It was 65 years ago today (May 1st) that Stirling Moss and Denis Jenkinson set off for their assault on the fearsome Mille Miglia. Armed with nothing but a rolled up set of directions… and a Mercedes 300SLR.
Ten hours, seven minutes and 48 seconds later, they crossed the finish line after a near thousand-mile none-stop slog around Northern Italy. They had smashed the record for this incredible race, and broken the legendary Juan Manuel Fangio to the tune of over 30 minutes.
Moss and Jenks’s time was set at an average speed of 99mph, crossing the finish line at around 170mph. It is one of motorsport’s truly incredible feats, one that will never be forgotten. At the 2015 Festival of Speed presented by Mastercard, 60 years on from that amazing day, we re-united Moss once more with ‘722’, the 300SLR that had carried him to victory six decades earlier. He then led a parade of 300 SLRs of all varieties up the Hill at the Festival to the acclaim of the crowd, before talking to us about what that great adventure had been like. A special moment.
Stirling Moss
Mercedes-Benz
300 SLR
722
FOS
Mille Miglia
FOS 2015