Happy birthday Sir Stirling Moss

Hans.ca · 17 Sep 2001, 16:19 (Ref:147467)

Many happy returns Sir Stirling.
Anybody who ever met him will agree a finer gentlemen you will never meet.

**Adam43** · 17 Sep 2001, 16:27 (Ref:147471)

Happy Birthday to Stirling

and

happy birthday to Damon too!

jiggly_puff · 17 Sep 2001, 16:34 (Ref:147480)

Happy birtday Stirling and Damon!!!!!!!!!

Ralf's Girl · 17 Sep 2001, 16:41 (Ref:147483)

Happy birthday Damon and Stirling!

Neil C · 17 Sep 2001, 19:40 (Ref:147561)

Stirling Moss; proof that you don't need to win a Championship to be a Champion.

Maxmil · 17 Sep 2001, 21:01 (Ref:147602)

At last! Something we can all agree on. Many happy returns!!

R · 17 Sep 2001, 21:13 (Ref:147611)

Many happy returns to both of them. Two fine British drivers!

Roy2 · 17 Sep 2001, 21:35 (Ref:147623)

That's right, he was a champion.
He was a great grand prix driver, but a lot of people don't remember that he was the best sports car driver in an era when F1 drivers raced sports cars as much as they raced grand prix cars.
He was even better than Fangio in those covered wheel race cars IMO.

He was my hero when he was 24 and I was 14 and most of you weren't around to see what a dashing and attractive character he was. I can't think of anyone right now on the same level who had the same bounce and panache.

**Bononi** · 17 Sep 2001, 21:50 (Ref:147630)

Happy birthday Sir Stirling and Damon.

Roy2 · 17 Sep 2001, 22:19 (Ref:147645)

In Moss's day the long distance sports car races had LeMans type starts.

Moss took pride in being the quickest off the mark in these and he almost always was.

He was first to the car, leaped in without using the door (if it was and open cockpit that is), and was feeding in the power and clutch almsot before his rear end hit the seat.

If the GP races had LeMans type starts the rather stocky Fangio would have started every race with about a 15 second handicap. The other drivers would lose only 3-5 seconds or so.

I can't say it was great to watch because I could only read about it back then, but there was nothing wrong with my imagination.

Great stuff.

R · 18 Sep 2001, 17:44 (Ref:147959)

Quote:

Originally posted by Roy2
He was first to the car, leaped in without using the door (if it was and open cockpit that is), and was feeding in the power and clutch almsot before his rear end hit the seat.

If you saw the historic Le Mans race this year, you could see this.

71 year old Moss, being one of the first to his car, and leaping in before most of his much younger competitors had even reached their vehicles.

Fantastic stuff.

TimD · 18 Sep 2001, 23:26 (Ref:148131)

And still so very fast in a racing car. I was at trackside for this year's Le Mans Legends. The C-Type Jaguar wasn't the quickest car on the grid by a long mark, but Sir Stirling made it dance around Indianapolis corner.

And this weekend at Goodwood his Jaguar saloon was the first finisher of its type, and was holding its own against Lotus Cortinas and Mini Coopers with years more development under them.

Not to mention the fact that Sir Stirling really does know how to treat his fans. A real gentleman, and a definite star.

Many Happy Returns Sir Stirling Moss!

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