Video: Watch Stirling Moss clinch Lotus's first F1 victory in colour

As this video shows, this was still a transitional era for Formula 1; despite the previous year’s race having been won by a mid-engined Cooper T51 front-engined cars were still competing and Ferrari in fact fielded cars of both designs. As well as the racing, the film covers much of practice and qualifying as well as providing a glimpse into the glamour of 1960 Monaco.

The new mid-engined Lotus 18 with its Coventry-Climax four-cylinder engine helped Moss set new lap records in both practice and qualifying but it wasn’t going to be an easy ‘lights to flag’ cruise to victory.

Only 16 cars took to a reduced grid – eight drivers having failed to qualify – and at the off, Moss was overtaken by the BRM of Jo Bonnier, who led until brake fade handed the lead back to Moss. Rain swept in a few laps later, helping Jack Brabham in a Cooper-Climax catch and overtake Bonnier for second place and then hound Moss for the lead until a gearbox problem forced him out.

Moss began to stretch his lead in the treacherous conditions – Graham Hill spun off and hit the commentary box – until an unscheduled pitstop to fix a loose plug lead put Bonnier back in front. An incredible display of car control and driver input saw Moss catch him and regain the lead which he maintained for the rest of the race. Moss was joined on the podium by Bruce McLaren (Cooper-Climax) and Phil Hill (Ferrari) the only other two drivers to complete the 100 lap full race distance. Tony Brooks, Jo Bonnier and Richie Ginther completed the roster of drivers to finish the race.

The Hethel-based marque would go on to win another 81 grands prix in total, claiming six drivers’ and seven constructors’ championships along the way.