I guess this may be old news, but I hadn't heard it. I just heard from
the OGSDETR (Old Guys Still Dumb Enough to Race) that Pat Moss died. A
fine lady and great talent. Sad day.
Like probably many of you I've had the privilege of meeting both Pat
Moss and her brother Stirling at various vintage events. The Moss
family is so topheavy with talent that it's amazing how down to earth
and kind they are. Each time I had the chance to briefly talk with
them I was overwhelmed by what fundamentally nice people they are, and
how unaffected and genuinely interested they were in what a goofball
like me is up to.
Phil Hill was the same way--kind, interested, respectful of the modest
talents (or at least the feelings) of we amateurs. It's been a bad
year for losing remarkable people..
It's a gloomy day in Portland, that seems to fit. I better go
downstairs and tinker with cars. The best way I know to deal with sad
moments like this.
Here's the details:
No one made greater strides towards equality for women in motor sport
than
Pat Moss. Not for her the mere satisfaction of a shelf full of Coupe des
Dames. She wanted to beat the men, and she frequently did so.
Pat Moss was born in Thames Ditton in 1934. Her original sport was
showjumping and she had no encouragement to start driving cars from her
brother, Stirling, or from her parents. However, when Stirlingb*s
manager,
Ken Gregory, invited Pat to go on a treasure hunt, she enjoyed it
immensely
and fancied a go herself. She was soon competing regularly in British
rallies with her Morris Minor convertible. The rallying had to be
fitted in
around the showjumping, at which she was highly successful b* indeed,
it
was the prize-money from the showjumping that enabled her to buy a
Triumph
TR2 in 1954.
For the 1955 RAC Rally she had her first works drive, an MG TF. Ice and
snow were problems that year, and she had to be satisfied with third
in the
Ladies Class, but her name was starting to appear on the special test
times. Other drives from BMC followed, and her first continental
outing was
to the Tulip Rally in 1955 with an MG Magnette. She was given an
Austin A90
for the 1956 Monte Carlo Rally, in which she finished 87th after a
couple
of brake failures and minor accidents.
She drove an MGA on the 1956 RAC Rally, where she nearly won the Ladies
Class. Various rallies in Riley 1.5s followed until 1957, when she
drove a
Minor 1000 on the Tulip Rally and then took one on the LiC(ge-Rome-
LiC(ge,
finishing 23rd. More astonishing was the RAC Rally of 1958 when she
finished fourth overall, won her class and the Ladies Award into the
bargain. Later that summer she took an MGA to the Rally to the
Midnight Sun
in Sweden and met Erik Carlsson.
She started driving a Healey 100/6 and took a fourth place on the LiC(ge
and led the Healey team to win the Manufacturerb*s Award. It was the
first
time that a lady driver had finished in the top ten on that gruelling
event, and the points gained assured her of the Ladies European Champion
title. Then for 1959 it was back to an Austin A40 for tenth overall on
the
Monte Carlo and a Riley 1.5 on the Sestriere before taking a Healey
3000 to
the German Rally and tying for first place with Carlssonb*s Saab.
In 1960 she drove big Healeys again, coming eighth on both the Geneva
and
Tulip rallies, second on the Coupe des Alpes, followed almost at once
by an
outright win on the LiC(ge. This was a stunning achievement,
regardless of
her gender, and it elevated Moss to superstar status in the rallying
world.
The year finished with an outing at the RAC Rally, where she would have
been fourth but for a time-card error.
The year 1961 was less dramatic but she did take a Healey to second
place
at the RAC and then, bravely, took one to Corsica where, against all the
odds, she finished 16th. She also decided to buy her own rally car, and
bought a Saab 96 on advice from Carlsson. When he got a free entry on
the
Safari by winning the RAC Rally, she took her car to Africa and finished
third on her first attempt at that difficult event. Back in Europe and
in a
Mini Cooper, she won the Tulip and German rallies, while in a Healey she
was second in Poland, and third on the Coupe des Alpes and RAC rallies.
She then accepted Fordb*s tempting offer to rally its new Cortina in
1963,
but the best result all year was sixth on the Acropolis Rally. She and
Carlsson were married in March of that year, and towards the end of the
season Ford tried to sign Erik for 1964. However, when he decided to
stay
at Saab, Moss left Ford and joined him there.
In 1964 the two-stroke Saab was past its zenith but you would never have
known it to see Mr and Mrs Carlsson driving them. She rarely failed to
finish and was rarely placed outside the top ten. In four years with
Saab,
she was third on the Acropolis, and fourth on both the LiC(ge-Sofia-
LiC(ge
and RAC Rally, all in 1964, third on the savage Monte Carlo of 1965, and
third on the Czech Rally of 1967 in the new Saab 96 V4. This heavier car
was not to everyoneb*s liking and, with Erik retiring to a company PR
job,
Moss decided to accept an offer from Lancia to drive a Fulvia CoupC) in
1968. On the Monte Carlo she finished 14th, but in San Remo she was
second
overall and won the Sestriere Rally outright. In 1969 she took a
Fulvia to
sixth overall on the Monte Carlo and drove in such famous road races
as the
Targa Florio. The birth of her daughter then rather distracted her from
rallying and, though she made the occasional appearance, she had
effectively retired at the start of the 1970s. Moss wrote two books: The
Story so Far (1967), a memoir, and (with her husband) The Art and
Technique
of Driving (1965).
In the two decades of her career she had shown unequivocally that, where
speed and stamina counted, there was every reason that a woman driver
could
succeed against the men. Certainly to the male drivers of that golden
period, she was a genuine rival.
In the 1980s Mossb*s interest in showjumping and horses in general was
rekindled as her daughter showed aptitude in that direction. Soon
horseboxes and estate cars had totally ousted any thought of rally
cars in
the Moss-Carlsson homestead outside Tring. But to the rally world Pat
Moss
will remain an icon indicating that skill, endurance and determination
are
the true measures of a rally driverb*s ability.
Moss is survived by her husband, Erik Carlsson, and her daughter, Suzy.
Pat Moss-Carlsson, rally driver, was born on December 27, 1934. She died
after a long illness on October 14, 2008, aged 73
Bill Babcock
Babcock & Jenkins
Billb@bnj.com
503.936.7660
www.bnj.com
Editor
Ke Nalu e-Magazine
Paddlesurfing's Web Journal
Bill@kenalu.com
www.kenalu.com
blog: www.ponohouse.com/ponoblog
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