Letter from readers

Authenticity

Sir,

I write to bring yet another angle on what is already an intriguing problem in historic racing, that of authenticity.

In recent months we have been subjected to a fairly intensive campaign in the media on the subject of Stirling Moss’s return to regular race driving, something which I felt was fully justified and could only benefit the image of the sport. However, there has also been a plethora of magazine articles on the great man such as “Moss the Man”. “Maestro Moss”, “Moss the Champion” and “Moss the Early Years”, with more articles in the pipleine no doubt, such as “The Wives of Moss”, “Moss’s Mechanics” or even “Moss’s Mother”. Without wishing to denigrate his achievements I began to ask myself, can so much have been achieved by one man? My suspicion was further aroused when I disccwered that he was starting to spring up everywhere including appearing at two circuits on the same day and I have firmly come to the conclusion that there is in fact not one Moss but two or maybe even three! If this is true, questions arise such as how can we spot the difference between an authentic Moss and a replica one? Should a replica Moss be allowed to race in authenticated cars or even worse should a replica Moss be allowed to race in a replica car? Perhaps DSJ, or the man himself might enlighten use as to how to spot the difference.

Martyn J Smith, Swindon