STIRLING MOSS
Starts 10 Best result 2nd (1953, ’56)
Even better than 1950s Formula 1 benchmark Juan Manuel Fangio in sportscars, Moss could lay claim to the title of the finest endurance racer ever, even without a Le Mans victory.
He won the Nurburgring 1000Km – at a time when it was a much greater driver test than Le Mans – four times and performed some of the finest comebacks in the category’s history, such as his drive to clinch Aston Martin the world sportscar title at Goodwood in 1959. His record-breaking Mille Miglia victory in ’55 is one of motorsport’s most epic performances and, had there been a drivers’ championship, he would surely have topped the standings that season.
Moss’s performances in the 24 Hours were no less impressive. Invariably he led the charge for whichever team he was with, but things never quite fell his way. He was part of the Jaguar 1-2-4 in 1953, sharing with Peter Walker, but fuel starvation early on pushed them outside the top 20. Their comeback drive netted second.
Moss also fought against the odds, alongside Peter Collins, for Aston Martin against the bigger-engined and more-suitable Ecurie Ecosse Jaguar D-type of Ninian Sanderson and Ron Flockhart in 1956. Using the sporadic rain showers to their advantage, they exchanged the lead with the Jaguar and missed out by just a lap.
Arguably Moss’s best chance, however, had come the year before. Sharing one of Mercedes’ all-conquering 300SLRS with Fangio, Moss was well ahead of the field when the call came to withdraw in the wake of team-mate Pierre Levegh’s accident, which had claimed the lives of over 80 spectators.
It was a decision Moss never agreed with. “It didn’t do anyone any good,” he said in a 2015 interview. “You couldn’t bring people back, but [Mercedes driver] John Fitch said he thought [team boss] Alfred Neubauer should ring the directors. We could easily have won.”
Just as not winning the F1 world title did not diminish Moss in the eyes of his peers, the fact that he never won Le Mans didn’t prevent him being the leading endurance driver of his generation – and one of the greatest sportscar aces of all time.