Algy was saddened to hear of the death of his hero, Sir Stirling Moss, at his London Mayfair home on April 12th. He leaves a wife, Susie. (Algy is practicing what you humans call “social distancing”, so he is more active on the e-mail at the moment.)

Algy was informed by a friend in England of the death of the legendary driver. The friend shared an anecdote about Stirling that demonstrates the man’s chivalrous sporting spirit.

There apparently was an English driver called Archie Scott- Brown. His mother had caught German measles while she was pregnant which damaged the foetus severely. He was born with an unformed right arm which did not go further than the elbow, as well as malformed legs and feet – in effect his feet faced backwards. He had 22 very painful operations on his feet in the first five years of his life to try to correct this. Enduring such trauma at such a young age sowed the seeds of Archie’s determination to surmount his disabilities and be a winner. His torso was that of a six-foot man, but his legs were very short and his feet remained malformed. All his life he walked with difficulty – which makes his speed in a Le Mans start all the more remarkable. His deformed right arm had a sort of embryonic thumb on it, which he used to grip the wheel when he was changing gear. He sat close to the wheel with the seat skewed to the left, as his left arm was a normal length.

Algy’s friend continued:

‘When I was a boy Archie was to me always a complete hero. A particular race I remember was the 1956 Easter Monday Goodwood. The F1 race had Moss in the 250F Maserati, Hawthorn in the new P25 BRM and Archie in an underpowered Connaught. Hawthorn led and then had a huge accident at Fordwater when the left rear wheel of the BRM collapsed. Archie then led Stirling in a flat-out battle with the little Connaught staying ahead of the Maserati until his brakes began to go, and a couple of laps later his engine blew coming into Woodcote. 

‘My parents and I were in the Woodcote grandstand – I was 11 years old. Archie coasted to a halt right in front of us, got out, sat on the back wheel of the car, with his one hand got a packet of cigarettes out of his pocket, then a lighter, lit up and nonchalantly watched the rest of the race (from a very dangerous position). When the race was over Stirling, in a typically sportsmanlike gesture, stopped on his slowing-down lap to tell Archie what a good race they’d had. Then Archie clambered onto the Maserati’s tail, his good hand holding onto the filler cap with his little legs spreadeagled over the tank, and Stirling gave him a lift back to the pits.’

A great tribute to a great driver!

Gibber! Gibber!

Chugley

Motor Racing fan