Description
Authors: Sir Stirling Moss with Simon Taylor, Harbound, 312, Pages, ISBN: 9781910505069, Published, 2015
- foreword by Lewis Hamilton
In this very personal book, Stirling Moss guides you through his motor racing life with an insightful and often amusing commentary to a collection of over 320 superb photographs, including many from his own albums.
He takes us from his childhood to the height of his fame as 'Mr Motor Racing' and then to the sudden end of his racing career with that crash at Goodwood in 1962. Along the way we dwell on his finest moments as well as the setbacks, and delight in the sheer variety of machinery - almost 100 different cars - in which he competed during his rollercoaster racing life.
Starting in 1948, he made his name in little 500cc Coopers, gradually moving towards stardom in HWM, ERA and Cooper Formula 2 cars, and then his own Formula 1 Maserati 250F. Mercedes-Benz signed him to drive alongside Fangio in 1955 and the season brought two celebrated highlights - his wins in the Mille Miglia and the British Grand Prix.
Ever patriotic, Stirling longed to win in British cars and that ambition was rewarded with two fine Formula 1 seasons at Vanwall, including a second British Grand Prix victory in 1957, and sports car successes with Aston Martin. In 1958 he lost the World Championship to Mike Hawthorn by just one point, despite having won four Grands Prix for Vanwall compared with his rival's single win for Ferrari. Thereafter he drove mainly for privateer entrant Rob Walker in rearengined Cooper and Lotus Formula 1
cars, achieving two heroic victories in the Monaco Grand Prix.
Throughout his career Stirling ran his life at a hectic pace and raced whenever and wherever he could. The amazing range of sports cars he drove included Jaguars (XK120, C-type and D-type), Maseratis (150S to 450S), Ferraris (250 GT SWB and Testa Rossa) and Porsches 550 Spyder to RS61), plus Frazer Nash Le-Mans Replica, Osca, Healey 1005, and a whole host of other racing cars !
