Jackie Stewart - Triple-Crowned King of Speed

By Karl Ludvigsen

Haynes, £24.99. ISBN 1 45960-436-6

Ludvigsen hits the ground running in what he claims is the first full-length biography of the Scottish champion, with a robust assessment of Stewart’s safety campaigning. Karl is quite clear about Stewart’s importance to a campaign Ludvigsen himself was involved with from 1969; recalling the sarcastic comments JYS faced at the time, it is incredible to be reminded that at that point a driver racing for five years only had one chance in three of surviving.

The picture selection from the Ludvigsen archives is as lavish on the early days of Marcos and Ecurie Ecosse Tojeiro as on the F1 glory days, and there are fine whole-page colour shots and moody black-and-whites covering social occasions as well as racing.

Ludvigsen draws on a wide range of commentators, backed up by a bibliography annotated in the style familiar to those who have read his Stirling Moss biography, but restricts himself to Stewart’s racing, and to a lesser extent his competitive shooting, rather than follow the tale into his business and consultative years. Even the Stewart GP team receives only a brief reference, but this is a thorough picture of the career of the dedicated man who perhaps more than anyone else turned being a racing driver into a profession.