Racing Legends - Stirling Moss

I'm Patrick Stewart actor and lifelong Motor Racing fan now I'm about to embark on a journey that will bring to life the career of one of my all-time Heroes 50s racing Legend sir Sterling Moss it's breathtaking this one's a bit tighter a bit tighter you that's the F I'm getting behind the wheel of the the cars he drove to Glory sorry about that and reliving his most memorable victories firsthand it's m who crosses the line to win in record time that's beautiful all to help me understand how one man won the hearts and minds of the British public it's a tale of fast cars telling how the 10-sec leave epic battles it's gone and survival against all the odds are you going to try and persuade him to stop racing after this I shall ask that shes it there oh Lord do you think you're indestructible why should I have another accident now I'm going to experience the Sterling Moss story from the driver's seat this beats the Enterprise any day we're here at silson and uh I'm driving in a celebrity race I want to be driving over the finishing line on the Grand Prix circuit at Silverstone when I take the checkup flag in 15th position there are 15 of us acting might be my passion but I've always loved cars and at the age of 72 I've just been awarded my racing license one of the problems with motor racing is that I actually don't like going very fast there 12 there Seb looking as though he's sitting in an armed chair totally relaxed I get to a point where I think that's just fast enough and that's a handicap for me racing a car for a living is a far-fetched Fantasy encapsulated by a man I have always envied and respected when I I was a kid there was an English driver called Sterling moss and Sterling was was living in a world that was as remote from my world as possible a workingclass kid growing up in a a Midtown in the west riding of Yorkshire as an aspiring actor I was seduced by Sterling's world of speed and Glam it's difficult to communicate to the enthusiasts of today who wasn't like lucky enough to be alive at the time just how great a driver he was five World Records all broken by about 20% his name stands for being a true racer this is a country that loves motor racing and he is probably the biggest star of all when he passed people which he frequently did on the tracks of course he would always give them a gentlemanly wave Sterling waving his hand they must have been very irritated indeed by his skill and is decency but I want to get to know the real Sterling moss and Patrick Stewart taking Ninth Place and under his watchful eye try and emulate one of his greatest ever victories I wonder if that means I'll have to get better at driving fast in a way I could never have anticipated these things have come together two people everybody before meeting the man himself I need to know more about why Sterling Moss was such a successful driver Sterling Moss Maserati number 28 took an early lead and held it so I've enlisted the help of a man who's driven in nearly as many disciplines as Moss Tiffy Dell has raced Formula 1 in Monaco sports cars at LaMore and rallied in the forest of England if anyone knows what it takes to be an all round driver he does Tiff look at this it's a sterling mosque sprinting across the track leaping so agilely into his car slipping down into the seat and off he goes with 15 or 20 other cars why was there something different and special about this driver it almost starts with that running start we're seeing now because it was this economy of movement the relaxed pose at the wheel the real great I believe they've got their brains ahead of their bodies so you'd know what the car was going to do before it got there Sterling Moss was postwar Britain's first professional racing driver this is the drive of his life if you're a professional racing driver you are in there to try and win but therefore you've got to keep the pressure up all the time he was the man teenage boys wanted to be and women wanted to be with a beautiful BL beautiful young woman but his career was very different to a modern driver it's m who crosses the line to win in record time he moved from Team to team from rallying to racing very distinctive it was an ERA when top drivers drove in every discipline in a race day he do Formula 1 Saloon cars sports cars on the same day Same Day Extraordinary that's the best illustration of the quality of his technique that he could shift in that way it didn't have to be programmed for one vehicle Sterling reached the same top speeds as modern drivers up to 180 mph but with very little grip poor brakes and no safety precautions it dawned on me that perhaps the most amazing thing is that he's still alive here we are look in the pits and they're refueling and fuel is splashing everywhere look you know there's barely room for the car hard to get through the crowd of Spectators there at the finish the skills in his day was so much more important death is something which frightens me by thinking of it isn't going to make it less likely to happen therefore I don't think about it and his car rips into the crowd four people die immediately it was one of the reasons why there was such comaraderie among drivers and so many of his colleagues and friends were badly injured or died I'm going to be coming face to face with him very shortly and having been looking at this film and hearing you talk about what was so special about Sterling M I am really looking forward to it he's a wonderful man you'll have a great time meeting a real hero thank you I'm a little nervous I'm meeting Sterling for the first time at his Mayfair flat and things haven't really changed around here since my last visit it I have a confession to make at this point decades ago when I was in my 20s I had discovered from a friend who worked in Mayfair that this was where Sterling lived and I was such a fan that I walked up here and stood pretty much in this spot looking at the house um in excitement and awe Patrick sister you come in good morning uh this is um a huge pleasure for me and uh a treat let go through to my office lead the way Sterling has lived here for the last 55 years after buying the land as a bomb site and building a three-story house on it to his own exacting specifications my bedroom is completely automated there are press button controls to the Wardrobe doors for the curtains for filling the bath and what have you Precision is very important and so it was to me in in my life and I knew exactly what I wanted where so uh being able to build a house that one designed was was a great help to me walls contain my stereo equipment my radio tape recorder record player and of course some of my most treasured Awards Sterling's house is like a museum a shrine to an amazing life life which unsurprisingly he likes to be reminded of I had such a fantastic Life as a young man I can't tell you the age of of 16 17 years old you're suddenly get the car to go out and play with it and drive it as hard as you possibly could and beat other drivers fabulous life you were from quite early on considered to be one of the English sporting Playboys am I right oh absolutely I'm certainly heterosexual let's put it that way Petra Sherman of Germany won the title 33233 a nice balance traveling as I was all around the world when you go into a place you meet a pretty girl and off you go I would say it was probably as good a life as anybody could ask for really boy that's really in my line of business there are many interesting momentos and artifacts in this room but the very first thing that caught my eye are the two steering wheel Wheels hanging above the door which appear to have suffered some distress when I think of the aggro that gave me I mean broken back broken legs on one and on the other one forc my retirement so they're they're not good news in any way but you don't feel in any way superstitious that there they are hanging above the door no no all I can say fingers up to them actually he's lost teeth broken his shoulder both legs his back his skull and has been in a coma for 38 days thanks to Motor Racing one of the reasons I took part and wanted to take part was because it was dangerous the bado of Youth you know here I am 17 18 years old to do something that's really dangerous is is exciting and exhilarating you know yes but it was more than really dangerous it was potentially fatal we were losing three or four drivers a year every year every year uh when it happens I would sort say well you know if it had been me I'm sure I would have been slightly in a different position or I wouldn't have done this or that it would never happen to you exactly exactly if I'd ever had an accident that I felt was my own fault I think I'd have stopped and you never did no I didn't come in the lift this is interesting cuz this is a carbon fiber lift and it was made for me by Williams Formula 1 team as you can see it amazed me that Sterling was so positive about the danger he faced are we there we there okay come through even after the accident in 1962 that ended his career this is my crash actually see that shows it there oh Lord I where all the blood came from really the car is completely mangled it barely looks like exactly a racing car at all now when I went off I'd be doing 140 at least well they thought I was going to die I think actually but uh glad say this long long time ago right come come out and we'll go in this little car um which was the first car actually I learned to drive with here we are how about that isn't that lovely oh this is wonderful so how old were you when you got into this into this one uh six what six years old yeah six on the farm yeah Sterling had borrowed the Austin so that we could retrace his steps right from the very start of his career we were going to his childhood home where I could learn more about how he became a racing Legend is this gravage we're coming we're coming into bra Village yes so the roads around here were the roads that you had your first Driving Experience oh absolutely you see LIF all clear Sterling hasn't been to long white clouds since he lived here as a teenager his father a dentist obviously did well for himself he absolutely fantastic I mean the change is enormous really I would not have thought i' ever lived here the temps is just here oh absolutely just there right he grew up in a beautiful spot but surprisingly his early years weren't as idilic as you might think I had a lot of problems with bullying my name was moss and they called me a yid was a pretty tough upbringing it's not very nice when you're 10 years old or 11 years old did it have a positive impact you think in your later years I think it probably did I'm a competitive sort of person so I always enjoyed sprinting and that sort of stuff so that's how you succeeded at school by being by being athletically yes I certainly think it was a Help Sterling answered back by proving himself as an athlete and later with the ladies too I did meet a real cracker actually called Sylvia and my mother came back ran up the steps banged on the door I was in there of course and she turned to Sil is this the way for a young lady to behave so I pushed her behind me I said if you want to speak to Silvia please do it through me as a big drama in the late' 40s Motor Racing was an amateur sport which both Sterling's parents enjoyed they encouraged him and his sister Pat to drive from an early age but most of his early training came from a hobby that didn't involve cars my mother was interested in horses and of course over over there originally there were Stables the lessons that you learned in balancing a horse very much the same thing happens with a car when you go into a corner is you try and keep the car balanced all the way through it I won 50 or 60 Awards any money any cash yeah and I used that money actually to buy my first racing car and my father found my checkbook he said what's this 50 Quid I think it was and I had to own up there was deposit on the racing car he said no son of mine's going to be a racing driver and so I took a lot of massaging to get my father ever to agree and then he said to me if you're going to race you're going to wear a crash hat and I said to him dad that's all he said I don't care you're going to wear a crash hat Sterling's father was disappointed he didn't want to be a dentist and doubtful he could make a living from a hobby but by the age of 20 he had a reputation as a Fearless young driver although the establishment we yet to take him seriously the difficulty for any young racing driver is is to prove themselves up against big opposition Sterling Moss had to break through but no British manufacturer would contemplate giving the boy a drive in the TT on the eve of his 21st birthday Sterling turned up at the biggest sports car race in Britain the ster TT with a car he'd borrowed from a family friend it was straight off the assembly line matter of fact the makers weren't too pleased about Sterling driving it so it seems as if you're rather sticking your neck out then and making the offer no no no some of us had spotted Sterling for a long time we knew he was on the up and up and come the race weekend it absolutely poured down for Sterling Moss this was Mana from Heaven because it was an opportunity to show what he could do up against the established stars in in Great Cars yes they're off and that's Sterling Moss jumping into his Jaguar car of a self I remember going around there and obviously being given pit signals and I could see that I was gaining a bit here and there I like the wet I think that's using my style it played into my hands I mean to win The Tourist Trophy it was quite overwhelming to me really I had not ever won a really serious race the Elation brings tears to your eyes and that evening Jaguar asked him if he'd lead the works team in 1951 and suddenly you've got rival team managers saying who is this guy how can he go go that fast Sterling m in another Jaguar has left at about 106 mph as a member of Team jagu Sterling made a name for himself in a number of competitions the young but most capable hands of Sterling Moss the 21-year-old who is Britain's greatest racing hope to death think that people wanted a hero after the war Sterling because he was young he gave the people some cheer and some hope I think Sterling had won the country over with his performances in Jaguar sports cars but he also wanted to conquer the Glamorous world of high-speed Formula 1 Italy's Ferraris are out to dominate the new Formula 1 field just like today Formula 1 in the 50s meant Thoroughbred single seater cars but back then the world championship was dominated by Italians you can't really think of Formula 1 without Ferrari they sort of part National Institution and and part race team to be a Ferrari racing driver would be to have arrived completely word of Sterling's ability had reached the continent where he was invited to drive for the famously manipulative Enzo ferari he was a man that everybody I think was fairly scared of I think even even his team managers there was a crash he'd ask about the car first before the driver he offered me a car and I went all the way down to Barry in southern Italy with my father being thrilled but at the last minute Ferrari opted for a famous Italian driver instead and I found that the car had been given to terui Sterling didn't take kindly to the snob and so he turned his back on the biggest name in Motorsport I was very angry a gentleman wouldn't do that and I vowed there and then that never would I drive for Ferrari he returned from Italy determined to win the Formula 1 World Championship in a British car I'm very thrilled Ray because at last it seems as though we're going to have the chassis and the road holding and an engine built for the job so PS will be able to compete with the Italians on their own ground we've certainly got the driver so we'll be keeping our fingers crossed I'm going to you eventually Ferrari found an Englishman happy to drive his cars come 1953 funloving Mike Hawthorne was the man to beat this tall young hard drinking womanizing boy from farum popped up on the scene oh there's no comparison between sturing and Mike and you found that people who like moss didn't like Hawthorne and vice versa I'd like to say how much I enjoy today's racing it's it's certainly given me great pred to win the trophy well Sterling in his homegrown technology had hit a career low too bad trouble robs Moss of Victory his determination to drive British had become an insuperable handicap if he was going to keep up with Hawthorne he needed to drive for a major team and so his father took drastic measures my father then went to see Maserati they worked out a deal where uh they would Supply me the same cars they were racing they would keep it up to date if anything new came out they bought it without telling me but they bought it with my money fed up with British cars Sterling's father bought an Italian Maserati hoping they would attract the attention of a major team I surprised at how much of my money they'd spent obviously but the main thing was that now my back was to the wall the Maserati 250f a gorgeous car even now and it was a car that Sterling Moss just felt totally at home with and suddenly he was producing these World beating performances it opened the eyes of people around the world to the to the quality and the skills of of this young man the plan worked and German Giants Mercedes came knocking having not competed since the war Mercedes were back and they wanted a team of Youth and experience Sterling provided the youth then double world champion fangio the experience and from now on his nickname the boy somehow no longer seemed appropriate Mercedes wanted to win in every category of racing and sent moss and fio to Italy to take on the Italian Giants in their own backyard my next meeting with Sterling is in Florence where with the resources of Mercedes behind him he set his sights on the world's toughest sports car race here we are early morning in Florence Florence exactly why are we in Florence and what does it mean to you and me we're in Florence because this is one of the great places we used to race through right through the middle of the Town race through yeah and what race would this be the Mia 1955 every Italian knew what the Mia was they all watched it an amazing atmosphere I can't tell you the Mia was the sports car equivalent of the tour to France 1,000 Mi of racing on public roads and the race ends up where it began exactly in braia in braia yeah just over 10 hours later this sounds very very challenging yes it was but why don't we go in let's find out what it's like let's go you know you wouldn't believe it but we actually race down roads like this in the melee this this yeah the bikes wouldn't be there but should be racing down there and it's little more than a car's width oh absolutely and here comes Moss well out in front with the met and what kind of speed would you go down the street like this well you get up to 100 Mil an hour about that to win Sterling needed to know the roads better than the Italians themselves so with Navigator Dennis jenkinson he studied every last Mile in my all-time favorite car the Sublime Mercedes guling look at that beautiful car that's our transport come should we have a go in it yeah yes it's glorious you seat isn't it lovely I have never been this close uh to this vehicle before it's breathtaking we're going through some very beautiful contri side how much time did you have to admire the view sir I didn't do too much looking around I must be honest because on this course we probably would get up to 110 120 this is quite a sinuous Road as you can see swoops from the left to the right you come down here and give it a boot here and I thing you be at the next Corner in no time at all absolutely magic absolutely magic but I realize I'm now 83 not 25 now I will drive Each corner very much more carefully with more respect were there any fatalities in 55 on on your I I believe so but they there were every year I'm told but it's inevitable I think that people are going to get killed I have heard that the race was stopped on the instructions of the Vatican I've heard that I don't know if it's true I couldn't get him on the phone he was continually engaged over I would have thought if anybody could get the pope on the phone selling it would be you at what point did you know that you one after you well that was that was awful thing yeah cross the finish land no idea I knew it was likely at one but I had to wait until every car that started after me had come through how did you celebrate that night gosh we had celebrations there and were you alone oh no no no I I hope I have the young lady with me but I'm have to look at up my my my di exactly exactly driving the route was like going back in time and got me thinking about what I was doing in 1955 I was just leaving murphi secondary modern school right then I had a crush on the head girl but she never knew it and of course I was never brave enough to make any kind of advancers while you were driving young women from fresia to stutgart having won the M of million yes to each is own no boy I'm sorry that I'm not the attractive young woman you had with you there so am I but I enjoy your company sir Sterling oh Lord Sterling certainly knew how to live the high life but I was learning that when it came to racing he left nothing to chance how did you know what was coming on a Thousand Mile circuit because jenx was my co driver he was my passenger and he had this thing we called the bog R and on here you can see everything's written various signals here come down here I think a railway and then flat something was flat out after a signal like that all these things have an interpretation which he then gave me through hand signals like he give me a slower and then much slower right left humpback Bridge all sorts of different hand what was go faster go faster was like that that meant you flat out it's beautiful it worked yeah yeah but it was the driving seat I want to occupy okay right so we're in first yeah should I take it out yeah take it out sorry all right o yes I see driving a racing Legend is nerve-wracking to say the least but behind the wheel of such a beautiful car my confidence started to grow I never imagine a scenario like this in my life that doesn't even begin to include you as my passenger or the road that we're on look at this scenery you know can you imagine a life much better for a kid of 18 driving all around Europe racing every weekend and being able to meet The Crumpet and have fun you know Wonderful Life I've got no problems with it at all now I understand why the meleia is without a doubt Sterling Moss's most impressive Victory with the help of jensx and his bog roll he drove for 10 hours averaging almost 100 mph it's that kind of superhuman feat that turns drivers into Legends are you all right yeah I'm no problem no problem all I trust myself a couple of times thank you sir a happy homecoming for the 25-year-old racing driver who experts predict is a future world champion having conquered Italy in a sports car Sterling returned home determined to make a name for himself in Formula 1 at that point no British driver had ever won a Grand Prix on home soil M with fastest practice lab is in CL position with fer next to him and Hawthorne is in an unusual position for him the fifth row here we are we listen to Kamai here's Sterling m in the Mercedes there's fanio when it came to Formula 1 Sterling would always be in the shadow of his mentor the great fanjo in the lead fanjo is pushed by MK who sits right on his tail but in front of a home crowd the understudy had the drive of his life through melan Crossing goes banjo with moss on his heel very very close indeed together and there's less than a quarter of a mile to go now as they come into T's corner and the crowds rise to greet moss and Moss is waving ptio up and they're going to go across the line giving the victory to Sterling Moss of Great Britain for the first time in motoring history the British Grand Prix has been won by an Englishman at the age of 25 Sterling Moss had become a national hero but he was about to be given a stark reminder that motor racing was the most deadly sport the world had ever seen Moss calmly signing autographs while he waited for fio to bring the Mercedes in for his spell at the wheel and just before 6:30 with 2 and 1/2 hours gone disaster struck in the worst motor racing accident in history at lamon one of Sterling's Mercedes teammates was launched into the crowd in a few ghastly seconds death wipes out whole families L is killed before his wife's eyes and some 70 Spectators with him Sterling was lucky not to be involved but the Mercedes dream was over the full list of casualties from the disaster is announced stutgart gives orders to noar in the pit the two Mercedes are withdrawn from the race he were pulled out at 4:00 in the morning with the three laap lead on the Jaguar certainly wasn't going to bring anybody back but I don't know why he did that so I couldn't win L more but not winning was the least of Sterling's worries so soon after the disaster Mercedes retired from Motorsport Mr Tony vanderville ex- racing driver and Wealthy industrialist produced the Prototype of the vanwall Formula 1 car Sterling was without a Formula 1 team but back in Britain a car was finally being produced that might challenge the Italian Giants Tony vanderville always expressed his racing ambition as being to beat those bloody red cars and so the vanwall and its engine were slowly and expensively developed a masterpiece of engine design in a sturdy yet Light chassis 18 months after the lamon disaster Sterling signed up to lead the all British team the van walls resplendent in their British racing green are maneuvered into their positions comfortingly near the front of the red machines from Italy we had a car in British is racing green that could beat the others and so is a fantastic thing but would it be the same old story The Best of the British was the van wall but it was unreliable and it wasn't good enough but it was getting closer and closer and closer to Ferrari and Maserati and then came the British Grand Prix at a Tre in 1957 the team were desperate to score their first win on home soil and so vanderville hatched a plan that would be inconceivable today youry Brooks about his injured leg in those days drivers could swap cars mid-race so Sterling's injured teammate agreed to hand his over if required I'd had my ason Martin accident uh at Lal um just over 3 weeks beforehand I was in a pretty sorry State I said if anything happens to your car stering you take my car over now the moment of drama engines revving the air shaking they're off this really set the scene for an extraordinary motor race now begins a grim Race by MOS against the watch Sterling built up a huge lead but then the inevitable happened and my god did have a pipe go inject a pipe so I went back to the pits he manag yor T Tony Brooks on lap 27 in he comes Tony sort of acknowledged it and I think he was quite relieved because he was in considerable pain then we dragged him out of it and I jumped in but by taking Brook's car Moss also took his position in the race and so dropped from first down to Ninth Place Moss is away in 12 seconds flat and he's knocking out the fastest laps of the day left after lap M has went back half a minute there everybody's heart is sort of beating faster and faster palms are sweaty against all the odds he clawed back his lead and made racing history and at last after so many years of hopes and disappointments a British driver in a British car he won a British Grand Prix in a British car as a British driver and that was the first time that had happened and that subsequently LED I think to inspiring other designers to to believe that they could win in British cars it was just a fantastic achievement and uh the vanwall was the car that he did it in to help me understand how groundbreaking the Van Wall was I'm going to achieve a lifelong dream and drive one for this I'll need help from an expert in a car that's been made to handle just like a Van Wall now Patrick one of the troubles with the vine wall was that it used to under steer a lot lot so what we done is set this up to under steer so you can get a feel to what might happen if you add too much power you just going to push to those wider and wider so you run out Road and then it's going to be very expensive and embarrassing moment you shake my nerv when cornering the Van Wall would slide out to the edge of the track known in racing circles as under steer fire I'm miss it I'm miss it I'm it I'm running out of Road what I was doing with there was giving that flick to deliberately get the rear to break away to eradicate the under steer but I don't think that's something you should drive to the Van Wall I'll be driving is a price museum piece so it was absolutely crucial I got this right You' turn very early that's too early yeah but she's put out but Tiff persuaded me it would be easier if I really put my foot down power power power power hold it hold it so now you're going faster you just got ease off the throtle and get the opposite lock up yes no matter how hard I tried I just couldn't get it right you won't make you we're in the field we're in the field that's de that's the field sorry about that but after a couple of hours of practice I finally started to get the hang of it down the third gear turn in and now power go power feel that yeah that's yeah and now lift off a bit got it you got it you got it you got it you got it go go go yay the lesson was over but the exercise wasn't academic now I'm going to drive the real thing there's another challenge when uh the Van Wall gets delivered and this time I'm going to be under the watchful eye of another driver sir Sterling I'm a little apprehensive but I'm sure that there will yet again be another steep learning curve on this it will be a a childhood fantasy the British vanwall cards were driven by starting M could they repeat their inry success the next season the Van Wall team went on to win the first ever Formula 1 Constructor Championship and the the first man to congratulate the winner was brion's proudest father Sterling was on a high and he'd fallen in love too but some things never change the mares are honeymooning in Holland but only for 4 days Sterling has to be back in London to judge the missor contest now can you imagine getting married to your wife and saying yeah I know the honeymoon is quite important sweetheart but I just want to go back to have a look at some women in bikinis and work out who's the best looking back on the track Sterling earned for more than just team success in 1958 he wanted that elusive driver's title at that time the drivers felt that I was the guy to to beat when the times go up they see well what did moss do it ended up the world championship being fought out between Sterling and Mike Hawthorne to be able to beat Mike was was terribly important to me I mean if a foreigner beats me I don't feel so bad but if he's an Englishman I feel far worse that season he won more races than any other driver and in Portugal the world title seemed in the bag when Hawthorne was disqualified for receiving a push start but then Sterling did an amazing thing I went up and said is quite wrong well I said look you can't disqualify him for that he wasn't on the racra his impeccable sportsmanship handed Hawthorne a single point all he needed to win win the World Championship Sterling Moss winner of the Grand Prix in his British Van Wall had failed to be the first British champion by one point that cost me one world title so what what I wanted more than anything really I think was for the drivers respected leis Evans is pushed off in the van wall to make matters worse the youngest member of the vanwall team was killed in the last race of the Season team manager Tony vandervell decided to pull out of Formula 1 he never really got over the death of Stuart Le Evans and I think Tony Ville somehow felt uh uh partly responsible because Paul Stewart was driving one of his cars after yet another disappointment Sterling's attitude toward racing started to change Sterling Moss possibly the world's greatest racing driver let's watch him relax with a miniature track rival in this Grim struggle is his wife Katie Sterling mosque Rockets into sight with Bruce McLaren right on his tail instead of the pressure of the top team Sterling decided to drive for his friend Rob Walker the whiskey Tyco the ethos was very much if you race hard today and then you party tonight the master Sterling was very happy driving for Rob Walker but the problem was they weren't a a Works car manufacturer they were they were using a car that they had bought from someone else nevertheless Sterling Moss is in the lead without the support of a manufacturer Sterling's cars had a tendency to break down Moss was soon in the lead and might well have won but transmission trouble made him retire Moss went pretty well till he had gearbox trouble out of luck this season a faulty clutch put Sterling out of the race he finished third in the world championship three years on the Trot but failing to win a title did nothing to Dent his reputation I think the public appreciated just how artistic he was in the delicacy of his driving the way he held the wheel the British public love an underdog every now and then Sterling would win against all the odds and at Monaco he came out on top when he lined up against the Ferraris in Rob Walker's a ing British Lotus he was driving an older chassis it just puts into perspective what a remarkable remarkable drive that was from Sterling on that sunny afternoon in montala as on the 13th lap MOS goes into the lead despite the efforts of the far more powerful Ferrari with the entire Ferrari team in full cry behind him ground and around the classic Monaco circuit he drives the race of his life Sterling troun the red Italian so convincingly it made Enzo Ferrari take note after a decade of Separation Sterling was invited to Marinello for a meeting with the old man he called me up and said would I go and see him down in mod f met me and he said look will you drive for me he said to Sterling just you know tell me what you need in a car and I'll build it for you and that was how desperate he was to have moss in one of his car and amazingly Enzo Ferrari the old man himself agreed that he would sell a car to Rob Walker for Rob Walker to run in their colors not even in Ferrari red and for Sterling to drive that car in the world championship very soon I'll get to drive one of Sterling's cars but first i'm at the Ferrari factory where he finally made peace with Enzo putting the world title within his grasp Enzo would have had the best driver in the world at that time in what should have been the best car in the world yeah what do you think would have resulted from that combination well I think uh hopefully a world championship or more than one world championship that didn't happen yeah because of the crash Sterling never drove his Ferrari because in a preseason race he was involved in an accident that ended his career how it happened remains a mystery I was passing in a place that I would never consider passing under normal conditions and I was miles behind him so there no reason I wasn't dicing for the last corner of the last lab his crash was a national disaster which produced an atmosphere of national anguish not Sterling Moss you know it didn't happen to him you know he he was too good to crash to this day Sterling believes the car was to blame and that the crash wouldn't have happened in his Ferrari the one thing I respect Ferrari above anything else is no driver that I know of has ever died because of mechanical failure on a on a car if the car had only arrived in England early enough so I could have raced it at Goodwood uh I wouldn't have had my crash and that would have been a wonderful relationship it could have been perfect it it could have been but it wasn't Sterling was rushed to hospital as the nation feared for his life oh all racing drivers killed themselves that was sort of the public attitude and now it was Moss turn the whole nation stopped basically waiting to find out what was going to happen we're hoping that he'll go keep going on slowly I mean we can't expect miracles to happen it's got to be a slow job are you going to try and persuade him to stop racing after this I shall ask him yes I haven't before but um this time I shall definitely Sterling woke from a month-long coma paralyzed down one side of his body body but the nation's relief turned to fear that he may never return to the track quite honestly I have too much pride I suppose if you'd like to want to go in racing and find myself trailing around at the back if you find your punch drunk I reckon you get out of it he had suffered serious brain damage which he would take years to recover from but that didn't stop the media asking the same old question how soon do you think you'll be back on the track again well that depends on the doctors quite honestly he didn't get well for a very long time after that and until he was on form it was ridiculous for anybody to think that he could test drive any fool could have looked at him and and said well you know why are you doing this the weight of expectation from the British public pushed Sterling into attempting a comeback way before he was ready just 12 months had passed when he made the biggest decision of his life I came down here and I drove the car around for about 3/4 of an hour it dawned on me slowly but very surely that the things that I required had gone what was second nature to me originally was now a conscious effort a lot of things had changed and I felt that it would be therefore unwise to continue racing if the crash hadn't happened and the Ferrari had been delivered and you had won maybe in 62 the world championship and perhaps the next year for how long do you think you would have continued to race Formula 1 I had hoped that I'd race those well into my 50s my whole life would have changed I was forced out of racing at the age of just 32 and I didn't know what the hell to do it's a shame cuz I think my life could have been a lot more rewarding I wish so too the more time time I spent with Sterling the more I came to an unlikely conclusion by ending his career the accident was in fact a blessing you know that there are people who believe that that crash at Goodwood in 1962 actually saved your life yes but they don't know the situation I mean there therefore assuming that I'm going to go and have another crash now quite honestly you look back over the whole of my career I did not have any serious crash that was my fault why should I have another accident of anywhere around odds the more races that you're in the odds become shorter and shorter and the more experience you get do you think you're indestructible I think that with a Ferrari as my car I think that we we would have won quite a lot it's turned out to be getting to know an extraordinary individual this is a man who said that he did what he did not in spite of the danger but because of the danger I have resisted making connections and comparisons between my life and career and yours because this has been about you and not about me but it has been what I've learned about a man of passion and ambition and feeling and self-belief that has so affected me and I shall take all that and put it into my life and my career it's a much overused phrase but you are an inspiration to me we don't have in our country the title National Treasure but if we have had it the first to receive it should be sir Sterling H there remains just one thing for me to do 55 years after the van Wall's big victory I'm on my way to anry where the tarmac track still exists I want to relive the moment an all British team won a British Grand Prix the part of Formula 1 as we know it how often does anybody get an opportunity to drive on the same race course that Sterling actually won the British gr PRI in the car that he was driving now Sterling and his teammate Tony are going to guide me through that most memorable race somewhere here there is a vanwall waiting for me I shall get my first sight of it my first touch of it and climbing into it yes there we are fine there we are this is the beautiful Van Wall beautiful this is beautiful well you're allowed to touch it if you want Oh Lord I'm not sure that I should you're going to get in there I found it very difficult go dry yes that's right well it was rather heavy rather ponderous rather long travel look upon it as a blind date you never know what you got till you get in there you know mean I'm back in my comfort zone at this moment because I'm putting on costume and that's something that I'm used to because what I want to do is enjoy myself I'm probably not going to have a day like this again here's a helmet now look after that please it's mine this the original that's original it's lightweight these are made for polo for polo so don't break it good luck Sir with Sterling's helmet gloves and his Blessing I was going to follow in his footsteps I'm ready yeah i a f more sorry stop stop don't just jump in a van wall and go shopping you know it's it is quite complicated thing yes to out minut minute the flag is up it's gone my second attempt was better and as I entered the first straight it felt like the Van Wall was beginning to fly it was hard to control it wasn't very comfortable but this beautiful car does have one major attribute it goes really really fast and he's now winding it up as he long past Railway carriages now pass the GU crowd on the embankment under the giant scoreboard for the last time in this race through the Mel Crossing and back to with people rising in their seats in the grand stand ready to Acclaim a fine Victory and a welld deserved Victory Sterling Moss coming by waving to the crowds and Sterling Moss comes up to the Finishing Line and the checker flag drops as Sterling Moss wins the British Grand Prix and indeed this year the European Grand Prix for that is the which has been bestowed upon England this year for enjoy it feels wonderful it feels absolutely brilliant oh Lord this beats the Enterprise any day the exhilaration and satisfaction was well let me just say I will try and hold on to it till the day I die if I can cuz it feels so good thank you for spending this time with me and giving me some of your hard earned long earned experience because I consider it one of the great privileges of my life see and I can't stop grinning perhaps my proudest feeling is that here it is folks I I give it back to you it's unharmed untouched and for this relief much thanks I'm going to live till I die I'm going to laugh so Jackie Stewart is the racing Legend tomorrow night at 8 but next tonight sheer drops and Broken Bridges on the world's most dangerous roads until I

Channel: The Low Down

Views: 444,558

Keywords: Racing, Legends, Stirling, Moss, Race, Formula One (Sport)

Id: UtRWhPQVAY8

Length: 58min 55sec (3535 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 31 2012