He was immediately successful in motor racing, taking several wins in Formula Three at national and international levels, prior to his first major victory at the RAC Tourist Trophy in 1950, driving a Jaguar XK120.

Moss joined Mercedes in 1955, taking his maiden win at the British Grand Prix as he finished runner-up in the championship to career rival Juan Manuel Fangio.

Moss retired from motor racing in 1962, after an accident at the non-championship Glover Trophy left him in a coma for a month and temporarily paralysed.

He achieved 16 wins, 16 pole positions, 19 fastest laps and 24 podium finishes in Formula One, the former of which remains the record for a non-World Drivers' Champion.

In British popular culture, Moss was a widely recognised public figure, with his name becoming synonymous with speed in the mid-20th century.

He made several media appearances, including in the James Bond film Casino Royale (1967), and was named BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 1961.

He soon demonstrated his natural talent and ability with numerous wins at both the national and international levels, and continued to compete in Formula Three,[16] with Coopers and Kiefts, after he had progressed to more senior categories.

[6] His first major international race victory came on the eve of his 21st birthday at the wheel of a Jaguar XK120 in the 1950 RAC Tourist Trophy in Northern Ireland.

[17] He finished second in the 1952 Monte Carlo Rally; driving a Sunbeam-Talbot 90 with Desmond Scannell and John Cooper as his co-drivers.

He bought a Maserati 250F, and although the car's unreliability prevented him from scoring high amounts of points in the 1954 Drivers' Championship, he qualified alongside the Mercedes front runners several times and performed well in the races.

[16] In the Italian Grand Prix, Moss passed both drivers who were regarded as the best in Formula One at the time – Juan Manuel Fangio in his Mercedes and Alberto Ascari in his Ferrari – and took the lead of the race.

"[26] The same year, Moss also won the RAC Tourist Trophy,[27] the Targa Florio (with Peter Collins),[28] and the Mille Miglia.

To his victories in the Tourist Trophy, the Sebring 12 Hours and the Mille Miglia he added three consecutive wins from 1958 to 1960 in the 1000 km Nürburgring, the first two in an Aston Martin (in which he did most of the driving),[36][37][38][39] and the third in a Maserati Tipo 61, co-driving with Dan Gurney.

[13][42] He recovered but retired from professional racing after a test session in a Lotus 19 the following year, when he lapped a few tenths of a second slower than before.

[43][44] At the Autodrome de Montlhéry, a steeply banked oval track near Paris, Moss and Leslie Johnson took turns at the wheel of the latter's Jaguar XK120 to average 107.46 mph (172.94 km/h) for 24 hours, including stops for fuel and tyres.

[45] Revisiting Montlhéry, Moss was one of a four-driver team, led by Johnson, who drove a factory-owned Jaguar XK120 fixed-head coupé for 7 days and nights at the French track.

[51] Although ostensibly retired from racing since 1962, Moss did make a number of one-off appearances in professional motorsport events in the following two decades.

[54] The Holden Torana he shared with Jack Brabham in the 1976 Bathurst 1000 was hit from behind on the grid and eventually retired with engine failure.

Moss, at the wheel of the Torana when the Holden V8 engine let go, was criticised by other drivers for staying on the racing line for over 2/3 of the 6.172 km long circuit while returning to the pits as the car was dropping large amounts of oil onto the road.

[56][57] In 1980 he made a comeback to regular competition, in the British Saloon Car Championship with the works-backed GTi Engineering Audi team.

[59] For the 1981 season Moss stayed with Audi, as the team moved to Tom Walkinshaw Racing management, driving alongside Martin Brundle.

[60] Throughout his retirement he raced in events for historic cars, driving on behalf of and at the invitation of others, as well as campaigning his own OSCA FS 372 and other vehicles.

[77] In 2015, when he was aged 85, Moss published a second autobiography, entitled My Racing Life, written with motor sports writer Simon Taylor.

[83] Moss was the subject of a cartoon biography in the magazine Private Eye that said he was interested in cars, women and sex, in that order.

The cartoon, drawn by Willie Rushton, showed him continually crashing, having his driving licence revoked and finally "hosting television programmes on subjects he knows nothing about".

[84] Moss was one of the few drivers of his era to create a brand from his name for licensing purposes, which was launched when his website was revamped in 2009 with improved content.

[93][95] Moss's 80th birthday, on 17 September 2009, fell on the eve of the Goodwood Revival and Lord March celebrated with an 80-car parade on each of the three days.

Moss drove a different car each day: a Mercedes-Benz W196 (an open-wheel variant), the Lotus 18 in which he had won the 1961 Monaco GP, and an Aston Martin DBR1.

[96] On 7 March 2010, Moss broke both ankles and four bones in a foot, and also chipped four vertebrae and suffered skin lesions, when he plunged down a lift shaft at his home.

[99] As a result of this illness and a subsequent lengthy recovery period, Moss announced his retirement from public life in January 2018.