Moss spent much time over the next 50 or more years working as an ambassador for Mercedes-Benz, often demonstrating either the 300 SLR or the W196R. He was a regular in events such as Mille Miglia retrospective, Goodwood Festival of Speed and Revival and many others. There was some commentary work in the 60s and 70s and a brief foray into touring cars in the early 1980s, but having defined the professional racing driver he now proceeded to define the profession of retired racing driver. He lived in central London, in a house he designed himself and which featured 722 on the balcony glazing, whilst managing a domestic property portfolio in a very hands on way. He got around London on a succession of scooters, bubble cars, SMART cars and latterly a Renault Twizy. Moss was knighted in 2000, the first British driver to be so honoured.
As I said, picking the “greatest” is not an exact science, however much people may try with formal assessments to various criteria aggregated and weighted. Realistically, how do compare Lewis Hamilton and Mario Andretti, or Jochen Rindt and Alain Prost? Put them in a W196 each on the Monza banking?
Was Moss the greatest racing driver ever? Was the 300 SLR the greatest racing car? Did they combine to create the greatest motor race achievement? No one has the absolute answer, but surely they’re candidates for all of them.
(For what it’s worth, my view is that you can only nominate a greatest from a specific era, and therefore have a series of “the greatest”. My pick would go something like: Fangio, Moss, Jim Clark, Jackie Stewart, Niki Lauda, Gilles Villeneuve, Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton; I’d accept that this listing is F1 biased, neglecting North American motorsport unfairly, and is entirely personal.)
Moss is the greatest driver who never became F1 world champion
+1.
Thanks for this lovely tribute to a superb driver and a real gentleman.
Great discussion, Roger, and it’s hard to argue with you. For anyone who wants to read Denis Jenkinson’s thoughts on what makes a great racing driver (including commentary on contemporary drivers), this is a really good book, and he discusses the Mille Miglia at length.
https://www.amazon.com/Racing-Driver-Theory-Practice-Driving/dp/0837602017
That blue MB “transporter” truck pictured half way through the read is awesome!
A legendary driver to be sure, but I wouldn’t have wanted to be in the passenger seat on that MM run. Nothing derogatory towards Moss, just putting you life on the line in someone elses hands is difficult. I know, part of racing, but I’d rather be a driver, with infinitely less skill than Sterling, than be a passenger in even his car.
Both of them had a pair of brass ones to do that in that race.
Another gong for Sir Roger, your choice from the big cabinet this time, sir. Yes, it can have thistles or baths or whatever one you fancy.
I will clank in unsubtley with a firm opinion: it IS the greatest, in combination.
An exceedingly beautiful car of remarkable capability (and sound), a driver simply admired by ALL others (and modest with it), a race over gorgeous Italia that is literally death-defying – it beckons at every single yard – at an average speed that can never be matched. It can never be done again. I can think of no other race to have all these things.
It has a big chunk of nostalgia in my weeny car brain, as I read that famous account by Jenks in some collection of derring-do true tales when I was about nine, and it stuck. I haven’t time to read today (but will), as it too is unmatched: no account from a race , no matter how good, will ever be able to come from inside the car itself. To CCers who’ve not read read it, I encourage a bookmark and a plan to do so. It is superb, as history, as a thrill, and as writing.
My boast in life is that I have met Moss, in 1982 at age 13 or 14. Oh, yes.
He came here to race in a vintage race demonstration, including the W196, and his Cooper. (There were also Alfa P1’s, etc, but these exotics all paled). It was the days before historic stuff was very big, and the crowd was small. It was also stinking hot, and, as per the times, there was no security or such. In the public carpark (!) and shade of the back of the stands, Moss was standing next to the Mercedes naked from waist up, having just driven her. He was slightly posh-voiced, but totally unaffected, didn’t care who asked him what, clearly very genuine man. Too my shame, I remember being a bit disappointed, because Fangio, my biggest hero, was supposed to come, but had been unwell. It was, I realized much later, still quite the thrill to have met his mutually respected good friend and competitor! (No, I’ve no idea what I said to him: almost certainly something tongue-tied and inane, no that I need have worried, of course).
Great article Roger, and you learnt me a new thing. I never knew the engine drove the propshaft from the middle of the crank till reading this.
[This comment is a digression, for old F1 fans like Sir Rog]
I sometimes feel like I made that day up, but no, here’s a link (soon to expire, btw). l’ll say the following in case link fails: Also present that day was Alan Jones, Jack Brabham, John Surtees and Denny Hulme, all World F1 Champions. All just wandering about, chatting. Mercedes was w154. Alfa the ’35 German GP-winning P3. Also the Porsche F1 car, ’49 and ’55 Ferrari GP (Dino 246?) cars, ’50’s Aston Martin racers. all of these got driven, quite hard, around the track. What a day!
http://narrywoolan.com.au/motor-racing/sandown-1982.html
Thank you and you’re welcome – you’re a gent Mr Justy and I’d shake your digital hand to get within the 5 steps to anyone rule (or whatever it’s called). Closest I’ve got otherwise is Damon Hill at a book signing, another intriguing personality for a champion.
Sir! I have tried several times but all links to the article only seem to give the first page did you mean to torture me sir?
What links? I don’t see any links in his article.
The image links for the book pages all go to page 104.
You’re right, there was some faulty code in this post. Thanks for the heads-up; the pages work correctly now.
Reload the article (which now spans five pages) and you’ll find the book links working. Thanks for the alert.
Thanks Daniel!
True legend, I saw one of those Sunbeam Talbot rally team cars recently 6 were built or actually 3 and 3 spares one of the spares resides in Auckland it runs and is roadworthy and registered, Moss said of them apparently they werent all that fast and the handling was average but they were unkillable,
There arent too many like Stirling Moss he could drive anything fast enough to win.
Thanks Roger for re-posting this, as I missed it first time around. One of the very visible drivers, perhaps the first “celebrity” in Motorsport, even to me as a kid in the US. Moss may have been tough behind the wheel, but he liked his luxuries: he was famous for having a heated toilet seat in his London home.
I believe that Mercedes-Benz withdrew from Formula One in 1955 because of the accident at Le Mans that took so many lives. That they were winning was probably just expected when you consider who the competition was.
Pierre Levegh’s accident’s repercussions for Mercedes-Benz were manifold. I was looking at a 25th anniversary Car and Driver the other day. Mercedes-Benz was celebrating Car and Driver’s anniversary, or buying some favor, with heavy advertising. They showed photographs of all the Mercedes-Benz cars that had been reviewed through the years, and it became apparent that Mercedes-Benz stopped developing sporting cars in the wake of the crash. Sure, the 300SL roadster reached production after 1955 in response to requests for a more livable 300SL, but subsequent offerings were rather pedestrian for decades. The 230SL was really a successor to the 190SL, and the 1955 300SL’s performance went unmatched until the holders of institutional memories of 1955 had all retired.
Conocen un tal, Juan Manuel Fangio