Stirling Moss takes a lap at Lime Rock

By George Kennedy

September 10, 2012

4 minutes to read

LAKEVILLE, CT—For those with a true enthusiasm for classic race cars, there is no better place to appreciate the best of the genre than at an historic race track. From Aug. 31 to Sept. 3, Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, CT, held its 30th annual Historic Festival. To celebrate, the track, along with sponsor Jaguar, welcomed guest of honor Sir Stirling Moss, who appeared with a collection of notable cars from his past. Ever gracious, Moss made himself readily available to the public, signing autographs for hours.

For racing fans, Sir Stirling Moss is a living legend. The UK driver was born in London in 1929, and raced from 1948 to 1962. In that time, he amassed 16 Formula One wins, and won 212 of the 529 races over the course of his career.

Going into the weekend, I had many questions for the famed racing driver, but when it was my turn to pose a query, a single question came to mind: If Moss could race against any driver from any era, who would it be? “Senna,’’ Moss answered, to a room of automotive press, eager for him to elaborate. “There are men who race, and then there are drivers. Ayrton Senna was the latter; I would think that I am too.’’

Explaining Senna’s greatness properly would require another several pages. Just know that Senna was stupefyingly fast, and died before his time in a crash during the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix.

The career of Moss also was cut short by a crash, which happened in 1962 in Goodwood, UK. The crash put him in a coma for a month and forced him to retire. It also created a very large “what if’’ regarding the fates of both Moss and Enzo Ferrari, whom Moss talked about during the press conference. “When I was 20, I had been asked by Ferrari to race Formula 2 for them.When I arrived, I had been replaced by PieroTaruffi, without notice from Enzo,’’ he said. As a result, Moss vowed never to race for Ferrari. Though he raced Ferraris with privateer teams, he never helmed a Prancing Horse for Enzo directly.

Then in 1961, he received a call from Enzo Ferrari. The Italian automaker said that he would build him whatever car he desired and would formally back him as a way of burying the hatchet. “I asked Enzo to build me a 246 in Rob Walker blue,’’ Moss recalled. But after the Goodwood crash, it became apparent that he would never formally race for Ferrari. Following his recovery, Moss began to participate in historic races, like the competitions at Lime Rock last weekend.This year, there were a variety of great race cars that spanned the decades: 1930’s Indy cars were pitted against post-WWII MG’s, and American Muscle cars were pitted against Jaguar E-Types, Porsche 911’s, and the iconic BMW 3.0 CSL. The latter dispatched its American and European competition with a precision worthy of the BMW Motorsport livery.

Racing stripes and a documented career can be the difference between a $50,000 Porsche and a $550,000 Porsche. Perhaps the most shining example of a car’s history and pedigree affecting its value is another Ferrari made for Moss, which he never drove. This year, at Monterey, a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO sold at auction for $35 million, making it the most expensive car ever sold.What puts a classic car on a particular pedestal are its intangibles. It is a piece of history, made only more valuable by taking part in—or winning— a race that many have seen or remember reading about.

Sunday brought the Concours in the Park, in which race participants and classic car owners lined up their vehicles in a stunning show of automotive history. Included in the display, which spanned the entire 1.53-mile track, were a number of Moss’s previous cars, including the 1957 CooperT 43 in which Moss won the 1958 Argentinean Grand Prix, and the painfully beautiful 1960 MaseratiTypo 61 “Birdcage’’ that Moss helped to champion in the ’61 Nurburgring 1000km endurance race.

For many, Lime Rock was a stunning opportunity to experience history first-hand, but for Moss, it was a unique trip down memory lane.When asked about his time in a Lotus 18, he replied, “It’s a fantastic car— when the wheels stay on.’’ He was referring to a 1960 crash in Belgium, in which the lightweight and fragile race car lost a rear wheel at high speed.

The reunion of man and machine underscores the intangible value that eventually results in tangibly massive prices for the car at auction. But for a fleeting moment, with the smell of gasoline and motor oil, and the only cars in sight being some of the peak vintage performers of all time, a journalist covering this event could imagine himself in the pit lane, circa 1960. Perhaps that momentary suspension of the present is an experience that every attendee at Lime Rock, including Moss, comes here to attain.