Octane, July 2006, Stirling Moss Scrapbook 1961 Review

If you're experiencing a sense of deja vu, it's because this is the second volume based on Stirling Moss's own scrapbooks to appear in recent months. And, like the first one, it's our Book of the Month.

There aren't many motor racing books that you can leave on your coffee table and be confident that any visitor - including your car-hating Aunt Agatha - will pick up and enjoy. Designer Andrew Garman and co­author Philip Porter have done a great job of creating a real pick V mix of press cuttings, photographs, letters and ephemera alongside a running commentary based on Moss's diaries; it's perfect for dipping into as well as being a valuable chronicle of this significant year in Moss's career.

In 1960, Moss suffered a horrific accident when his Lotus 18 lost a wheel at Spa, resulting in two broken legs and three crushed vertebrae: despite this, and despite the handicap of having to drive inferior cars compared with his Continental opposition, he achieved some of his greatest victories in 1961 - at the Monaco GP in an outdated Lotus 18, and at the German GP in a Lotus 18/21, not to mention variousTT wins. But the racing makes up only part of Moss's life at a time when he was at least as famous as, say, David Beckham is today. You only have to note the number of newspaper cartoons in which the punchline makes some reference to his name to see what a profound impression he made on the public consciousness. More than one letter envelope is reproduced here, posted by some foreign fan and simply addressed to 'Stirling Moss, London' yet successfully delivered by the good old GPO: Moss was not just a man, he was (and is) an institution. Or is he a robot? Among the magazine clippings is a bizarre spoof (co-authored by Brock Yates and Gordon Bruce) claiming that Moss is actually a Mklll robot, complete with extremely detailed 'cutaway' drawing of his inner workings...And then, of course, there were the girls. Moss was clearly not a shrinking violet in 1961. Our favourite of the many letters in the album reads: 'It is my earnest wish and insistence that you have no further communication with my daughter... She is still a MINOR, being 19 years of age. Further communication on either side is unnecessary.'

Sex, money and motor racing - it's all here, and there's more of it to come as Porter publishes further scrapbooks. We can't wait.