NOTICE OF DEATH - LADY SUSIE MOSS (1953 - 2023)

With great sadness we must inform Members of the death last Saturday 18 March of Lady Susie Moss, the widow of Sir Stirling Moss OBE. She was 69 years of age, had been in declining health for some time and made her final appearance in public at last year’s Tribute to her husband at the Goodwood Revival.

Susie Paine first met Sir Stirling in Hong Kong, where she was born, when she was five years old. Her father worked for the Rootes Group, for whom Sir Stirling drove from time to time, and with whom he used to stay on stopovers when travelling to Australia. Stirling became a good friend of the Paines and kept in touch when the family moved to London. By then Stirling’s career as a Grand Prix driver had come to an end and his main preoccupation was the portfolio of rental properties in which he was closely involved on a day to day basis. By the late 1970s Susie was helping Stirling with maintenance and administration of the buildings and in due course became a director of Stirling Moss Limited. They married in April 1980 and were inseparable for the rest of their lives.

In his autobiography Stirling Moss My Racing Life, written in conjunction with Simon Taylor and published by EVRO in 2015, Stirling went on record about Susie’s role in his life as follows:

‘…I simply could not operate without Susie. She looks after me, organises me, travels with me on all my working trips around the world, knows where I have to be at any time, and never loses her sense of humour, even if I lose mine. She makes sure that my life works. Susie and I have been together for 38 years, married for 35, and she has never stopped being the best thing that bever happened to me.’

Even in his 80s, such was Stirling’s enduring fame that he was still receiving on average 20 letters a day. Susie answered all of them. As a couple Stirling and Susie were motor racing royalty, welcomed wherever they went and, by their charm, captivating generations of motor racing fans who were too young to have seen Stirling in his prime as one of the greatest Grand Prix drivers of all time. In 2008, 60 years after Stirling became a Member of the BRDC, Susie was invited to become an Honorary Member of the Club which was a source of particular pleasure not only to Lady Susie herself but also to her husband who invariably wore a BRDC badge at all the many events and functions which they attended.

Tragically, it came to an end when Stirling was taken ill while in Singapore in 2017. Over the next three years his health declined and he withdrew from public life. Susie never left his bedside throughout his illness. On Easter Sunday 2020 Stirling crossed the finishing line for the last time leaving Susie bereft. Her devotion to Stirling remained unwavering through her remaining years.

The BRDC offers its deepest condolences to Lady Susie's son Elliot, her sister Tina, stepdaughter Allison and their grandchildren. Sir Stirling’s fame as a racing driver will endure for all time and alongside him in the memory will be Lady Susie, his most gracious, kindest and nicest wife about whom never a harsh word was heard.