Remarkable life led

But Sir Jackie Stewart’s legacy was not just his skill, but safety for the drivers at risk of death

Sir Jackie Stewart, born 11 June 1939.

He is considered to be the First Man of the racing track, not just a true sportsman but a figurehead in the world of motor sport.

Sir Jackie Stewart OBE counts 27 Grand Prix victories and three years as Formula 1 world champion among his wins but, while revered as the standard setting driver of his day, his impact on the sport goes much further.

The former mechanic from Dumbarton became the world’s first celebrity racing driver, his nights with rock stars and royalty in Europe’s most eclectic enclaves bringing the sport into the public gaze like never before.

But it was his campaign to improve its “diabolical” safety record which forged his most valuable legacy.

Sir Jackie’s lobbying was met with stiff resistance from drivers and commentators afraid that the sport’s dangerous romance would be stripped away by a new focus on safety.

But he remained undeterred following his 150 mph crash on the treacherous Spa-francorchamps circuit during the 1966 Belgium Grand Prix.

He was left trapped, covered in petrol, for 25 minutes before finally being rescued using a spectator’s spanner. After lying on a stretcher in a tent littered with cigarette ends, the ambulance got lost on its way to the hospital.

Seatbelts, full-face helmets, safety barriers and greater run off areas were to follow. Motorsport expert and author Douglas Nye said Sir Jackie’s celebrity status estranged “many of the old-school British motor racing blazerati”.

Nye added: “His driving exploits were so magnificent, his success so widespread, that it was impossible to dismiss his well-expressed intentions and ambition to save life and limb.

“Almost single-handedly, Jackie Stewart saved world-class motor sport from becoming a barbaric hangover from less-civilised and more brutish times.

“His detractors longed to accuse him of being lily-livered, but since he had won the German Grand Prix, by a margin of four minutes over Graham Hill in 2nd place, in mist and fog and rain, driving with a broken wrist in a plaster cast...well, nobody could accuse him of being frit.”

Sir Jackie lives in Buckinghamshire with his wife Helen, whom he met aged 16 on a date in Helensburgh. He recently launched the Race Against Dementia campaign to find a cure for the disease after his wife of 60 years was diagnosed with the condition.

Sir Jackie also became president of Dyslexia Scotland following his own diagnosis, aged 41.

Nye said Sir Jackie’s charitable works were “tireless and always willing” and that he had privately and discreetly assisted many people from the motor racing world who found themselves in need. ALISON CAMPSIE