Which great champion of car racing never managed to win the world championship?
We remember his fiery battles: with Fangio, then with Brabham or with Hawthorn… who, in 1958, stole the champion title off him by just one point!
He’s considered as the greatest champion of his own time, with Fangio. Graham Hill said about him “what makes him extraordinary is his incredible ability to drive any kind of car and to get the maximum productivity from it… He’s the best all-around driver who’s ever existed”.
It’s curious that his father Alfred, a dentist, and his wife Aileen, both had previous experiences in car racing. They shared races with different cars: HWM, ERA, Connaught, Cooper-Alta, Maserati, Mercedes, BRM, Vanwall, Cooper-Climax, Lotus… Any memorable ventures? He won the 1955 Mille Miglia with a record time, driving a Mercedes Sport 300 SLR. At the 1957 English GP, he won with the Vanwall, he brought an English car onto the highest step of the podium for the first time after the war. In 1962, at Goodwood, the Lotus 1500cc he was driving ended up off the track. He was stuck in the metal sheets and had to wait in pain for a long time before he was freed. After that, he retired.
He had a romantic view of the races: he was instinctive, with the goal of racing for the pleasure of doing so. The public loved him and he set them on fire. This enthusiastic public is still here to remember him as a champion: Happy birthday Stirling Moss!