Legendary British racing driver, Sir Stirling Moss, was seriously injured in a fall in his apartment yesterday. Apparently a lift door opened incorrectly and Moss stepped in, thinking he was stepping into the lift. He fell 3 stories to the floor of the lift well and was taken to hospital with multiple serious injuries.
Moss, regarded by many as the greatest driver never to win a Formula One crown, competed against the greatest drivers of his era including the peerless Juan Manuel Fangio and beat them all. For a more complete resume of Moss and his career, the Wikipedia article takes some beating.
Though my passionate interest in Formula One and all sorts of racing had been well and truly kindled before this, I am disappointed to say that I never saw Moss race. He regularly visited Australia for special races and usually dished up the locals with ease, though he found much stiffer opposition later, especially after Sir Jack Brabham had won his two F1 crowns in 1959 and 1960.
His career came to a sudden end in a violent accident at Goodwood in 1962. Moss returned to driving but said that he found that the things that he used to do instinctively in the cockpit he now had to think about and he couldn’t bear to race knowing that he could be driving better, so he retired.
Years later he was persuaded back into doing some “celebrity” drives at classic car events and found that the reflexes had returned. It was, however, too late for him as a competitive driver, but he remains in high demand as a guest, a speaker and a commentator on all things motor sports related. He is a regular visitor to the Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park every year where he still draws huge crowds of admirers and autograph hounds.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3BPPt7z9VU&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]
I’m sure that all motor sports fans of all persuasions will be wishing him a speedy and complete recovery.
Oh, and, please, even though you may THINK them, no “Rolling Moss gathers no Stirling” jokes, please.
sanoptic says
Poor bugger hope he’ll alright. It could happen to anyone ,hope he sues the lift company or the building owner.
cheers
Phil Hall says
Yeah, that’s what I find is interesting. Normally that sort of fall would kill a 60 year old, let alone an 80 year old.