ALMOST a century of motoring history that encompassed world speed records and racing with Nigel Mansell has come to an end with the closure of Moss’s Motors in Thirsk.

The garage, which started life as a bicycle shop in the early 1920s, has rolled down its shutters for the last time as the third generation Moss to run it, John, announced his retirement this month.

The company was founded by Jim Moss after the end of the First World War and operated as J Moss Cycles on Finkle Street in Thirsk selling bicycles and fishing tackle.

It soon grew to sell motorcycles and went on to spend 40-years on Long Street, had branches across the Thirsk area before moving to its eventual premises on York Road which featured a petrol station and car sales.

The Moss family were active figures in the motorsport scene and John Moss even competed against racing legend Nigel Mansell in go-kart races during the 1970s.

He still has an original raceday programme with his name printed alongside Mansell who would go on to win Formula One and Indy Car World Championships in the 1990s.

Mr Moss said: “I remember he was very good, but even back then he had the best of everything.

“I didn’t know him personally but I was around when he was around and he was very fast and obviously went on to great success.

John Moss’s father, Jack, was no stranger to high-speed thrills either and he became a world record holder after breaking go-kart speed records at Dishforth Airfield in 1966.

Mr Moss admitted it was “strange” to no longer have to run the business, but at the age of 64 and having worked in the family company since he left school he said it was the right time to step down.

He said: “It had been up for sale for a year or two and had got to the stage where it really needed a lot of restoration and modernisation and I didn’t feel at my time of life I wanted to do that.

“My father died last year in his nineties and he took over from his father after the Second World War; it is a long family history."

The site has been bought by Harvest Energy, one of the country’s largest independent suppliers of road fuels.