REMEMBERING MOSS AND #722

Mercedes has retired Stirling’s greatest car after final run at Revival

- Damien Smith

Elliot Moss looks a size or two larger than his famously trim old man, but the resemblance to Sir Stirling was uncanny as he stood arm in arm with Sir Jackie Stewart and Damon Hill on the grid at Goodwood. They were gathered earlier this month in front of a stunning and large collection of Moss-related cars to pay an emotional tribute to Stirling at the first Revival to take place since his death aged 90 last year – although he was surely there in spirit.

Ahead of them all sat the glorious Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR, its number 722 bold in red across its nose confirming that here for one last time was the most important (and surely most valuable) historic racing car in the world. For it was in #722 that Moss and his navigator – short, bearded, bespectacled journalist Denis Jenkinson – conquered the 1955 Mille Miglia in a little over 10 hours, at an average speed just a shade under 100mph. Counting up the landmark Moss performances in Formula 1, sports cars and beyond would be the work of many pages, but for many people (this writer included), that win, captured so colourfully by Jenks’ famous report for Motor Sport, is the beacon for his status as the greatest.

SILENT IN RETIREMENT