And the second: taking the chequered flag in the British Grand Prix at Aintree, becoming the first Briton to triumph at home. Incidentally, it was also his first Formula One victory and the first time he had beaten his phenomenal team-mate, five-time world champion Juan Manuel Fangio, in F1.
Jackie Stewart with Sir Stirling Moss
When we meet Moss is fresh back from a cruise of the Mediterranean with his wife, Lady Moss – hence the colourful shirt and impressive suntan – but the memory of his Aintree triumph is still fresh in the mind.
“Oh yes, it’s still very vivid. There was a tremendous amount of people there. I could beat Fangio in sports cars but I couldn’t in Formula One. Fangio got a better start than me, and then I followed him round and round.
“I just sat there behind him. It came to the last lap and I thought, ‘well, I’ve got to make a move or I’ll be in trouble’. We were coming down the straight and I just braked a bit later than he did and got away with it. The stands erupted. It was a very meaningful race to me.”
• Stirling Moss’s greatest race
Moss maintains to this day that his team-mate, whom he regards as the greatest Formula One driver of all time, was simply being a gentleman and allowed him by, despite the Argentine’s protestations otherwise.
“He’s the sort of guy who frankly would’ve given it to me. He would have thought, ‘I’ll give Stirling this one. It’s his home crowd, it doesn’t matter to me.’ I asked him and he just said, ‘no, no, it was your day.’ So I’m no closer to knowing. He was a real father figure to me. A fantastic driver.”
Sir Stirling Moss still watches as much F1 as possible
There are no prizes for guessing how Moss toasted the occasion. “Frankly I had a lady friend and we celebrated as you do,” he recalls.
As anyone who has had the pleasure of sharing company with Moss will attest, you could listen to his stories for the whole day. There was the hair-raising moment in his Mille Miglia victory where his navigator, Denis Jenkinson – ‘Jenks’ to Moss – had a rare dodgy note in his book as they were headed straight for a humpback bridge.
“In practice it had been flat out, but that was only at about 80mph. When we arrived in the race, I was probably doing 170mph, and the damn thing took off. It was really frightening. All I could do was hope it would land true. We got away with it.”
Despite his many dangerous moments behind the wheel – a crash at Goodwood in 1962 put him in a coma for a month, ultimately curtailing his career, although he did not officially retire until he was 81 – Moss has never been a fan of the safety brigade. Horrific accidents such as Jules Bianchi’s last October, not to mention the moment Fernando Alonso’s McLaren nearly took Kimi Raikkonen’s head off at the last race in Austria, have not changed his view.
Sir Stirling Moss at this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed
“To make it the sport it is, it needs to be dangerous,” Moss says. “We have to watch out for the emasculation of circuits. It’s all too sanitised now. Monaco is an incredible circuit but it would never get in now. They would say it’s ridiculous. ‘A bloody tunnel? No chance!’ It wouldn’t have a hope in hell.”
Moss was racing at Le Mans 60 years ago when motor sport suffered its darkest day, with over 80 spectators and driver Pierre Levegh dead. Leading at the time, he was flabbergasted by Mercedes’ decision to withdraw. “It was an enormous tragedy but withdrawing wasn’t going to bring anybody back, so I didn’t see it achieved anything.”
The grid penalties which afflicted Jenson Button’s Austrian Grand Prix come in for stern criticism too. “It’s absolutely ridiculous,” Moss, fired up by the subject, complains. “All these penalties for this and that – it’s terrible. As long as they’re not cheating, it should be open. It’s becoming a bit like a nanny state.”
Moss understands why Bernie Ecclestone and others have been critical of Formula One, and to his mind the rules need to be far more open. But he still sits down to watch every race he can, as fascinated as ever. “Of course I enjoy it all, seeing how they all drive. It’s still the pinnacle.”
Sir Stirling Moss poses with Tony Brooks in 1957
On the subject of this season, Moss sees no way for Nico Rosberg to beat Hamilton, his advice for a struggling Button is to head to America, while in Sebastian Vettel he has a somewhat maverick choice for best driver on the grid.
Where he departs from the current crop is he believes they lack the notoriety he enjoyed in his day, even Hamilton, a kindred spirit of sorts. “They need to become heroes. That’s up to you people in the press really!
“There are as many scrapbooks on my private life as racing, because if I dated someone I would get damn well more publicity than if I won a race. I love all that.
“Lewis is the only one like that now, but do they look at his personal life that much? I don’t know that they do. It seems it has swung away from that side. There need to be personalities in there.”
They could all learn a thing or two from Sir Stirling Moss.