Chapter Three - Formula 2 and 3

Young Jackie Young Stewart was a hotshot long before he became a hotshoe: shattering clay pigeons rather than lap records; squeezing triggers rather than blending brake and throttle. Giving it both barrels with a single mind was where this undiagnosed (until 1980) dyslexic learned how to learn: how to eradicate error by removing hazard and risk; how to block out the extraneous; and how to win. Motor sport underscored Stewart’s formative years rather than overwhelmed them. The family garage/petrol station/dealership on the A82/A814 junction between Glasgow and Loch Lomond was a fulcrum of a small but ultimately hugely influential local speed scene. Brother Jimmy, his elder by eight years, had been a driver for Ecurie Ecosse initially and then aboard works Astons and Jaguars; wee Jackie was his autograph-hunting number one fan. 

But Jimmy’s premature retirement in 1955 after big accidents at Le Mans, the Nürburgring and Silverstone left 16-year-old mechanic Jackie minding a spotless lubrication bay during the week and shooting for national and international trophies at weekends. His selection for Great Britain at the 1960 Rome Olympics seemed assured. The shock of his missing this cherished target by a single point would prove transitional. 

Well-to-do Barry Filer was one of the garage’s sporting clientele and his out-of-the-blue offer of a Porsche Super 90 for a local sprint set Stewart upon a new path: he finished second. He further proved his talent at Oulton Park by lapping an E-type ‘demonstrator’ faster than the presumably better-tuned sister cars of Graham Hill and Ray Salvadori. As a result, he would soon be winning regularly at Berwickshire’s Charterhall in Filer’s ‘wooden wonder’ Marcos and DB4 GT.