“My scariest moment behind the wheel was driving around the banking at Monza doing around 175mph”, says Sir Stirling.

“I went to turn the wheel and my arms crossed. The steering wheel had sheared, and at this point there was absolutely nothing I could do.

“I put my foot on the brakes and prayed.”

The ‘world’s greatest racing driver who never won a championship’ giggles and straightens his glasses.

“Of course, I didn’t see anything – because I had my eyes closed throughout!”

Six appeal

It could have been a very different story if Sir Stirling had passed his exams.

“I should have been a dentist”, he said. “My father was a dentist, and I should have been one too, but I wasn’t smart enough."

So Sir Stirling learned to drive at six and ten years later desperately wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps as a racing driver, but needed a car.

After seeing one advertised in his local paper, Sir Stirling rushed down in his Morgan three-wheeler and immediately placed a deposit – using his dad’s chequebook.

But his father had other ideas when he saw the £50 receipt – and laid down the law.

“He just said ‘no way’!

“My father took my Morgan away and got me on a bike which was a bit of a downfall – it’s a lot easier to pick up girls on a three-wheeler than a bicycle.”

“A wheel could fall off”

Sir Stirling picked up a lot more than girls throughout his racing career – he drove for Jaguar and HWM and in 1955 was signed up by Mercedes-Benz, winning his first ever F1 race at that year’s British Grand Prix, alongside his most famous victory ever – the 1955 Mille Miglia.

“That was my proudest moment. And of course I had no worries about the car either. When I was driving a Lotus there was always the worry that a wheel could fall off.

“Plus Mercedes was a great company to drive for.”

Fangiooooooo

And Sir Stirling also had great company during 1955 – in the form of the legendary champion Juan Manuel Fangio (pictured right, with his arm around Stirling).

“He was the greatest racing driver in the world”, he said.

“A nice man, a great driver – but I couldn’t speak to him much.

“He could speak Spanish and Italian, but not English. I couldn’t speak much Italian or Spanish, but we understood each other talking about cars and crumpet, so we got along quite well.”

So who would Sir Stirling most like to race against today?

“Lewis immediately springs to mind – I was glued to my television watching his last race in Brazil.

“My quality of life is ten times better than his though.

“I’m not talking finance obviously, I’m talking freedom. I remember when he arrived at Brooklands – he arrived by helicopter at 9.55am, then had to meet a Mercedes official at 9.57am, and then plunged straight into interviews at 10.01am…it was unbelievable.

“All I had to do”, Sir Stirling smiles, “was arrive, practice in the car, drive the car, and then go off and have some fun.

“Back then, all the drivers were really good friends too, whereas now you get a lot of friction.”

Loadsa-money

Yes – friction. Lewis Hamilton famously fell out with his former McLaren teammate Fernando Alonso during the 2007-2008 F1 season, and the rivalry between the pair helped shape one of the most dramatic episodes in racing.

But there is something more than friction which Sir Stirling has noticed about today’s Formula One racer…

“About 50 million quid”, he bursts out, unable to contain his laughter.

Not one to shy away from a challenge, Sir Stirling tested out a modern Formula One car to see if the racers were worth “50 million quid” – and came back astonished.

“I was doing around 185mph and lifted off before the corner…but the car slowed down so much I had to stamp on the accelerator again.

“I got more deceleration by just lifting off the gas in that modern car than I ever got in my life with the brakes slammed on.”

I’m a Celebrity…

But when a near-fatal accident at Goodwood in 1962 slammed the brakes on Sir Stirling’s driving career, it might have slowed him down a bit, but it certainly didn’t stop him.

“I retired from racing at 32 years old, with no knowledge of anything other than racing.

“And if you know nothing about anything, you can be an estate agent or an MP.

“I didn’t like either but it worked out ok”, Sir Stirling laughs.

“But I’ve never fancied going on reality television – one of those things when you’re in a jungle surrounded by all those weird people…

“I’d rather watch it than be in it.”

Moss…Stirling Moss

Film fans may have already watched Sir Stirling on the silver screen – he had a cameo appearance in 1967’s James Bond spoof Casino Royale.

“I could never remember lines”, he says. “I just had to jump in the car and drive off.

“My name at that time was synonymous with driving.”

In fact, Sir Stirling’s reputation was so synonymous it even infiltrated the police – officers would jokingly ask speeding drivers: “Who do you think you are, Stirling Moss?”

And he very nearly had that same question put to him many years ago…
 
“I was in a van doing around 60-65mph and I saw a police car. So I slowed down to 30mph, watched in the mirror and waited. He didn’t pull out or anything, but after a few miles of driving this slow I got bored, so I put my foot down.”

But the officer immediately pulled Sir Stirling over and explained how much distance he had covered in just a few minutes.

“I thought it was a fair cop”, Sir Stirling laughs.

Roary the Racing Car

Sir Stirling still hates driving slowly, and despite his 80 years still jet-sets across the globe attending shows and events – and has signed up for the second series of children’s TV series Roary the Racing Car.

“Movement is tranquillity to me”, he says, “and Roary was an amusing experience.”

Sitting on his leather-bound chair in his Mayfair apartment – which he built himself after World War II – Sir Stirling fools around with a Roary toy figurine, and is amazed.

“How can they keep coming up with these new ideas?” he asks, as he presses the belly of the doll which sounds off an undecipherable message.

Confused, he looks up and smiles. “What on earth did he just say?”

The new series of Roary The Racing Car shows each day on Channel Five’s Milkshake! at 7.30am and on Nick Jr. from 16th March at 4pm weekdays and 9pm all week.
 
For more information, log onto www.roarytheracingcar.com.

Check out Mercedes AMG models powersliding around a skid pan at the Mercedes-Benz World in Surrey: