Mercedes-Benz drives the 300 SLR '722' through London in tribute to Sir Stirling Moss

Mercedes-Benz has released a new short film featuring the 300 SLR '722', made in tribute to Sir Stirling Moss.

The film, titled The Last Blast, makes a nod to a legendary tale about how Moss was once pulled over following a particularly 'daring' overtaking manoeuvre on the streets of London. "Who do you think you are? Stirling Moss?" was what the policeman asked the legendary British racing driver, so the story goes, before receiving the honest "Yes sir, I am" as a reply.

In the short film, the police motorcycle outrider admonishes the over-enthusiastic driver of the very Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR made famous by Moss's win in the 1955 Mille Miglia race. As the camera zooms in on the front wing of the bike, we see a sticker bearing the famous question.

But while the Silver Arrow is the visible star of the show, there's an invisible one, too: The late racing driver himself. In this very car, together with navigator Denis Jenkinson, he achieved a famous victory for Mercedes-Benz in the 1955 road race from Brescia to Rome and back.

And it is in Moss's honour that Mercedes-Benz had the straight-eight engine howl for one last blast on a drive across central London before the car is retired to return to its permanent home in the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart.

The result is a moving three-and-a-half minutes of film. The starting point of the drive, very early one Sunday morning, is The Temple. It then takes in 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' - the car in which he travelled from London to the Mille Miglia in 1955. Its drive through the city ends in front of Moss's own home in a Mayfair mews. There, his son, Elliot Moss, stands in front of the door and looks at the watch on his wrist, which his father wore for many years. It's exactly 7:22am, the original start time of Moss and Jenkinson's Mille Miglia entry and the reason for the car's racing number. The 300 SLR rolls to a halt one final time, and its engine is switched off.