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L-R Andrew Lang, Sir Stirling Moss, David Darling

Motor racing hero Sir Stirling Moss was very gracious in offering to meet with TLF members in his central London house last week to sign the number plaque of the Exige LF1 #1 which is dedicated to his win in the 1960 Monaco F1 Grand Prix. Sir Stirling won the race in a Lotus Type 18 and was so successful at the circuit he returned again in 1961 for another victory! David Darling, owner of Exige LF1 #1 was very privileged to have Sir Stirling sign his cars’ plaque and drove especially from Edinburgh overnight to London for the event. He even managed to secure a nice parking spot in Sir Stirling’s garage, a real benefit in such a prestigious location in the heart of London.

Accompanied by fellow Exige S V6 and Esprit owner Andrew Lang and TLF owner Andy ‘Bibs’ Betts, David et al were very lucky to be able to spend an hour with Sir Stirling recounting some of the amazing stories from his time in motorsport. Sir Stirling also keeps a very keen ear to the ground regarding F1 and offered his opinions on the current racing season, the technology in racing and his thoughts on the impact of tyres on the races. Sir Stirling is an avid technophile and we spent some time discussing the future of motorsport with Formula-E now live and how this technology may make it’s way into our cars, with him driving a fully electric car on his journeys around London. The conversation was varied with some stories of modern flight (he travels over 500,000 miles around the world each year) and we were also shown some of the amazing technology he enjoys around his home. We were also lucky enough to see some of the amazing memorabilia Sir Stirling owns including his heavily damaged steering wheels from his crashes at Spa in 1960 and Goodwood in 1962. No matter where you looked Sir Stirling’s rich motorsport history was prevalent and he couldn’t have been a more gracious, generous and entertaining host.

David will be making voluntary donations to two of Sir Stirling’s charities, Mission Motorsport and Hope for Tomorrow by way of thanks for his time, and he will also be auctioning off a print of the Exige LF1 signed by Sir Stirling with this money raised also being split between the two charities. Keep an eye on our forums here for your chance to win these great souvenirs and donate to a couple of fantastic causes.

On behalf of David, Andrew and Bibs we’d like to thank Sir Stirling for his time and also his PA Mandy for all of her help arranging the meeting. It was a real honour to meet a man for whom the word ‘Legend’ seems just too small.

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