See Stirling Moss Drive The Mercedes 300 SLR One More Time

From our view here in the safety-obsessed present, it’s hard to even imagine holding a auto race flat out on public roads — not just a a drag race or a city course, but for nearly 1,000 miles, with spectators crowding the racing line. And it was safety concerns that eventually brought an end to the Mille Miglia, the world’s most famous race in the World War II era, which was run 24 times between 1927 and 1957 before the death toll climbed too high.

No car, and no driver, ever did better than Sir Stirling Moss in the Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR. Running as part of a team with the great Juan Manuel Fangio, Moss and navigator Dennis Jenkins finished the 922-mile distance in 10 hours, 7 minutes and 48 seconds — averaging 98 mph. The next time you’re on an unmarked two-lane country road, think about that speed, and that time, and you’ll have a sense of why many call it “The Greatest Race.”

In this short film by Petrolicious, Moss has a brief reunion with the #722. Both car and man have grown into legend, and yet both can still perform at a level that belies their age. The straight eight engine of the Mercedes was the peak technology of its era, and its sound alone evokes a long-lost period of competition.

“Oh, I’m certain it’s my greatest win,” says Moss in the film. “I can’t think of any other car in the world that would have given me the opportunity to achieve the speeds we did.”