Sir Stirling Craufurd Moss, OBE, was a British Formula One racing driver. He won 212 of the 529 races he entered across several categories of competition. He was instrumental in breaking the GermanItalian stranglehold on F1 racing. Moss died in London on 12 April 2020, aged 90, following a long illness.
About Stirling Moss in brief
Sir Stirling Craufurd Moss, OBE, was a British Formula One racing driver. He won 212 of the 529 races he entered across several categories of competition. In a seven-year span between 1955 and 1961 Moss finished as championship runner-up four times and in third place the other three times. He was instrumental in breaking the GermanItalian stranglehold on F1 racing. He remained the English driver with the most Formula One victories until 1991 when Nigel Mansell overtook him after competing in more races. Moss died in London on 12 April 2020, aged 90, following a long illness. His grandfather was Jewish, from a family that changed their surname from Moses to Moss. His father was an amateur racing driver who had come 16th in the 1924 Indianapolis 500. His younger sister, Pat Moss, became a successful rally driver and married the Swedish rally driver Erik Carlsson. Moss was one of the Cooper Car Company’s first customers, using winnings from competing in horse-riding events to pay the deposit on a Cooper 500 racing car in 1948. He then persuaded his father, who opposed his racing and wanted him to be a dentist, to let him buy it. He soon demonstrated his ability with numerous wins at national and international levels, and continued to compete in Formula Three, with Coopers and Kiefts, after he had progressed to more senior categories. His first major international race victory came on the eve of his 21st birthday at the wheel of a borrowed Jaguar XK120 in the 1950 RAC Tourist Trophy on the Dundrod circuit in Northern Ireland.
He went on to win the race six more times, in 1951, 1955, 1958 and 1959, and 1960 and 1961. Enzo Ferrari, the founder of Ferrari, approached Moss and offered him a Formula Two car to drive at the 1951 Bari Grand Prix before a full-season in 1952. In 1954, he became the first non-American to win the 12-hour Sebring Hours of Sebring, sharing the Cunningham team with American Bill Lloyd. He bought a Maserati 250 for the 1954 season, wanting to see how he would perform in a better car. He preferred to race British cars, stating, “Better to lose honourably in a British car than win in a foreign one’”. He was awarded an OBE for his services to motorsport in 1962 and a CBE for his contributions to motor racing in 1964. He died in a hospice in London after a long battle with cancer. He is survived by his wife, three children and a step-daughter. He will be buried at St James’ Park, London, where he lived with his wife and three children. For confidential support call the Samaritans on 08457 90 90 90, visit a local Samaritans branch or click here for details. In the U.S. call the National Suicide Prevention Line on 1-800-273-8255 or visit www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org.
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This page is based on the article Stirling Moss published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 04, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
