84 New Zealand Classic Car | themotorhood.com
attention of Sir William Lyons and, on the
strength of this drive, was offered a works
Jaguar contract. He won at Dundrod again
in 1951 and then, a few days after turning
22, was back with the two-litre F2 HWM in
Northern Italy. The following year would be
busier still; unusually, Stirling had two weeks
between the Italian GP and the Madgwick
Cup in which to celebrate his 23rd birthday.
There was no rest in 1953, and, two days
after turning 24, he did four races in a day at
Crystal Palace for two wins and a second; a
day later, he put two different cars up the hill
at Prescott.A star in every one of them
Moss had his own Maserati 250F GP car for
1954, when he really hit the big time, but was
still battling away in the motorcycle-engined
F3 cars. The weekend after his 25th birthday,
he did four races at Goodwood for a pair of
seconds — one in the F3 — while the 250F
gave him a win and a third. It was nothing for
‘the boy’ to jump into at least three different
cockpits over the course of a day and star in
every one of them.
The year 1955, when he was a Mercedes
driver, was easily his most significant to that
point. On 1 May came the legendary victory
on the mad Mille Miglia, while in July at
Aintree, near Liverpool, in front of his home
crowd, he won his first F1 GP. That didn’t stophim from competing, and finishing second, a
month later in a Standard 10 at Oulton Park.
Birthday number 26 was spent winning the
Tourist Trophy back in Northern Ireland,
while number 27 was spent on day one of the
six-day Tour de France, where he was aboard
a gull-wing Mercedes, finishing second after
developing a misfire. He was back in his
300 SL for the same event a year later and was
fourth. The year he came closest to winning
the title for Vanwall was 1958: he was runner-
up four times. Four days before Stirling
turned 29, he and Tony Brooks, aboard the
gorgeous Aston Martin DBR1, shared victoryin the Tourist Trophy at Goodwood.
The month when Stirling turned 30 was
especially rewarding. It started with another
win for Aston Martin in the Tourist Trophy,
followed by victory in Rob Walker’s Cooper
in the Italian GP, and then, rounding off the
month, Oulton Park’s Gold Cup in the same
Cooper. Turning 30 didn’t slow him down.
The countries visited and the variety of cars on
offer seemed limitless.
Stirling started 1960 in South Africa, then
flew to New Zealand to win the first heat at
Ardmore. It was then off to Argentina for
the start of the F1 season, followed by Cuba,
where he won in a ‘birdcage’ Maserati, then
an F2 Porsche in Italy, both an Austin-Healey
Sprite and the Maser in Florida, next Belgium,
and then home to England in mid April.
A massive accident on a horrendous day
for motor racing at Spa in June kept Stirling
out of racing for nearly two months, but
he was soon winning again, including in
Austria the day after turning 31. Two of
his best wins came in 1961, both in GPs.
However, there was a unique victory a few
days after he turned 32, when, for the only
time, a four-wheel-drive car won an F1 race
at Oulton Park. And the driver who was able
to adjust to the unique driving style required?
The one and only!
Happy 90th birthday, Sir Stirling — you’ve
lived every one of your nine lives to the fullest.Above: A 19-year-old Stirling with a 500cc Cooper
Below: Stirling reunited with the Ferguson