In this very personal book, Stirling Moss guides the reader through his motor racing life with a fascinating, insightful and often amusing commentary to an unrivalled collection of over 300 photographs, many of which will be unfamiliar to even his most ardent fans. He takes us from his childhood to the height of his fame as 'Mr Motor Racing' and then to the sudden end of his career with that crash at Goodwood in 1962. Along the way we dwell on his finest moments as well as the setbacks, and delight in the sheer variety of machinery - almost 100 different cars - in which he competed during his rollercoaster racing life. This is a book that all motor racing enthusiasts will treasure.
- Starting in 1948, he made his name in little 500cc Coopers, moving towards stardom in HWM, ERA and Cooper F2 cars, then his own F1 Maserati 250F.
- The 1955 Mercedes season and its twin highlights - winning the Mille Miglia and the British Grand Prix.
- His longing to win in British cars was rewarded with two fine F1 seasons at Vanwall (1957-58), with whom he came very close to winning the F1 World Championship, and sports car successes with Aston Martin.
- Rear-engined Cooper and Lotus F1 cars with Rob Walker (1958-62), including two celebrated Monaco GP wins.
- Two-seater variety: the amazing range of sports cars he drove included Jaguars (XK120, C-type and D-type), Maseratis (150S to 450S), Ferraris (250 GT SWB and Testa Rossa) and Porsches (550 Spyder to RS61), plus Frazer Nash Le Mans Replica, Osca, Healey 100S, Cooper 'Bobtail' and more.
- Ever busy and versatile: rallying with Sunbeams, trialling a Harford special, Bonneville record-breaking with MG EX181, saloon car racing in a humble Standard Ten - and even a kart race.
- Published to mark the 60th anniversary of Moss's famous win in the 1955 Mille Miglia road race in a Mercedes 300SLR.
Foreword by 2014 Formula One World Champion Lewis Hamilton.
Sir Stirling Moss is a national treasure. Arguably the world's greatest all-round racing driver, he was a hero to several generations of schoolboys and enthusiasts throughout the world. Moss is now so iconic his name is often used as a metaphor for "racing driver" - the name alone invokes mental images of speed, bravado, the jet-set lifestyle and a bevy of beauties with whom to live it. By 1961 his career was at its peak; absolutely at the top of his game, a charismatic sportsman famous across the world.
Simon Taylor has been immersed in motor sport for more than 50 years as a journalist, commentator, publisher and historian. He joined the weekly magazine Autosport straight from university, and was its editor by the age of 23. He became a publisher for its proprietors, Haymarket Magazines, devising and launching other car magazines such as What Car? and Classic & Sports Car, and went on to be the company's Managing Director and then its Chairman. He was BBC Radio's voice of motor racing for more than 20 years, reporting on Formula 1 from all over the world, and has done a variety of TV commentary and presentation work. He has a small collection of classic cars, and competes in historic motor sport with his ex-Stirling Moss 1950 HWM.
Lewis Hamilton is the 2014 Formula One World Champion.
