Overview
Sir Stirling Craufurd Moss (17 September 1929 – 12 April 2020) was a British Formula One driver. An inductee into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame, he won 212 of the 529 races he entered across several different motorsports competitions and has been described as "the greatest driver never to win the Formula One World Championship". In a seven-year span between 1955 and 1961 Moss finished in second place four times and in third place three times.
Early life
Moss was born in London to amateur racing drivers Alfred and Aileen Moss (née Craufurd). His grandfather was Jewish and from a family that changed their surname from Moses to Moss. He was brought up at Long White Cloud house on the south bank of the River Thames. His father was an amateur racing driver, who had come 16th in the 1924 Indianapolis 500, and his mother had also been involved in motorsport, entering into hillclimbs at the wheel of a Singer Nine. Moss was a gifted horse rider, as was his younger sister, Pat Moss, who went on to become a successful rally driver.
Moss was educated at several independent schools: Shrewsbury House School, Clewer Manor Junior School and Haileybury and Imperial Service College. He disliked school and did not get good grades. At Haileybury, he was subjected to anti-semitic bullying due to his Jewish roots. He concealed the bullying from his parents and used it as "motivation to succeed". Moss received his first car, an Austin 7, from his father at the age of nine and drove it on the fields around Long White Cloud. He purchased his own car at age 15 after he obtained a driving licence.
Racing career
From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).