Harnessing Horsepower – The Pat Moss Carlsson Story
By Stuart Turner
The name of Moss, of course, is written large in motor racing annals, but there is more to it than simply Sir Stirling. This biography is about his younger sister, Pat, who died of leukemia in 2008. In the world of rallying Pat Moss is considered one of the most successful female rally drivers of all time.
Unsurprisingly, there was more to Pat Moss than what we saw behind the wheel of a rally car. Her early love for horses would earn her a place on the British showjumping team and the covers of various equine publications of the time.
For Pat’s first rally she partnered then boyfriend Ken Gregory (also her brother’s manager) in a Standard Vanguard. Her first rally drive was in her own Morris Minor, tuned by Stirling with an alloy head and larger SU carburetor. A Triumph TR-2 soon followed, along with success.
By 1955 Moss had teamed with Ann Wisdom, and soon gained notice from John Gott, the BMC Team Manager. A loaned MGTF came her way and other BMC cars followed, with their best result being 1st in the 1960 Liege-Rome-Liege in an Austin-Healey 3000. When Wisdom retired, Pat continued with Ann Riley and then Pauline Mayman navigating, winning the 1962 Tulip and German rallies in Mini Coopers. By then Pat and famed Swedish rally driver Erik Carlsson had become an item, and she soon joined him at Saab, becoming European Ladies Rally Champion in 1965 and ’66.
Published by Veloce Publishing and available through Amazon for $37.96 in the US and £21.26 in the UK.
