Stirling Moss – fading, fast

The legendary Sir Stirling Moss

The word ‘legend’ tends to get somewhat over-used. In the world of motorsport, it’s usually reserved for drivers who have won multiple titles.

Despite never managing to win the Formula 1 World Championship, Sir Stirling Moss is a man eminently worthy of legend status. Even in coming close to the title in ’58, he lost out simply because he vouched for a fellow Brit accused of breaking the rules, even though it lost him the coveted ultimate reward.

So, not only a legend, but a gentleman. At 88 years of age, Moss has had a remarkable life in motorsport – across a variety of categories, he won 212 of the 529 events he entered, and survived accidents that regularly cost his contemporaries their lives.

His career ending shunt in ’62 left him in a coma and partially paralysed, but he recovered after six months. Even a fall down the lift-shaft of his home in his later years didn’t stop him.

Well over 50 years since he retired from top-level motorsport, he’s still viewed as one of the greatest drivers of all time – a man who should have won cabinets full of trophies, but battled luck as often as the other drivers.

After more than four months in hospital following a chest infection, he’s now retiring from public life too, to spend more time with his wife and family as his slow recovery continues.

Sir Stirling survived an era when ‘safety’ was barely considered, and is still spoken about warmly all this time later. We might not be hearing from the man any more as he fades from public view, but the legend will live on.

This post first appeared as the third piece in my column/page in The Mail and the News & Star, on the 26th of January 2018. It was re-titled in print as "Stirling Moss legend lives on", removing the (deliberate) ambiguity of my original title.

I do worry that this is a prelude to sad news. Let's hope not.