Stirling Moss

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Moss was born in London to amateur racing drivers Alfred and Aileen Moss. His father had come 16th in the 1924 Indianapolis 500. Moss was a gifted horse rider. He received his first car, an Austin 7, from his father at age nine. He purchased his own car at age 15 after obtaining a driving licence. Moss made his Formula One debut at the 1951 Swiss Grand Prix with HWM. He joined Mercedes in 1955, taking his maiden win at the British Grand Prix. Moss retired from motor racing in 1962 after an accident at the non-championship Glover Trophy left him in a coma for a month and temporarily paralysed.

In Their Own Story

In 1955, Stirling Moss and his co-driver Denis Jenkinson competed in the Mille Miglia driving a Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR. They achieved victory with the starting number 722, a designation indicating their start time of 7:22 a.m. This specific event created a lasting legacy that bridged decades of automotive history. When the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren was unveiled to the public on 17 November 2003, it carried the spirit of this original race. Years later, in 2006, the partnership between Mercedes-Benz and McLaren Automotive introduced the SLR McLaren 722 Edition. This model was not merely a performance upgrade but a direct homage to Moss's achievement. The car featured red '722' badging on its exterior, explicitly referencing the starting number of the historic win. Production of this tribute was strictly limited to 150 units, ensuring that the story of Moss and Jenkinson's 1955 triumph remained exclusive and tied permanently to the modern SLR lineage.

Reader's Guide

Moss raced from 1948 to 1962, winning 212 of the 529 races he entered, including 16 Formula One Grands Prix. He achieved 16 wins, 16 pole positions, 19 fastest laps and 24 podium finishes in Formula One. He was a three-time winner of the Monaco Grand Prix, four-time winner of the British Empire Trophy, and five-time winner of the International Gold Cup. In rallying, Moss finished runner-up at the Monte Carlo Rally in 1952. He broke several land speed records across different categories.

Did You Know?

• Moss won the 1955 Mille Miglia with co-driver Denis Jenkinson, completing the race in ten hours and seven minutes.
• He was named BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 1961.
• Moss was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1990.
• He kept the record for most Formula One Grand Prix victories by an English driver until 1991.