Thursday 15th June 2006

Sir Stirling Moss honoured

Statue unveiled at Mallory Park - man continues to race

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Sir Stirling Moss at Mallory Park

On Monday this week at the Mallory Park circuit, a life-sized bronze statue of Sir Stirling Moss OBE was unveiled in his presence by the son of Chris Meek, the owner of the circuit, in front of an invited audience.

Among those paying tribute to Sir Stirling at the unveiling were John Surtees, Raymond Baxter, Charles Morgan of Morgan Cars, Chris Meek and Tim Parnell and Roger Lane-Nott of the BRDC.

Also present at the unveiling were 20 race cars representative of those he drove during his racing career including his first, a 2.5-litre Cooper Alta, a number of Lotuses amongst which was his most famous, the Lotus 18 which he drove to victory in the 1961 Monaco GP and examples of Jaguars, Ferraris, Vanwalls and Maseratis.

The afternoon saw Stirling, along with Lady Moss, taking time to talk to as many of his guests as possible, before going on to sign his latest book, the 1961 Stirling Moss Scrapbook, which includes many unseen images from his personal collection.

A sentiment expressed, to which all agreed, was that ‘he continue to compete in historic racing as he inspired others to take part in motor sport’ to which he replied ’I will race for the foreseeable future, so long as Lady Moss does not object!’

Stirling was overwhelmed by the turnout of his close friends and family saying that ‘it is enormously honouring to have a statue unveiled in recognition of your career’ and thanked everyone present for attending.

Few can have done more to bring motorsport to a wider public. Keep it up, Stirling...

[bridgland]

A living legend and he deserves all of the recognition....

[Matt2101]

The man's a hero. Got an unbelievable amount of respect for him, the way he drove and the way he conducts himself. Legend.

Did anybody else see on the F1 coverage when he congratulated Lewis Hamilton on the grid recently? What a fantastic representation of British motorsport from the past and future.

Edited by Matt2101 on Thursday 15th June 11:37

[FourWheelDrift]

Matt2101 said:

The man's a hero. Got an unbelievable amount of respect for him, the way he drove and the way he conducts himself. Legend.

Did anybody else see on the F1 coverage when he congratulated Lewis Hamilton on the grid recently? What a fantastic representation of British motorsport from the past and future.

Edited by Matt2101 on Thursday 15th June 11:37

He also made sure he met Lewis and congratulated him on the F1 grid on the Sunday at Monaco following his win the previous day.

[Jungles]

Article said:

A sentiment expressed, to which all agreed, was that ‘he continue to compete in historic racing as he inspired others to take part in motor sport’ to which he replied ’I will race for the foreseeable future, so long as Lady Moss does not object!’

Amazing! Still racing at his age! I bet he doesn't disappoint on the track, either.

Hats off.

[archibold]

He certainly doesn't disappoint on track at Le Mans (think it was last year) plenty of opposite lock both ways in a Jaguar (C/D Type? can't remember) through the esses on the way down to Tetre Rouge. Also very good in a 'rarri at the Goodwood revival last year though as the great man says himself he feel he's lost a bit of his speed since turning 75 !!

Archibold

Edited by archibold on Thursday 15th June 14:17

[big rumbly]

I met him last year at Goodwood revival, a true gent with time for his fans.

[stew-typeR]

very good news this. stirling rocks.

[Vesuvius 996]

If I had to pick someone to drive for my life, it would be Stirling Moss.


No question. SM does indeed ROCK.


A great guy, a legend, and a gentleman.

[ukauto]

We named our young son Stirling after the great role model, Sir Stirling Moss. It is always good to see his contributions to the sport celebrated.

[yardelli]

Hmm...........OK a certain amount of respect but I remember going to a Motoring event in the 80's and Moss was a reall git refusing to sign any kids autographs.........

[spenny_b]

ukauto said:

We named our young son Stirling after the great role model, Sir Stirling Moss. It is always good to see his contributions to the sport celebrated.

Likewise!!...well almost, we actually had a daughter a couple of months ago, and my Wife changed her mind ...but whilst she was pregnant (we were convinced we were having a boy), we referred to "him" as Stirling.

[robbiemeister]

PH said:

.....Keep it up Sterling.....

This presumably is a reference to his "Sorted in ten" campaign. :-)

[DJC]

Jungles said:

Article said:

A sentiment expressed, to which all agreed, was that ‘he continue to compete in historic racing as he inspired others to take part in motor sport’ to which he replied ’I will race for the foreseeable future, so long as Lady Moss does not object!’

Amazing! Still racing at his age! I bet he doesn't disappoint on the track, either.

Hats off.

He's a bit slower these days than Hardman, Law and co. The time to watch him is when it rains though. About 4-5 yrs back it was lousy weather for the Revival and the 50's F1 race was on and Moss and Jack were having a duel together in the midfield, the front guys were long gone. Suddenly it started raining again and after about a lap Moss and Jack were the fastest guys on the track by about 2 seconds a lap! The physical strains lesson and you are left mostly with just your God given talent. Even with dodgy eyesight, knackered bodies, Moss and Jack were just in a different league to everybody else. Magical stuff.

[Eric Mc]

That was the 1999 Goodwood Revival - probably the best one yet.

[richb]

Eric Mc said:

That was the 1999 Goodwood Revival - probably the best one yet.

And the wettest!

[HiRich]

There are clearly two sides to Mr Moss. A friend, who owns an ex-Moss car, tried to introduce him to Alf Francis, and Moss brushed him off. Given that Alf was the family mechanic for so many years, that was a bit off. And when I say a bit, I mean WAAAYYY off. it's fair to say he wouldn't be particularly welcomed at our end of the Paddock.