Marv’s Garage: Remembering one of the greats, Stirling Moss

I was terribly saddened to learn of the passing of Sir Stirling Moss early on Easter Sunday morning in 2020. The greatest driver never to win an F1 championship title he raced in arguably the most dangerous and noble period to be a racing driver.

From 1948-1962 he won 212 of the 529 races he entered, including 16 Grands Prix in 66 starts. He entered up to 62 races in a year (including multiple classes on a single day), driving 84 different marques, including Cooper, ERA, Lister, Lotus, HWM, Holden, Maserati, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Vanwall, Aston Martin, Ferrari, and Jaguar.

His win in the 1955 Mille Miglia (above) is legend, with noted motoring journalist Dennis "Jenks" Jenkinson reading newly created things called "pace notes". Driving a factory Mercedes 300 SLR, the most high-tech racing car on the planet, Moss covered the open-road 1000 mile sprint in 10h7min at an average speed of 98.5mph which stands 65 years later as one of the greatest feats of driving in history.

Multiple victories at Sebring, Targa Florio, Nurburgring 1000km and RAC Tourist Trophy followed before a heavy crash in 1962 saw him retire from full time racing. He survived racing's most dangerous era, and lived a full life appearing sporadically in races until he was 81.

There are too many awesome quotes of his to write here, so I will leave just one: “There are two things no man will admit he cannot do well: drive and make love.” Sir Stirling was 90 years old and always felt like the granddad I never had, may he rest in peace.