Sir Stirling Moss from his former teams like Ferrari, Mercedes and even Formula 1 put out a touching tribute to him on their social media platforms.
Here are a few of them :-
All of us at evo India extend our condolences and heartfelt sorrow to Lady Moss and the rest of the Sir Stirling‘s family and friends. It truly is a great loss for the motorsport fraternity.