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Legendary British driver Sir Stirling Moss has died at the age of 90 after a long illness. Mike Rutherford remembers him…
Former Auto Express contributor Sir Stirling Moss has sadly passed away. Here Auto Express chief columnist Mike Rutherford, who knew the great man well, pays tribute to one of the greatest racing drivers of all time…
There is Stirling Moss, the finest, bravest, most respected racing driver of all time. Then there are the many other sides to the great man.
I can’t imagine there’s another Brit whose sporting prowess – the wins, losses, record-breaking achievements, rivalries, controversies, death-defying crashes, et al – are better documented online and in print in countless books that record all the victories, titles, lap times, dramas and tragedies. If you can, read every last one of them.
But his career proper can best be summed up by that familiar, highly accurate, one liner: Stirling Moss was the greatest Formula One driver never to win a world championship. That said, and for reasons I’ll explain on another day, the fact that he couldn’t be crowned F1 champ didn’t really bother him. Not deep down. He sometimes used to laugh about it.
Besides, he was more than a mere Formula One driver. Unlike most of today’s Grand Prix boys who happily make up the numbers at F1 ‘races’ every other Sunday and do little else in their pampered lives, a near-skint Moss did pretty much everything there was for a competitive driver to do: road racing, off road, track….you name it.
When outside his cars and garages, he was one of Britain’s original celebrities – right up there in the same global league as The Beatles and George Best. Even in the 1990s and beyond I know (because I was there and personally witnessed it) that whether he strolled down the street, dashed through airport terminal buildings, or took to the roads of his beloved London in a car or (more likely) humble moped, he was spotted and acknowledged for what he was and always will be – one of the most instantly recognised and best loved True Brits of the last century. Hero? Yes, definitely. Icon? The word was invented for this man.
In public he never denied anyone a smile and a handshake. At the lovely, gadget-laden seven-storey mews house he shared with wife Susie at the epicentre of London’s West End, he spent part of every working day signing autographs for fans who requested them, before he personally bought stamps and posted them to folk around the globe….at considerable expense to himself. He was like that. A true class act. On my first son’s first birthday, he sent him a card that said simply: “Dearest Marcus – I hope you turn out to be a better driver than your Dad. God bless. Uncle Stirl.”
Stirling’s columns used to appear in Auto Express regularly during the early days of the mag when he helped get the publication off the ground – for the motoring and motorsport cause, more than the personal financial gain. His ‘system’ for getting his words into print was to invite me to his house, bribe me with pots of tea and packs of M&S biscuits, while telling me to plonk a C90 cassette into my Marantz tape recorder, before he chatted (90 mins max, obviously) about everything from Prost to parking, Senna to speed limits, Mansell to motorways. Yes he was a motorsport guy. But he was also a motoring nut who was as happy in a cheap old banger as he was in the big, expensive Mercs that were regularly delivered by the German form to his front door.
Once he asked if he could borrow my Golf GTI for a couple of days because he hadn’t driven one for years. Two days and 200 miles later he returned it reasonably clean and tidy – but with a brand new set of tyres as a little thank you for the loan. Generosity was one of his many strengths. His wicked sense of humour was another. Yes he was as hard as nails, mentally and physically. For goodness sake, he boxed like Tyson and could have been a pro-fighter. But his obvious, sometimes borderline scary, toughness didn’t get in the way of his loyalty, compassion and sense of fun.
Occasionally he’d mischievously ask if he could come with me to a car launch that the mag had been invited to. I always said yes. He always ended up being the undisputed VIP at such events. We once did a supermini launch together – Polo or Corsa, can’t quite remember. Cheap, little, low-powered runabouts like this are great fun, he assured me, particularly on private tracks or on private land when they can be driven “at or near ten tenths.” That’s the speed he lived much of his life at. I’d often ask why. “Movement is tranquillity, old boy,” he frequently assured me.
It’s true that Sir Stirling Moss left us this weekend. But please don’t think of him being beaten by illness, or losing the fight in his battle for life. Instead he has, I believe, quietly and naturally passed away in peace and with great dignity.
Prior to his passing, he gave himself, wife Susie and other loved ones, Britain and the world 90 glorious years of his life. For this we must feel grateful, honoured and inspired. Let’s all celebrate The Greatest – Sir Stirling Moss.
The only person who got all his work done by Friday was Robinson Crusoe.
Anything i post over three lines long please assume it is an article lol.
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R.I.P Sterling.
Joss
Current car: BMW X2 sDrive 20i M Sport 5dr Step Auto In metallic Portimão Blue. 04:10:2025
Previous car:Peugeot 308 GT Premium 1.2 Pure tech Petrol.
Hearing of too many people passing just now Joss, it’s becoming routine and it should never become so.
I worked for Stirling Moss in the mid seventies. He was a partner in a company selling luxury mobile homes to UK residents that we then located in the South of France. I was transport manager and dealt with all the customs documentation as well. We were the first people to start up sites in the Argeles sur mer region which now has 10,000 plus mobile homes. In retrospect we probably ruined many miles of idyllic Languedoc – Roussillon coastline.
Stirling was well liked on the Mayfair scene, and was known as “Foxy” by intimates, he was definitely a playboy and very good company. He was also of course a bloody good racing driver.
Edit: I’ve removed a couple of funny but personal comments.
Ahh the seventies good memories.
Interesting insight there Pops. Thanks
Joss
Current car: BMW X2 sDrive 20i M Sport 5dr Step Auto In metallic Portimão Blue. 04:10:2025
Previous car:Peugeot 308 GT Premium 1.2 Pure tech Petrol.Best story I heard about Stirling was about him getting pulled over by cops for speeding. “Who d’you think you are then, Stirling Moss?” said the rozzer. “Well actually…” Stirling replied reaching for driver’s license. Tale may by apocryphal, but a good one nevertheless. Passed him in street once, smiled and got a smile back. Very nice chap. None left with his qualities.
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