Sideline Sid Sports correspondent & historian www.sunlive.co.nz

Only a few legendary sports stars become so synonymous with their calling, that they go hand-in-hand in public recognition of their chosen sport.

Motor Racing lost arguably their best known racing-ace with the passing of (Sir) Stirling Moss over Easter.

Stirling Moss epitomised his love of speed, to become the best known name in motor racing from when he debut in 1948.

He will be forever known as the greatest racing driver never to win a Formula 1 World Championship.

The New Zealand Grand Prix brought Stirling Moss to the 'Land of the Long White Cloud' during the 1950's and early 1960's, with the English driving ace winning the race on three occasions in 1956, 1959 and 1962.

The first New Zealand Grand Prix was organised by the Manawatu Car Club at Ohakea Air Force base near Palmerston North in 1950.

The one-off motor sport event was then next staged in 1954, at the Ardmore Aerodrome south of Auckland, which heralded the start of the New Zealand International Grand Prix Association.

For the next nine years, Ardmore attracted the biggest crowds seen at sporting events in the country during the fifties and sixties, before a new track, that is still used today, was constructed at Pukekohe.

Some of the biggest names of Formula 1 Racing, including Stirling Moss, Jack Brabham and our own Bruce McLaren and Denny Hulme, would make an annual pilgrimage down under.

Between 1956 and 1962, Stirling Moss and future World F1 Champion (Sir) Jack Brabham thrilled the huge Ardmore crowds with their head-to-head battles, with the pair winning the New Zealand motor sport trophy on three occasions apiece.

The New Zealand Grand Prix in the 1960's continued to attract the world best, with World Champions Graham Hill and Jackie Stewart, along with Kiwi Formula 1 driver Chris Amon, lifting the trophy aloft in triumph.

The New Zealand Grand Prix continues today, albeit as a proving ground for the motor sport stars of the future, being one of only two FIA recognised Grand Prix outside the World Formula 1 Championship.

Moss was runner-up in the Formula1 title race on four occasions and finished third a further three times.

However, it was his love affair with speed, that saw him compete in many varied classes until serious injury curtailed his F1 career in 1962.

He always maintained that his winning effort in the Italian Mille Migilia one thousand mile race in a time of 10 hours 7 minutes, was his greatest triumph.

In 1957, his love of speed took him to the Bonneville Salt Flats in the USA where he drove a MG EX181 to a class record of 245 miles per hour.

In later years, he would venture down under again, competing in the Bathurst 500 with Jack Brabham in 1976 and returning to New Zealand three years later to partner former Kiwi World F1 Champion Denny Hulme, in the Benson & Hedges 500 at Pukekohe.

RIP (Sir) Stirling Moss