The most famous racing Mercedes-Benz of all time is, arguably, the 300SLR of Sir Stirling Moss. It was in this car, with the famous race number 722, that Moss won the arduous Mille Miglia road race in Italy. Mercedes-Benz recently took the sleek roadster for an outing in England to produce the video at the bottom of this post, titled One Last Blast.

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Celebratory run

‘One Last Blast’ celebrates the life of Moss, who died on 12 April 2020 at the age of 90. Moss remained a Mercedes-Benz brand ambassador and was often seen at classic car events, such as the Goodwood Festival of Speed, behind the wheel of older Mercedes. Filming took place at the end of September 2021 in London somewhere the famous Mercedes-Benz racing car, with its Mille Miglia starting number of 722, has never been driven before.

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It was in this very car, together with navigator Denis Jenkinson, that Moss achieved a famous victory for Mercedes-Benz in 1955. It is in Moss’s honour that the company had the straight-eight engine howl for one last blast on a drive across central London before the car was retired. It will spend the rest of its days resting at its new permanent home in the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart.

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Closed set

Who do you think you are? Stirling Moss?” This, so the story goes, is what a policeman asked the British racing driver following a ‘daring’ overtaking manoeuvre on the streets of London. “Yes sir, I am” was the honest reply. There’s a nod to this often told story in the very early part of the video.

Several iconic London sights are seen in the video (below), such as the Houses of Parliament, Trafalgar Square, the Royal Automobile Club and the The Ritz hotel. On the way, “722” passes what was Sir Stirling’s very own 300 SL “Gullwing”. Sir Moss drove his own car from London to the start of the Mille Miglia in 1955. 

Fittingly, the racecar’s drive through the city ends in front of Moss’s own home in a Mayfair mews where it is met by Elliot Moss, Stirling’s son. It arrives at exactly 7:22 am, the original start time of Moss and Jenkinson’s Mille Miglia entry and the reason for the car’s racing number. The 300 SLR stops and its engine is switched off for the final time.