Sir Stirling Moss, often called “Mr. Motor Racing” or “the greatest driver never to win the World Championship”, has passed away at age 90. His death was linked to an illness that he suffered from for sometime, though no details were shared.
Sir Stirling Moss was destined to drive from the start, with both his parents being involved in motorsport themselves. They encouraged him to participate and get familiar with driving dynamics from a very young age. By age 9, Moss was driving around the family compound in a used Austin Seven that his father had bought him.
From a young age, he was afflicted with several health problems, including a problem with his kidney. Before entering the world of motorsport as a career, he tried his hand in the hotel business, but that wasn’t quite his speed.
When he was old enough to drive legally, his father lent him his BMW 328. This became the first car that he would start racing in, though his first real race car was a Cooper 500. He sold most of his possessions to buy this, with his parents making up the difference in price. It was used to compete in local hillclimbs and he went on to drive many more Coopers, but by the end of his racing career had driven over 84 different makes of cars on the track.
Throughout the 1950s, Sir Stirling Moss went on to win races across multiple disciplines and held the record for most F1 victories of any British driver until 1991. Although, as his nickname suggests, the World Championship always eluded him. He seemed to prefer the role of the underdog and raced with smaller teams.
Sir Stirling Moss officially retired after an incident in a Lotus at Goodwood in 1962 put him in a month long coma. The incident left his body half-paralysed, but even after recovery he felt it best to leave motorsport. He continued contributing to the world of motorsport in one way or another, and even briefly returned to it in the 1980s. He remained active in encouraging motorsports and only withdrew from public life in 2018.
