A superb and rare photo, made from what we believe is the original negative, of the amazing Stirling Moss, riding a Vanwall Formula One (chassis type 57 with a straight four engine), in the British Grand Prix of 1958.

The magnificent Stirling Moss, who raced from 1948 to 1962, won 194 of the 497 races he entered, including 16 Formula One Grands Prix. He once told an interviewer that he had participated in 525 races overall, as many as 62 in a single year, in 84 different cars. Like many drivers of the era, he competed in several formulae – sometimes on the same day. He was a true pioneer in the British Formula One racing scene and placed second in the Drivers' Championship four times in a row from 1955 to 1958. Moss's first Formula One win was in 1955 at his home race, the British Grand Prix at Aintree, driving the superb Mercedes-Benz W196 Single Seater for a convincing German 1-2-3-4 win, with Karl Kling and Piero Taruffi in the international driver line-up. It was the only race where he finished in front of Juan Manuel Fangio, his teammate, friend, mentor and arch rival at Mercedes. One of his most famous drives was in the 1955 Mille Miglia, the Italian 1597 km open-road endurance race, which he won in the record time of 10 hours and 8 minutes, finishing almost half an hour ahead of teammate Fangio in second place. His navigator in the Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR #722 (indicating the time of the start) was journalist Denis Jenkinson. As navigator, he supported Moss with notes about details of the long road trip, then an innovative technique.

In 1957 Moss won on the longest circuit to ever hold a Grand Prix, the daunting 25 kilometre Pescara Circuit, again demonstrating his skills at high speed, long distance driving. He beat Fangio, who started on pole, by a little over 3 minutes over the course of a grueling 3 hour race. Moss believed the manner in which the battle was fought was as important as the outcome. This sporting attitude cost him the 1958 World Championship. When rival Mike Hawthorn was threatened with a penalty in a Portugal race, Moss defended Hawthorn's actions. Hawthorn went on to beat Moss by one point, even though he had only won one race that year to Moss's four, making Hawthorn Britain's first World Champion. Moss was as gifted at the wheel of a sports car as he was in a Grand Prix car. For three consecutive years (1958–1960) he won the grueling 1000 km race at Germany's Nürburgring, the first two years in an Aston Martin (where he won almost single-handedly) and the third in the memorable "birdcage" Maserati. For the 1961 F1 season, which was run under 1.5-litre rules, Enzo Ferrari rolled out his state-of-the-art Ferrari 156, also known as Sharknose. Moss was stuck with an underpowered Coventry-Climax-powered Lotus, but managed to win the 1961 Monaco Grand Prix by 3.6 seconds, and later also the partially wet 1961 German Grand Prix. In 1962, Moss was badly injured in a crash at Goodwood while driving a Lotus. The accident put him in a coma and partially paralyzed the left side of his body. He recovered but decided to retire from racing after a private test session the next year. He made a brief comeback in the British Touring Car Championship in 1980 with Audi, and in recent years has continued to race in historic cars. During his career, Moss drove a private Jaguar, and raced for Maserati, Vanwall, Cooper, and Lotus, as well as Mercedes-Benz. He preferred to race British cars stating "Better to lose honorably in a British car than win in a foreign one".

Stirling Moss is seen riding the Vanwall Formula One racing car. Vanwall was a Formula One team in the 1950s. The Vanwall name was derived by combining the name of the team owner Tony Vandervell with that of his patented Thinwall bearings, which were produced at his Vandervell Products factory at Acton, London. Tony Vandervell was one of the original backers of British Racing Motors ( BRM ). In the early 1950s, he entered a series of modified Ferraris in Formula Libre races under the name "Thinwall Special". The first actual Vanwalls were known as Vanwall Specials and were built for the new Formula 1 regulations in 1954 at Cox Green, Maidenhead. The chassis was designed by Owen Maddock and built by the Cooper Car Company. The 2.0 L engine was designed by Norton engineer Leo Kuzmicki, and was essentially four Norton single-cylinder 500 cc engines merged into a single unit. The car appeared in a Grande Epreuve for the first time in that year's British Grand Prix. Development continued with boring out the engines to a full 2.5 L. Vanwalls then ran for a season in F1 without much in the way of success. At the end of the 1955 season, it was plain that while the engine was sound, the chassis needed improvement. It was suggested to Vandervell that he should hire the services of a young up-and-coming designer to improve their cars. The designer was Colin Chapman. The new cars designed by Chapman (along with the aerodynamicist Frank Costin) showed early promise in 1956 by winning a non-championship F1 race at Silverstone against strong opposition. Stirling Moss drove the car to victory in what was his only drive for Vanwall that year, as he was still contracted to drive for Maserati in F1. Talented drivers Harry Schell and Maurice Trintignant were the full-timers for the season. However, neither of them had much success although the car showed obvious potential. With the car developing and becoming ever more competitive, Moss eventually decided to drive for the team in 1957. He was joined by two Englishmen, Tony Brooks and Stuart Lewis-Evans. As the 1957 season unfolded, the cars became faster and more reliable. Moss and Brooks duly shared Vanwall's first Grand Prix victory in Britain at Aintree, and Moss went on to win both the Italian and Pescara Grands Prix. All three drivers stayed with the team in 1958, and Moss and Brooks each won three championship races that season. Vanwall became the first team to win the Constructors' Championship, held for the first time that season. However, Moss lost out to Mike Hawthorn in the drivers' championship by a single point. Their triumph at the end of the season was sadly marred when, during the final race of the year in Morocco, Lewis-Evans was fatally injured in an accident.

The 1958 season was the last one in which Vanwall entered every race. Vandervell's health was failing and he had been advised by his doctors to rest. The team continued half-heartedly. Brooks made one appearance in a lower and lighter Vanwall in the 1959 British Grand Prix and the team tried again with another car in the 1960 French Grand Prix. These efforts lacked the seriousness of the past however and they were unsuccessful. The last racing Vanwall was a rear engined machine produced for the 1961 Intercontinental Formula. Although showing promise when campaigned by John Surtees in two races, development was stopped short when the formula did not find success in Europe. In 2003 Vanwalls Cars was formed, producing the Vanwall Sports Racer, a single seater road legal car bearing a strong resemblance to previous Vanwall racing cars.

This is a very nice and very rare photo that reflects a wonderful era of Vanwall ‘s and Formula One automotive history in a wonderful way.  This is your rare chance to own this photo, therefore it is printed in a nice large format of ca. 8" x 12" (ca. 20 x 30 cm).  It makes it perfectly suitable for framing.