F1 Legends - Stirling Moss - 1080p - SDTV Transcode - [[OptimusPr1me]]

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Stirling Moss. It's a name that is to motor racing what fish is to chips. Much like Bobby Charlton, his is also a name that seems to have transcended its bearer's chosen sport. "Who do you think you are, Stirling Moss?" was the chide of traffic police in years gone by.

Doubtless present-day leadfoots are met with a reproach that references Lewis Hamilton or Michael Schumacher. The present-day pair have eight world titles between them - eight more than Stirling Moss. So what is it about him that sticks in the memory? That inspires such goodwill?

Moss himself is nonplussed. Speaking as part of Sky Sports F1's Legends series, he tells Steve Rider that he was overwhelmed by the tide of support he received after the crash that ended his top-flight career. Moss kept a scrapbook of newspaper cuttings as he recovered and was also inundated with letters and cards from well-wishers. That accident, which left Moss in a coma for a month and paralysed for six, happened at Goodwood on Easter Monday in 1962. In other words, it happened over 50 years ago. Fast forward half a century and the man in the street still knows who he is.

Perhaps it has something to do with charisma. Racing drivers back then grappled with a very different environment than the current breed. World War Two was still fresh in the mind when Moss started racing in the late 1940s, shaping the attitudes of young men willing to take a risk. Danger was an ever-present, yet it also brought a desire to wring as much enjoyment from life as possible. Racing drivers were devil-may-care characters, yet labelling Moss a playboy would be stretching things too far. Tee-total, employing a manager, with sponsorship deals and racing 52 weekends a year, he was a consummate professional. Stirling just liked "chasing crumpet" that's all.

There's the sportsmanship. Famously - Trivial Pursuit question and all - Moss never became World Champion. He came closest to the title in 1958. In that year's Portuguese Grand Prix, he beat Mike Hawthorn and later sprung to the defence of his fellow Englishman when he was disqualified for bump-starting his car. Stewards re-instated Hawthorn as a result of his rival's testimony and he went on to become the first British title winner, beating Moss by a single point. Might one rival perform such a selfless act for another in the modern-day cauldron of competition?

Then there's the talent. Nurtured in 500cc Formula 3 cars, and polished in rallies, hillclimbs and sportscars, Moss made his grand prix debut in 1951 and two years later was knocking on the door of Mercedes-Benz. The German giant was about to re-enter Formula 1 but team manager Alfred Neubauer wanted evidence first that Moss could mix it with the very best. Equipped with a Maserati 250F, he did just that the following year and the invitation to step up came in 1955.

Leading the Silver Arrow's flight was Juan Manuel Fangio. Moss learned much in the legendary Argentine's wheeltracks that year but stepped out of them at Aintree to win his first grand prix on home soil. Did the master let the pupil through? Even today, Moss is unsure, with Fangio himself replying enigmatically: "It was your day." Mercedes dominated the sport during the 1954 and 1955 seasons, with Fangio capturing both titles prior to the manufacturer's withdrawal in the wake of the Le Mans disaster.

Moss was there when Pierre Levegh's Mercedes collided with another car and then flew into the crowd, killing more than 80 spectators. A much happier memory is of the Mille Miglia, the Italian road race he won that year. Together with co-driver Denis Jenkinson, Stirling lapped the course, almost 1000 miles in length, at an average speed of almost 100mph. It's a triumph that set the tone for his career: in the absence of a title, it's the individual performances that have slipped into legend.

Two such came in 1961. By that stage, Moss was driving for private entrant Rob Walker in Formula 1. Ferrari were dominant that season and yet Stirling's skill overcame the handicap of his underpowered Lotus to win both Monaco and the German Grands Prix. The latter victory, on the 14-mile Nurburgring, was his final World Championship hurrah.

Moss, who had also suffered a serious accident at the 1960 Belgian Grand Prix, considered making a comeback following his Goodwood crash but although the lap times were there, he felt the concentration wasn't. With hindsight, Moss thinks it might have happened had he given himself more time. Certainly the thought of seeing him back behind the wheel in his relaxed, straight-armed style doing battle with Jim Clark is one to ponder.

Moss returned briefly in 1980 to race in the British Touring Car Championship (for Audi alongside a young Martin Brundle) but, by that stage, too much time had been spent away. Knighted in 2000, Sir Stirling continued to compete in historic events before retiring, aged 81, all over again last year.

In all, Moss finished runner-up four times in the World Championship. For two of those years he raced the beautiful but fragile Vanwall, the green car's unreliability certainly costing him against Hawthorn in 1958. Unlike his countryman, who had joined Ferrari five years earlier, Moss had a preference for British machinery wherever possible. Even so, a deal had been done for Walker to run a Ferrari prior to the accident that ended Stirling's F1 career. Another 'what if'?

Adding a dash of patriotism to the mix alongside the talent, charisma and sportsmanship, then, and it's little wonder he's so well-remembered. All these virtues come together in the name Stirling Moss. And there, perhaps, is the clincher: has there ever been a better name for a racing driver?

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