Sir Stirling Moss retires from racing at 81

[GeezerButler]

http://www.stirlingmoss.com/

A gentleman as always:

'On his retirement Stirling said “This afternoon I scared myself and I have always said that if I felt I was not up to it or that I was getting in the way of fellow competitors, then I would retire”.'

Haven't seen any other thread on this, so thought we should have a tribute to the great man.

Some of the comments on the MSN page where I saw this announcement (e.g. 'honouring people who never won anything', 'stupid bloke who fell down a left shaft', 'stirling who?', 'why a hero, he never had any serious injuries' etc..) made me want to have a thread where some proper respect can be shown to one of Britain's greatest living sportsmen by people who know about racing, particularly the incredibly dangerous times when Sir Stirling's career was a it's zenith.

So go ahead - anyone met the man, have any good video links, or just want to pay a tribute?

I met him twice, once at Mercedes World and once at Goodwood - he had time for everyone and was happy to sign autographs for anyone that wanted them.

 

[JRS]

So go ahead - anyone met the man, have any good video links, or just want to pay a tribute?

Alright then.

As far as GP racing goes, there are two races that stand out even above and beyond what Sir Stirling achieved in his career.

1) The 1958 Argentine Grand Prix.

Buenos Aires, 19th January, 1958. Rob Walker entered a little Cooper car with a 2 litre Coventry-Climax motor in the back. Mid-engined cars were still not de rigeur just yet. Formula One at this stage had 2.5 litre motors as the maximum allowed, so the car was already giving away a good chunk of power.

Ferrari showed up with three brand-new 2.4 V6 Dinos. Everyone in attendance expected a works Ferrari win. This was almost assured, thanks to a critical difference in the design of the cars (quite apart from the difference in power). The Cooper had four-stud wheels, the Ferrari had knock-off hubs. It was much quicker to change tyres on the Ferrari than the Cooper. By a huge amount.

Enter into the fray, Stirling Moss. Driving Rob Walker's Cooper, he'd had gearbox trouble in practice and was having to drive one-eyed thanks to a scraped cornea. The decision was made that they'd have to run the race without a tyre change (or fuel-up). So Moss gloomily took up his place on the grid. Ferrari were sure that he'd have to stop, and were sure that they would win. After all - Moss had a smaller engine, he had to stop longer to change tyres, victory was inevitable.

Someone should probably have told Moss that....

In 4th place during the race, Moss' clutch broke. The gearbox Cooper used at the time wouldn't let you change gear without the clutch, so Stirling was about to call it a day. But a stone jammed up the mechanism, and allowed clutchless gearchanges. Game on.

The tyres should have lasted to about half distance (the race being 80 laps). But Moss made them last, and last, and last. At lap 65, the canvas started showing. But he kept going, and kept lapping within a second of the pole position time, and won. With one good eye, a bust clutch, and on one set of tyres.

2) The 1961 Monaco Grand Prix.

Rob Walker entered the Lotus that Stirling raced this event in. A 1960 Lotus 18, it was about 30-40 horsepower down on the works Ferraris that were expected to win. Again, someone should probably have told Moss.

He put the Lotus on pole. On the grid, he spotted that one of the chassis tubes was cracked. The chief mechanic welded it up with the fuel tanks still chock-full of fuel. After losing the lead at the start of the race, he got back in front by lap 13. And duly won.

The opening race of the season.

In a year-old car.

That had to be welded-up on the grid.

**************



Remind me again why I'm supposed to be impressed by F1 these days?

 

[Skeeter]

Of all the people in all the F1 paddocks in all the world. Sir Stirling is top of my list of people to meet. He strikes me as someone you could talk to for hours and feel a smarter and better person for it.

 

[NightSt@lk3r]

Not quite retired yet, he will do 1 final lap at Le Mans this afternoon before the race.

 

[Flibster]

Not quite retired yet, he will do 1 final lap at Le Mans this afternoon before the race.

He retired from competitive racing, he'll still do the demo's.

An utter delight to talk to. Possibly the last true gentlemen racer.

 

[Housey]

One of the greats no question.

 

[Housey]

Some of the comments on the MSN page where I saw this announcement (e.g. 'honouring people who never won anything', 'stupid bloke who fell down a left shaft', 'stirling who?', 'why a hero, he never had any serious injuries' etc..)

Many people are ignorant, sadly the internet allows them a voice to so ably demonstrate it.