Stirling Moss was born in London on September 17th, 1929. His father, Alfred, a dentist, had raced at Brooklands and twice contested the Indianapolis 500. Aileen, his mother, was also a competitor in rallies and trials, in 1936, she won the Ladies Experts Trials. At the age of nine his father bought him an old Austin Seven in which the young Moss would drive in the fields around their home. The family were also keen on horses, Stirling and his sister Pat entering various horse show competitions. While Pat continued to compete, Stirling's heart lay more in horsepower of the mechanical variety. He failed to show much academic ability and his parents were forced to accept that he would not follow his father into the medical profession. At age seventeen it was decided that the young Moss would go into the hotel trade. His training included serving as a waiter and later night porter, an occupation he was totally unqualified for.

Still Moss maintained his interest in cars and was soon driving on the open road, in Morgan. His next car was a MG and after seeing an advertisement for a racing car with an Aspen engine he promptly ordered one. When Alfred found out, he angrily contacted the company and cancelled the order. Eventually he relented and allowed Stirling to borrow his BMW sports car. It was in this car that Moss would start to compete in local speed trials.

Moss became one of the first customers for John Cooper with a Mk II which he used initially for hill climbs. He became aware of these cars through fellow competitors and went looking for the Cooper garage in Surbiton.

In the Cooper Mk VI with V twin JAP.

Alfred Moss rides shotgun on Stirling's Mk II

Stirling contrived to drive past the showroom one day with his father as his unsuspecting passenger. Remarking on the car in the showroom he impressed upon his father how wonderful it would be to race such a car as this.

Moss with a fag on.

His father agreed but only if only Stirling could meet the cost. Reduced to selling most of his possessions he was still short of the £600 needed but on his 18th birthday his parents made up the difference. This would be the beginning of a long association which saw him driving Coopers, on and off, for much of his career.

Through 1948 Stirling and his Mk II set a string of fastest times on the hills and led the Grand Prix Meeting, at Silverstone in October, until sprocket problems sidelined them both.

In November 1950, Cyril Kieft tackled the 350cc and 500cc international records at Montlhery. The driving team consisted of Stirling Moss, Ken Gregory and Jack Neill. They came away with 13 records.

Cyril asked Moss to drive for him, but Stirling did not rate the car highly. Kieft took over a 500cc design conceived by Dean Delamont, John A Cooper and Ray Martin, to Stirling’s specifications. The CK 51 was an advanced design featuring a distinctive suspension arrangement using rubber bands and large amounts of negative camber. Moss became a director of Kieft Cars Ltd which moved to Wolverhampton. Thereafter, he drove for both Kieft and Cooper whenever his commitments in the senior categories would allow.

See the Interview with Stirling Moss, first published in "Iota" March 1952.

Moss would enter as many races as he could and began to win regularly. His obvious racing talent finally convinced his parents where his future lay. With this support Moss was on his way, driving and racing anything that he could get his hands on. This became a trademark of his success.

On the grid with Ray Martin in the Kieft in 1951

Moss, Ken Gregory and Ray Martin after the Kieft's first outing at Goodwood, May 1951.

In 1950 Moss got his first works team drive for HWM. The team leader was Lance Macklin and  Moss would learn his racing craft from HWM and lessons about life from Macklin. At Monza he was involved in a terrific dice with the veteran Ferrari driver Villoresi who later congratulated the young Moss on his skill. During this time he also raced other cars including the Jaguar C-Type in which he won the sports car race leading up to the French Grand Prix. For 1951 he was contracted to race for Ferrari at selected events but when practice began for the first race he was told that the car he supposed was his had been given to Taruffi. Moss concluded that Ferrari was not the place for him and he vowed to exact his revenge against the red cars. Enzo Ferrari would later, privately, admit that failing to sign Stirling had cost him many wins.

Above, Moss rolls his Cooper at Castle Combe in October 1953. This was, in fact, the Formula II race. Moss' Cooper-Alta was unready so he used the Cooper with JAP twin engine. Unfortunately he was struck by Rolt's Connaught at Quarry and retired to Bristol Infirmary....

Left, a follow up article from Motor Sport in June 1954.

Don Parker and Stirling battle it out at Goodwood in September 1954. This time Don would win by 0.2 of a second. Ivor Bueb follows.

For 1955 he signed for Mercedes partnering Fangio and tasted his first Grand Prix victory, in front of a home crowd, at Aintree. At home in any type of car he partnered with journalist Denis Jenkinson to win the historic Mille Miglia in 1955, the first foreigners since Caracciola and the only Britons to ever do so. In 1956 he drove for Maserati and won twice more and for Aston Martin at Le Mans, paired with Peter Collins. They were beaten by the Ecurie Ecosse Jaguars of Ninian Sanderson and Ron Flockhart. The following year although again pursued by Ferrari he chose to drive for the Vandervell team. This decision to drive for British teams whenever possible may have cost him future World Championships. An illustration of Moss’ innate sportsmanship occurred at the 1958 Grand Prix of Portugal. During the race Mike Hawthorn spun his car but was able to continue and eventually finished second. Which when added to his fastest lap gave him 7 points to Moss' 8 for the win. Hawthorn though, was accused by the officials of breaking the rules by restarting in the opposite direction. Moss who witnessed the incident came to his rival's defence and a relieved Hawthorn was able to keep his 7 points. As a result, Hawthorn became the first British world champion beating Moss by one point. Stirling would continue to win against larger teams but the championship was always just beyond his reach. In 1962, a serious accident at Goodwood left Stirling in a coma and would eventually force his retirement.

Moss is considered by many as being the first professional driver who raced for the love of the sport but was also intent on earning a living. He took his fitness seriously and  would travel all over the world to race, often racing several times in the same meeting. He was not above haggling for more appearance money and income from endorsements, something that was exceptional at the time.

Stirling Moss is often referred to as the greatest driver  who never won the Formula 1 championship, but this is a serious underestimation of the man. Certainly he suffered from the presence of Fangio, one of the greatest driver of all time, and from his choice of British cars when others may have brought more success but his overall tally of wins is huge and, most significantly, achieved in a very wide variety of cars and disciplines. Now in his mid 70s, Stirling still competes occasionally in historic racing.

Moss leads in the Kieft at Silverstone in 1951

Moss reunited with Cooper at the Goodwood Chicane.

Click to go to the official Stirling Moss site:

Moss gets a ride on the back of Bob Gerard's Cooper Mk VII after his carburettor fell off, London Trophy meeting Crystal Palace 1953. Photo by George Eatwell.