Hill, Newman, Moss: Three Great Motorsport Competitors Go Down

Filed in archive As We See Things , British Cars , Famous Drivers , Rally/Retro-Rally on October 20, 2008

During the past few weeks we lost two racing icons: Phil Hill, the only American to win a world driving championship, and Paul Newman, who was as talented behind the wheel as he was before the camera. Now comes word that one of the great rallyists, Pat Moss, has left us. For those of you too young to recognise the name, she was Sir Stirling Moss' sister. Originally a champion show Jumper, Pat Moss fell in love with fast cars during the pinnacle of European trans-continental rallies, when many of the auto manufacturers regularly competed and even the best race drivers took part. Those were no-holds-barred events with special stages that often included driving flat-out on snow and ice through night-time blizzards up and down European mountain roads. In the spirit of the day they included Ladies Cups (no, not that kind!), organisers being under the foolish assumption that women could not drive as hard and fast as men.

Pat Moss, with her frequent navigator Ann Wisdom, proved them wrong. Driving a remarkable variety of rally cars from Minis to MGs to Austin A40s to Big Healeys to 2-stroke front-wheel-drive Saabs to Lancias, she often beat the men at their own game. Eventually she married Erik Carlsson, a giant of a man from Sweden who was also a giant in the sport, and they formed their own successful rally team. Pat Moss-Carlsson was born on December 27, 1934. She died after a long illness on October 14, 2008, aged 73. The Times of London has a summary of Pat Moss' remarkable achievements and I urge you to read it by clicking here. I never did get to chat with Ms. Moss but we briefly met in the same rally in Canada. On that frigid weekend neither of us won.