#Pescara Grand Prix

[frenchcurious]

Harry Schell (Officine Alfieri Maserati - Maserati 250F) Grand Prix de Pescara 1957. © LAT / Motorsport. - source Carros e Pilotos.

[blackswaneuroparedux]

You go too fast for your car’s capabilities.

- Juan Manuel Fangio to Maria Teresa de Filippis

Maria Teresa de Filippis was a pioneer driver for women in Formula One Grand Prix. She made history as the first woman driver ever to qualify for a Formula One race at the Belgium Grand Prix in 1958. Formula One World Championship was a mere 8 years old when Maria made history and it would be almost 30 years before female driver would find herself on the starting grid. In 1975, Lella Lombardi, another Italian, finished 6th in the Spanish Grand Prix.

Maria Teresa de Filippis was born in Naples in 1926 and decided to enter the world of motor racing almost as a challenge from her two older brothers. Nicknamed “il pilotino” by her peers because of her small stature, di Filippis was only 22 years old when she sat behind the wheel of her Fiat topolino for what would be the first of many races. Her two brothers had challenged her to a race, convinced that she could not drive as fast as a man. In 1948 on the Salerno-Cava dei Tirreni 10 km course, where she traversed the winding roads of her native Italy, she decisively won, thumbing her nose at Antonio and Guiseppe, her older brothers and the other male drivers.

That very first victory ignited her passion for racing and in the following year she triumphed in several competitions in the 750cc category and came in second in the Italian Sports Championship. So impressed were they that Maserati, the famed sports car makers, brought it in as an in-house driver.

For 1953 – 1954 she moved on to an Osca 1100 cc in which she won the 12 Hours of Pescara, the Trullo d’Oro, the Catania-Etna, and the circuits of Caserta and Syracuse. Her victory in the Catania-Etna was done in record time, a speed record that remained undefeated for the next three years. 1955 was the year Maria Teresa de Filippis transitioned to a Maserati 2000 A6GCS where she continued to confound expectations and prejudices and garner immense respect from other male drivers. The victories followed one another and at the Grand Prix of Naples in 1956, she started in last position and sneaked in to finish in second place in Italian Sports Championship.

Eventually an invitation to race in Formula One. She made her debut at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit at the wheel of Manuel Fangio’s Maserati 250F, crowned champion the previous year. Fangio and de Filippis were close and she considered him her big brother. Fangio for his part was effusive about the skill and courage of the diminutive Italian woman. He said to her once, jokingly but also as a nod to her driving ability, “tu vai troppo veloce per le possibilità della tua macchina!” (you go too fast for your car's capabilities!)

She tried and failed three times - including the Monaco Grand Prix - to qualify for the grid. Each time she narrowly lost out. But finally her chance came at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit of the Belgian Grand Prix in June 1958. She qualified in 19th place and in a time that was almost 34 seconds slower than Ton Brooks’ pole position. She came in 10th (and last place) and just by finishing she had made history. It was the prove to be her only race finish in the four Grand Prix she competed in.

At the French Grand Prix in 1958 controversy arose when she was forbidden to race by the race director, following the death the day before of Frenchwoman Annie Bousquet at the 12 Hours of Reims race. The race director dismissed the objections of both Maserati and de Filippis by declaring that “the only helmet a woman should wear is the hairdresser’s helmet.”

Despite fighting prejudice from race organisers (with the exception of Bernie Ecclestone with whom she shared a warm life long friendship), amongst the drivers she commanded total respect. In this Golden Age of racing, racing sports cars at such incredible speeds was a death trap and safety measures that today are taken for granted were simply not there. It was her courage and determination in driving age she once described as both cruel and beautiful. The death of her friend and driver Jean Behra, Porsche team leader in 1959 in a secondary race at the German Grand Prix, left a profound mark on her. It was one death too many. Other deaths were to follow on the track in the years to come, and perhaps none as traumatic as the great three time world champion, Jim Clark, in 1968.

Maria felt she had pushed the limits of her own luck on the track that she called “corsa contro la morte” (race against death). She promptly retired from professional racing after Behra’s death. She decided to settle down and start a family. She married an Austrian chemist and focused on her family. She stayed away from all racing until she gingerly stepped back in 1979 when Maria joined the International Club of Former F1 Grand Prix Drivers. In 1997 she was appointed Vice-President. In 2004, she also went on to become a founding member of the Maserati Club, eventually become its chairperson. For the most part though she avoided the public glare until she was almost forgotten. She was 89 years old when she died in 2018 surrounded by family.

Her story is one of courage, tenacity, and audacity. There is no better role model for women than Maria Teresa de Filippis especially in male dominated fields such as Formula One racing but also other tough professions.

It was one of my greatest honours of my life to have met her as a little girl through my grandfather with whom she shared a friendship. She was a living inspiration as I sought my goal to fly combat helicopters later in life. I had a personalised note from her that I had stuck inside my locker door at Sandhurst as a source of motivation and determination to succeed. I sent her a card with a picture of me after I qualified as a trained combat pilot and got my ‘wings’.

[the-outer-topic]

1957 La Dolce Vita - Benjamin Freudenthal

"Dolce Vita" - Grand Prix de Pescara - Here we are in the 1957 Pescara Italy. The drivers prepare on the starting grid when a beautiful blonde monitoring of a small dog comes to stir up trouble among the champions and their mechanics. Joachim Bonnier rinses the eye by scratching the ear, Scarlatti clings to his Maserati (probably not to fall ?), stirling Moss's asked what he should do. But this young woman is Anita Ekberg. and if there is someone who knows exactly what he's going to do, this is Federico Fellini ! (on the left side next to Marcello Mastroianni).

[freelance-informatique]

Mercato : Un prétendant de poids souhaite s'offrir Marco Verratti !

Marco Verratti, le milieu de terrain talentueux du Paris Saint-Germain, voit son statut évoluer de manière significative. Longtemps considéré comme intransférable, il semble que les portes de départ s'ouvrent désormais pour lui cet été. Les rumeurs s'intensifient quant à un possible départ de Verratti du PSG, et de nombreux clubs européens sont prêts à se battre pour s'attacher les services de ce joueur italien de renom. Parmi les prétendants sérieux figure Manchester City, le club anglais puissant et ambitieux. Si le milieu de terrain allemand Ilkay Gundogan venait à quitter les Citizens lors de ce mercato estival, Verratti serait l'une des options envisagées pour combler ce vide. L'intérêt de Manchester City pour le Petit Hibou ne fait que confirmer la réputation grandissante de Verratti sur la scène footballistique mondiale. Toutefois, Manchester City n'est pas le seul club intéressé par Verratti. Des mastodontes du football tels que le Real Madrid, la Juventus Turin et l'Inter Milan ont également manifesté leur intérêt pour le joueur italien. Ces clubs prestigieux envisagent sérieusement de renforcer leur effectif en recrutant Verratti pour la prochaine saison. La concurrence s'annonce féroce pour le PSG, qui pourrait perdre l'un de ses atouts majeurs du milieu de terrain. La situation de Verratti est complexe. À l'approche de ses trente ans, le natif de Pescara se questionne sur son avenir dans le club parisien. Des signes de lassitude et de nostalgie se font sentir chez le joueur, qui se souvient avec nostalgie de l'époque de Zlatan Ibrahimovic, lorsque le vestiaire du PSG était empreint d'une autre autorité. De plus, Verratti supporte de moins en moins les critiques à l'égard de son hygiène de vie, ce qui a pu contribuer à son questionnement sur son avenir. Bien que pour le moment le Paris Saint-Germain reste la priorité de Verratti pour la saison à venir, il semble clair qu'il est ouvert à étudier les différentes offres qui se présenteront à lui cet été. Le club de la capitale ne s'opposera plus catégoriquement à son départ et se prépare déjà à la possibilité de voir Verratti quitter ses rangs. La décision finale reposera sur les épaules de Verratti lui-même, qui devra évaluer les opportunités qui se présenteront à lui et choisir la meilleure option pour son avenir. Il est évident que si le PSG décide de laisser partir Verratti, il exigera un prix juste pour sa vente. La valeur de Verratti, tant sur le plan technique que sur le plan commercial, est indéniable, et les prétendants intéressés devront mettre la main à la poche pour s'assurer ses services. Il faudra donc une offre convaincante pour convaincre le Paris Saint-Germain de se séparer de l'un de ses joueurs clés. Dans tous les cas, le feuilleton Marco Verratti ne fait que commencer. Les semaines à venir seront déterminantes pour l'avenir de ce milieu de terrain exceptionnel. Tandis que les grands clubs européens se positionnent pour attirer Verratti dans leurs rangs, il ne fait aucun doute que les négociations et les spéculations vont s'intensifier. Le PSG devra prendre une décision cruciale et trouver un équilibre entre ses intérêts sportifs et financiers, tandis que Verratti devra peser attentivement les options qui s'offriront à lui. Le football est un monde en constante évolution, et Verratti est en train de devenir l'un des acteurs principaux de ce marché estival des transferts. ________ Pour retrouver toute l'actu foot, rendez-vous sur notre site web ou sur notre page Twitter. Read the full article

[legendsofracing]

Happy 90th birthday to Sir Stirling Moss!

Seen here during a pit stop of the Pescara Grand Prix, Italy, 1957.

[race-week]

Are there any F1 tracks that are now defunct or have been phased out?

Hi anon; there are so many - F1 has been around since the 1950s and there has been some wild tracks over the years

Here’s a Wikipedia page of all the circuits that have ever hosted a Grand Prix, there’s a lot of them on there.

Some personal favourites of mine just because the track looked insane: AVUS, Caesar’s Palace, Pescara, Zeltweg.

Most ex Grand Prix tracks still host other forms of racing but there are some tracks that are just kind of abandoned.

[justforbooks]

Sir Stirling Moss, F1 great, dies aged 90

He was content to be known, he often said, as the man who never won the world championship: a way of distinguishing him from those of lesser gifts but better luck who had actually succeeded in winning motor racing’s principal honour. But it was the manner in which Stirling Moss, who has died aged 90, effectively handed the trophy to one of his greatest rivals that established his name as a byword for sporting chivalry, as well as for speed and courage.

It was after the Portuguese Grand Prix on the street circuit at Oporto, the eighth round of the 1958 series, that Moss voluntarily appeared before the stewards to plead the case of Mike Hawthorn, threatened with disqualification from second place for apparently pushing his stalled Ferrari against the direction of the track after spinning on his final lap. Moss, who had won the race in his Vanwall, testified that his compatriot had, in fact, pushed the car on the pavement, and had thus not been on the circuit itself. Hawthorn was reinstated, along with his six championship points. Three months later, when the season ended in Casablanca, he won the title by the margin of a single point from Moss, who was never heard to express regret over his gesture.

Such sportsmanship had become part of his appeal, along with the devil-may-care charisma formerly associated with Battle of Britain fighter pilots. His public image was enhanced by his willingness to invite feature writers and TV cameras into his town house in Shepherd Market, the district of Mayfair in central London where he lived, even when married, in a kind of bachelor-pad splendour amid a panoply of hi-tech gadgets.

The aura continued to surround him long after an accident on the track truncated his career at the age of 32, when he was still in his prime. The sight of Moss, in his later decades, entering the paddock at a race meeting, accompanied by his third wife, the effervescent and indispensable Susie, never failed to draw shoals of fans, photographers and journalists keen to hear his opinion on the latest controversy.

He loved to fight against the odds, and the greatest of his Formula One victories, at the wheel of an obsolete, underpowered Lotus-Climax, came in 1961 at Monaco and the Nürburgring, two circuits that placed the highest demands on skill and nerve. Those wins could be set alongside the epic victory in the 1955 Mille Miglia and the historic triumph in the 1957 British Grand Prix at Aintree, when he and Tony Brooks became the first British drivers to win a round of the world championship series in a British car, prefacing a long period of British domination.

Before his retirement as a professional driver in 1962 he had competed in 529 races, not counting rallies, hill climbs and record attempts. He won 212 of them, an extraordinary 40% success rate. Of the 66 world championship grands prix he entered between 1951 and 1961, he won 16, a ratio unfavourably distorted by early years spent in uncompetitive British cars and by a pronounced share of mechanical misfortune.

He was born to parents who had met at Brooklands, in Surrey, the great cathedral of pre war British motor racing. His father, Alfred, was a descendant of a family of Ashkenazi Jews known, until the end of the 19th century, as Moses. A successful dentist, Alfred Moss also possessed a passion for motor sport, and competed at Brooklands in the 1920s; while studying in the US, he entered the Indianapolis 500, finishing 16th. His wife, Aileen (nee Craufurd), was the great-great-niece of “Black Bob” Craufurd, a hero of the Peninsular war in the early 19th century; an equestrian, she also entered races and rallies in her own three-wheeled Morgan.

When their son was born they were living in Thames Ditton. Two years later, after the birth of a daughter, Pat, they moved to a large house in Bray, Berkshire, called Long White Cloud. Both children rode horses competitively from an early age (Pat was to become a champion horsewoman and rally driver). Stirling, educated at Clewer Manor prep school and Haileybury, Hertfordshire, neither enjoyed nor excelled at academic work. It was at Haileybury that he was subjected to antisemitic bullying for the first time.

He was nine when his father bought him an old Austin Seven, which he drove in the fields surrounding Long White Cloud. At 15 he obtained his first driving licence and, with £50 from his equestrian winnings plus the proceeds from the sale of the Austin, bought his own Morgan. It was followed by an MG (in which he was discovered by Aileen Moss while attempting, aged 17, to surrender his virginity to one of his father’s dental receptionists) and then, in the winter of 1947-48, by a prewar BMW 328. This was the car with which he entered his first competition, organised by the Harrow Car Club, winning his class.

Resistant to the lure of dentistry, he worked briefly as a trainee waiter at various London establishments. But motor racing was where his heart lay, and for his 18th birthday his father bought him a Cooper-JAP, powered by a 500cc motorcycle engine, with which to compete in the new Formula Three series. After a couple of good performances in hill climbs, he entered and won his first single-seater race on the Brough aerodrome circuit in east Yorkshire on 7 April 1948.

Ruled out of national service by bouts of illness, including nephritis, Moss was soon a regular winner against fierce competition and before long he was making occasional trips to races in Italy and France. In May 1950, when a race was held in support of the Monaco Grand Prix, he set the best practice time, won his heat and then won the final.

As his reputation grew, he was approached in 1951 by Enzo Ferrari, who offered him a car for a Formula Two race at Bari, as the prelude to a full contract for the following season. Moss and his father made the long journey down to Puglia, only to discover that the only Ferrari was reserved for another driver, the veteran Piero Taruffi. No explanation was offered and Moss’s fury at such treatment led to a lasting rift and a special sense of satisfaction whenever he managed to beat the Italian team, particularly in a British car.

A victory in the 1954 Sebring 12-hours, sharing the wheel of an OSCA sports car with the American driver Bill Lloyd, opened the season in which he made his international breakthrough. Deciding to take the plunge into Formula One, he and his manager, Ken Gregory, first offered his services to Mercedes-Benz, then on the brink of a return to grand prix racing. When the German team politely indicated that they thought he needed more experience, Gregory and his father negotiated the purchase of a Maserati 250F, the new model from Ferrari’s local rivals.

No racing driver can have invested £5,500 more wisely. Moss and the 250F bonded instantly, and he was soon winning the Aintree 200, his maiden Formula One victory. By the time he entered the car for the German Grand Prix, he was being supported by the official Maserati team, which had recognised his world-beating potential. At Monza that September he was leading the Italian Grand Prix and looking a certainty for his first win in a round of the world championship when an oil pipe broke with 10 laps to go.

Mercedes had taken note, however, and signed him up for 1955, as No 2 to the world champion, Juan Manuel Fangio. Although neither spoke the other’s language, a warm respect grew between them. At Aintree, having won three of the season’s first four races and assured himself of a third world title, Fangio took his turn to sit in the slipstream as Moss became the first Briton to win his home grand prix.

In 1955, too, Moss won the Mille Miglia, the gruelling time trial around 1,000 miles of Italian public roads, in a Mercedes 300SLR sports car. During two reconnaissance runs his co-driver, the journalist Denis Jenkinson, prepared a set of pace notes that were inscribed on a roll of paper, held on a spindle inside a small aluminium box. As they charged from Brescia to Rome and back, Jenkinson scrolled through the notes and shouted instructions to the driver. They completed the course in 10 hours and seven minutes, at an average speed of 97.95mph – a record that stands in perpetuity, since the race was abandoned after several spectators were killed two years later.

When Mercedes bowed out of Formula One at the end of 1955, Moss returned to Maserati while Fangio went to Ferrari. Moss won at Monaco and Monza, finishing runner-up to Fangio in the championship for the second time in a row. However he had always hoped to win grands prix in a British car, and for 1957 he was happy to accept an invitation to drive a Vanwall, a Formula One car built by the industrialist Tony Vandervell at his factory in Acton, west London.

At Aintree, after a patchy start to the season, he fell out of the lead with a misfiring engine. Taking over the car of his team-mate Brooks, who was still suffering from the effects of a crash at Le Mans, he resumed in ninth place and eventually took the lead with 20 laps to go after the clutch of Jean Behra’s Maserati disintegrated and a puncture delayed Hawthorn’s Ferrari. More conclusive were the subsequent victories at Pescara and Monza, when the British car and its driver beat the Italian teams on their home ground.

After Fangio’s retirement in 1958, Moss became his undisputed heir. When Vanwall did not attend the first race of the year, in Buenos Aires, he was allowed to drive a little two-litre Cooper-Climax entered by his friend Rob Walker and, through a clever bluff involving pit stops, managed to beat the Ferraris. Back in the Vanwall, he won the Dutch, Portuguese and Moroccan grands prix, but was again condemned to second place in the final standings, this time behind Hawthorn.

Vandervell was so distressed by the death of Stuart Lewis-Evans, the team’s third driver, in Morocco at the end of the season that he withdrew his cars during the winter, leaving Moss without a drive for 1959. The solution was to form an alliance with Walker, the heir to a whisky fortune, whose Cooper-Climax would be looked after by Moss’s faithful mechanic, Alf Francis, a wartime refugee from Poland. The dark blue car suffered from unreliability until late summer, when Moss took it to victories in Portugal and Italy.

Moss and Walker remained in partnership for 1960, but a fine victory in Monaco with a new Lotus-Climax was followed at Spa by a bad crash during a practice session, the car losing a wheel at around 140mph and hitting a bank with such force that the driver suffered two broken legs, three crushed vertebrae and a broken nose. To general astonishment he was back at the wheel inside two months, winning his comeback race in a Lotus sports car.

In 1961 his virtuosity overcame the limitations of Walker’s ageing Lotus and its four-cylinder engine. Twice he outran the V6 Ferraris of Wolfgang von Trips, Phil Hill and Richie Ginther, first in a mad chase at Monaco and then, on a wet track, at the 14-mile Nürburgring. He was at the height of his powers and the only problem was to find cars good enough to match his brilliance.

Before the start of the 1962 season Enzo Ferrari offered to supply his latest car, to be run in Walker’s colours. Old resentments were cast aside and Moss accepted this rare invitation. But an accident at Goodwood, at the wheel of a Lotus, meant that it was never put to the test.

No conclusive evidence has ever emerged to explain why, on that Easter Monday, his car went straight on at St Mary’s, a fast right hander, and hit an earth bank. It took 40 minutes to cut his unconscious body out of the crumpled wreckage.

The outward signs of physical damage – severe facial wounds, a crushed left cheekbone, a displaced eye socket, a broken arm, a double fracture of the leg at knee and ankle, and many bad cuts – were less significant than the deep bruising to the right side of his brain, which put him in a coma for a month and left him paralysed in the left side for six months, with his survival a matter of national concern.

After lengthy treatment, convalescence and corrective surgery, he started driving on the road again. And in May 1963, a year and a week after the accident, he returned to Goodwood, lapping in a Lotus sports car for half an hour on a damp track. When he returned to the pits, it was with bad news. The old reflexes, he believed, had been dulled, and without that sharpness he could only be an ex-racing driver. In the fullness of time, he came to regret the decision. Had he postponed it a further two or three years, he felt, his recovery would have been complete and, at 35, he might have had several seasons at the top ahead of him.

Instead he occupied himself with his property company. There was also the well remunerated business of being Stirling Moss, constantly in demand for commercial and ceremonial events. He participated in races for historic cars, taking advantage of a special dispensation that allowed him, and him alone of all the world’s racing drivers, to ignore modern safety regulations by competing in his old helmet and overalls and doing without seat-belts.

He celebrated his 81st birthday by racing at the Goodwood Revival; a few months earlier he had fallen 30ft down the lift shaft at his Mayfair home, breaking both his ankles. Towards the end of 2016, however, he fell ill during a trip to the far east. After several weeks in hospital in Singapore he was flown home to London and his withdrawal from public life was announced.

Always enthusiastic in his pursuit of what, refusing to abandon the vernacular of racing drivers of the 50s, he referred to as “crumpet”, he was married three times. The first marriage, in 1957, was to Katie Molson, the heir to a Canadian brewing fortune; they separated three years later. In 1964 he married Elaine Barberino, an American public relations executive, with whom he had a daughter, Allison, in 1967, and from whom he was divorced the following year. He married Susie Paine, the daughter of an old friend, in 1980; their son, Elliot, was born later that year.

Appointed OBE in the 1959 new year’s honours list, and named BBC sports personality of the year in 1961, he was knighted in 2000.

He is survived by Susie and his children.

• Stirling Craufurd Moss, racing driver, born 17 September 1929; died 12 April 2020

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at http://justforbooks.tumblr.com

[coffeebreakexpresso]

1957 Pescara Grand Prix.

[alanjporterwriter]

Books Read in 2020 #58 - “The Last Road Race” by Richard Williams. The tale of a pivotal moment in the history of Grand Prix racing. In 1957 The Pescara GP made its one and only appearance on the calendar, the route on the public roads connecting several villages along Italy’s Adriatic coast bearing the distinction of the longest GP circuit ever used. It was a time of the changing of the guard with the arrival of British teams taking on the dominant Italian manufacturers, and the appearance of the first light small mid-engined cars that would eventually replace the front engined beasts. It was also the last time that giants such as Moss, Fangio, Hawthorn and more would compete wheel to wheel. The book is a short, but informative and entertaining read that paints an evocative picture of a lost age of motorsports.

[frenchcurious]

Juan Manuel Fangio (Maserati 250F) Grand Prix de Pescara 1957. © Klemantaski / Getty. - source Carros e Pilotos.

[legendsofracing]

Stuart Lewis-Evans’ Vanwall VW5, running fifth in the Pescara Grand Prix, Italy, 1957. This season, there where two races run in Italy; the other being the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.

[wheelstelling]

Alfa Romeo 158, buona la prima

E’ la vettura che vinse nel 1950 con Giuseppe Farina il primo Mondiale di F1. Piccola di cilindrata, leggera e tanta grinta da vendere.              A contrastare lo strapotere delle auto tedesche (Mercedes e Auto Union) nelle competizioni automobilistiche alla fine degli anni 30, ci pensò l’Alfa Romeo, con l’Alfetta 158, chiamata così confidenzialmente per la cilindrata modesta di 1500 cm3.             La storia di questa macchina leggendaria è complessa come tutte le storie interessanti. L’idea per la sua realizzazione scaturì a Milano, ma i primi studi furono compiuti a Modena, presso la Scuderia Ferrari.             I tecnici, nell'ideare la macchina, non si scostarono da quelle che erano le tradizionali linee dell’Alfa Romeo: motore 8 cilindri, cambio a quattro rapporti più retromarcia, solidale con il ponte posteriore. Questa soluzione consentiva un discreto abbassamento dell’albero di trasmissione e conseguentemente del baricentro della vettura.             La 158 esordì sul circuito del Montenero a Livorno il 31 luglio 1938 per la Coppa Ciano. Alla vittoria in questo circuito a alla Coppa Acerbo a Pescara, seguì un’importante dimostrazione al Bremgaten di Berna dove, sotto la pioggia, il vincitore Nino Farina riuscì a stabilire una media di poco inferiore a quella ottenuta nella formula Grand Prix 3000 della Mercedes W 154 di Hermann Lang: 151,300 chilometri orari contro 154,500.             Read the full article

[cryptodictation]

Stirling Moss, one of the greatest drivers in history, dies at 90

The world of Formula 1 is in mourning this Easter Sunday (12th). He died in London (ING) at the age of 90 Stirling Moss, one of the greatest drivers in the history of motorsport in the 50s and 60s. Autosport It's from State of Sao Paulo

Susie Moss, the ex-pilot's wife, told the press about her husband's death. The causes of Stirling's death were not reported, but Susie said he 'died in peace'.

Today, the sporting world lost not only a true icon and a legend, but a gentleman. The Team and the Mercedes Motorsport family have lost a dear friend. Sir Stirling, we’ll miss you. pic.twitter.com/XEsDf68A7r

– Mercedes-AMG F1 (@ MercedesAMGF1) April 12, 2020

Formula 1 legend

During his career, in the early years of the category's history, Moss became one of the great drivers of British motorsport.

He was the first great English idol in a category that, in his early years, was dominated by Italians and Argentine Juan Manuel Fangio.

According to the website StatsF1, which covers sport statistics, Moss ran 66 races between 1951 and 1961, with 16 victories, 16 pole positions and 24 podiums.

Moss started his racing career in the late 1940s, driving in cars with a 500cc engine, and then moving on to sports cars. First by Jaguar and then by Mercedes and Aston Martin, was champion of several races of the category in the decade of 50, as the Mille Miglia and the 1000km of Nurburgring.

But it was Formula 1 in which the English found its greatest successes. His debut in the category took place at the 1951 Swiss Grand Prix, with an HWM-Alta, finishing the race in eighth position. The following season, using cars from HWM, ERA and Connaught, his season was hampered by a series of dropouts.

All at McLaren mourn the passing of a legend of our sport, Sir Stirling Moss. A prodigious competitor, supremely talented racer, and consummate gentleman, he leaves an indelible mark of greatness on the history of international motorsport. Our condolences to his family. pic.twitter.com/c3vdzTuFgN

– McLaren (@ McLarenF1) April 12, 2020

His career started to stabilize around 1953, when he raced for Cooper, but it was only in 1954 that he savored the first fruits of success, when he finished third in the Belgian GP with a private Maserati.

That year, several times, Stirling Moss started well at the races, but had to abandon them.

Fangio's colleague

In 1955, much because of the successes with the brand in sports cars, he was scheduled to be a colleague of Juan Manuel Fangio at Mercedes, on his first stint in Formula 1. While the Argentine won his third world title, the Englishman won the first of four consecutive F1 runners-up, with his first victory won at home, at the British GP.

Sir Stirling RIP. A true legend and a wonderful person. To Scuderia Ferrari, he was a formidable opponent. Our thoughts are with his wife, family and friends. pic.twitter.com/MbshEwJuxq

– Scuderia Ferrari (@ScuderiaFerrari) April 12, 2020

The following year, he switched from Mercedes to Maserati and was again runner-up, having won the Monaco and Italy GPs. The third vice would come in 1957, already defending a British brand, Vanwall. Tony Vandervell's team won three GPs, those from England, Pescara and Italy. Still for the English team, Moss made his fourth runner-up in 1958, having won four GPs.

One of them for Rob Walker's Cooper (at the Argentine GP, the first for a rear engine Formula 1) and three for his official team (Holland, Morocco and Portugal). In all these years, he proved to be one of the most competitive and offensive drivers in the category, always showing great performances on the tracks.

A true icon of our sport. Our thoughts and condolences go out to his family & friends. Rest in peace, Sir Stirling Moss

pic.twitter.com/kaqA2zXbAW

– ROKiT WILLIAMS RACING (@WilliamsRacing) April 12, 2020

Last years in Formula 1

The loss of the fourth title of the category to his countryman Mike Hawthorn, who drove Ferrari, made him rethink his career and abandon the fight for champion trophies for good and concentrate on winning races and having fun on the tracks.

In 1959, he directed Cooper de Rob Walker and BRM of the British Racing Partnership, winning for the first time the races in Italy and Portugal. He was third in the classification of the world of drivers.

Moss would be third in F1 in the 1960 seasons (he won the Monaco and US GPs) and in 1961 (wins in Monaco and the USA). Always defending Rob Walker's team, with his Coopers and, later, Lotus. The first victory for Colin Chapman's cars came from Moss with Walker's team.

Accident ends his career

Moss's career in Formula 1 and motorsport in general ended in 1962. in a serious accident in a race at Goodwood where he was in a coma for a month.

After the end of his career, he started to dedicate himself to the job of entrepreneur and consultant.

Stirling Moss, with a rather reserved life, made his last appearance in 2016 at Goodwood. That same year, he suffered from an infection in Singapore and spent the last years of his life fighting for his health, until his death.

In Formula 1, Moss became for many the greatest driver to ever win the Drivers' Championship, coming close four times. But even so, putting your name in the history of the category

Today we say goodbye to Sir Stirling Moss, the racing legend. I certainly will miss our conversations. I am truly grateful to have had these special moments with him. Sending my prayers and thoughts to his family. May he rest in peace

pic.twitter.com/SDUAqxENHk

– Lewis Hamilton (@LewisHamilton) April 12, 2020

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[klemcoll]

A Race at Pescara

A Race at Pescara

On August 15, 1961 a four hour international sports car race was held on the public road circuit at Pescara on Itlay’s Adriatic coast. This event was the final round of the Manufacturers Championship for that year. The Pescara circuit had a lengthy history going back to the prewar years of both Grand Prix and sports car endurance races. The course departed from Pescara and followed a roughly…

[frenchcurious]

Masten Gregory - Maserati 250F  Scuderia Centro Sud - Grand Prix de Pescara 1957. Ph. Bernard Cahier. - source UK Racing History.

[coffeebreakexpresso]

#F1 #Harry Schell.#Maserati 250F #Grand Prix de Pescara 1957