Stirling Moss: The Authorised Biography

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At the time of his shock retirement after a near-al c in 1962, motor-racing legend Stirling Moss was the most famous British sportsman of his era, and is still rated by some as the most successful driver of all time. Now, nearly 40 years later, motor sport writer Robert Edwards draws on unprecedented access to the man himself, and his private library of images and memorabilia, as they reflect together on an extraordinary life on the edge. Moss rose to the top in an era when death on the track was a commonplace hazard; when drivers squeezed astonishing speeds out of cars, that in safety and handling terms would compare unfavourably with a modern-day family runabout. Stirling took the lead on lap 35 and started to watch his tyres very carefully indeed ... on lap 65 the tell-tale breaker strip started to appear as the tread was simply smeared off the tyre. The odds on having a puncture were now very short. The gearbox was holding up (the clutch had failed 40-odd laps ago) ... and Stirling began to drive very carefully, directing the smoothed and fragile tyres across every piece of grass he could find to ease the friction...What made it possible, far more than in today's digitally engineered and monitored sport, was the character of the man behind the grime-encrusted goggles. In Moss's case, as Edwards reveals, the popular image of the steely-eyed, ramrod-backed Knight of the British Empire is far from the complete story.An exquisitely designed coffee table book--and it would have to be a pretty robust piece of furniture, because this is a notably hefty tome--Stirling Moss--The Authorised Biography displays production values, and a daring but sympathetic use of abundant visual material, that would not be out of place in a work of art history. And a similarly scholarly philosophy underpins the comprehensive and revealing text--Edwards is clearly a fan, but is happy to let Moss the man, and his achievements, stand in their historical and social context. This book is all the more entertaining and awe-inspiring for that. --AlexHankin