Jackie Stewart Racing Legends

I'm James Martin, chef and unreserved petrol-head.

CAR ENGINE REVS

Now I'm going to retrace the steps of one of my all-time heroes,

'70s F1 legend, Sir Jackie Stewart...

I'm Jackie Stewart and I'm a racing driver.

..by attempting to drive just like Jackie.

Smooth, smooth, smooth.

Right on the limit!

It's Jackie Stewart!

I'll discover a tale of triumph...

-COMMENTATOR:

-It puts Jackie Stewart amongst the all-time greats.

..and tragedy.

It was in the fifth lap that something went wrong.

JACKIE STEWART: I was in tears when I put my visor down.

Jackie Stewart was an icon to a generation...

Jackie Stewart's sunglasses, £2.95.

..who changed motorsport forever.

The most important thing to me is to live to be a very old man.

And now I'm going to experience the Jackie Stewart story...

from the driver's seat.

That's how Jackie Stewart did it!

-And for a cook you're doing very well.

-I do all right!

Since becoming a head chef in my early 20s,

there's always been something else in the back of my mind.

Cars.

I'm pretty sure I'm a petrol head. I've got olive oil through this vein

and I think I've got petrol running round this vein.

Motor vehicles are a huge part of my life. I like model cars.

When I bought this house, it was a small, two-bedroom bungalow.

One of my idols there, the legend Steve McQueen. Bedroom bike.

I actually didn't live in the house cos the first thing I built was the garages.

Starting to get into the boys room now.

The garages had underfloor heating, were air-conditioned.

Fuel pumps here. Nelson Piquet's helmet. Classic.

I was having a bath with a measuring jug to wash my hair.

Rolls-Royce Phantom Coupe, one of my pride and joys. 288 GTO, 1985.

I lived in that for seven years while the cars were living in luxury

but...for me, I'm in a dream.

CAR ENGINE REVS LOUDLY

I love this car, you can always hear the turbos whining.

To me, the 1960s and 1970s for Formula 1 was a magical era.

When you're looking back at those old races,

these cars were sideways most of the time.

Proper driving.

I think out of that era came huge legends,

the most famous of which is, of course, Sir Jackie Stewart.

Nobody has ever seen the finish of a motor race like this.

Jackie Stewart racing towards the finishing line.

In my opinion,

Jackie Stewart is the greatest person in the history of motorsport.

I think most people would regard Jackie as the master of the art.

Just look at what he has done.

Sir Jackie Stewart is a three-time Formula 1 World Champion.

It's Jackie Stewart!

His high-profile safety campaign changed the sport forever.

If I did not prepare myself for an accident and I think I'd be a fool.

I think we'll look back on his legacy as the first person

to be brave enough to stand up and say, "This is not right."

For all of Jackie's clever thinking,

there underlies a tremendous driving talent.

With the '70s icon as my guide, now I'm going to re-trace his steps

before driving his legendary Tyrell Formula 1 car for myself.

To be honest, I'm actually quite nervous.

For God's sake, I've got pictures of him on the wall.

He might think I'm a stalker!

But it will be a fascinating insight

into what it takes to be a racing driver.

I'm here to see Jackie Stewart.

GATE INTERCOM BEEPS

Thank you.

I'm meeting Sir Jackie for the very first time

at his 120-acre property in Buckinghamshire.

He's obviously come a long way from his days working on the forecourt

of his parents' garage.

-Morning, James.

-Sir Jackie, lovely to meet you.

-Welcome to Clayton House.

-Thank you very much.

Once the fastest of his generation, Jackie now leads a more sedate life.

I like the cows.

First we headed to Jackie's barn,

which, like any agricultural storage facility, is packed full of F1 cars

from his days as a team manager.

And some of the silverware from his 27 wins -

a record that stood for 14 years.

-This is just a small selection of what you've got.

-Yeah.

I gave all my big ones away.

That one there is when I won the Nurburgring by four minutes

on a very wet and foggy day, so that might be my most cherished.

-Nurburgring, what was it then, 13 miles?

-14.7 miles around.

-180-odd corners or something.

-187 corners.

-For a cook you're doing very well.

-I do all right!

Next, Jackie wanted me to meet was his wife, Helen,

a woman to whom he attributes much of his success.

-Helen, this is James.

-Hi, there, Lady Helen. Great to see you.

Jackie has been with Helen since the tender age of 18...

Press that.

..and they're still very much in love.

# The day my true love... #

Oh, I get shivers up my back!

THEY LAUGH TOGETHER

When Helen and I met, I walked in and there was Helen.

There was a number playing when that happened, we'll never forget it.

It was Love Letters In The Sand.

# Love letters in the sand... #

There can't be that many jet-setting icons with 50-year marriages.

But then Jackie Stewart isn't your typical racing legend.

The journey that you went on, what was that moment like

when he won the Formula One World Championship for the first time?

I couldn't believe it because...

I was so proud of him anyway and the fact this had happened to us.

# People try to put us down

# Talking 'bout my generation... #

You were an integral part of Sir Jackie's career.

I know, without me he wouldn't be world champion!

But also you were one of the first pit girls.

You were there timing, you were there at all the races.

You were looking great on the side of the pits.

Oh, yeah, but that was the case.

It was a very exciting, colourful, glamorous period of motorsport.

He asks my advice on should he keep his hair long?

I liked the sideburns.

The sideburns got longer, and the longer they got, the faster I got.

Was the helmet your idea, the race helmet with the tartan?

The tartan was.

We're both very strong Scots.

Helen got out a sort of silk tartan band.

It wouldn't go right round, there was a little bit at the back.

We couldn't afford that much more.

The Scottish thing. It was a big deal.

Jackie raced during a golden era.

He and Helen were members of a Formula 1 Rat Pack,

a handful of superstars who shared a closeness

that would be unthinkable today.

There was a great camaraderie and a great group of people.

Graham Hill, one of the funniest men you could ever have.

Jim Clark, one of the most introverted but genuine men you would have ever known.

Jochen, most exciting.

We all lived together

and with that... So many people were getting killed.

And therefore people acted in a different way.

One year we had, in four consecutive months, somebody die.

That was the most difficult time for Helen

because all the wives hung out together.

And we had two little boys.

That was my biggest fear, that something would happen

and Helen would be left with them.

Paul came home one day and said, "Mummy, when is Daddy going to die?"

-Really?

-I said, "Who told you that?" He said, "School."

I said, "Well, let's just say a wee prayer and hope he doesn't."

That really hurt me.

I said, "Look, I'm very careful, I don't take any chances

"and I've got great people looking after me."

The reality was I was awfully safety conscious.

I think the closeness we had in those days has washed through all our life.

Where we've been together for such a long time.

The boys have grown up healthy

and we've now got nine grandchildren from two boys.

Not bad batting average!

THEY LAUGH

But I wanted to go back to the very start of the story,

and I was about to discover that Jackie's love of cars

began on the forecourt of his parents' garage.

-This is something special.

-Right.

My mother had an Austin Atlantic, it was blue. Nobody else had one.

-Can you imagine in Scotland?

-I've never seen one before.

It was way ahead of its time.

CAR ENGINE STARTS

-There we are. Good.

-And we're off.

-Yeah.

Growing up, Jackie couldn't wait to join the family business

as an apprentice mechanic.

After all, his school years were the most difficult of his life.

I was 15 and left school with a dyslexic problem.

I was a disaster at school.

When you can't keep up with the rest of your friends,

it's not a nice thing.

You're called stupid, dumb and thick by your teachers,

and that was a fact.

I had no self-respect, I had no esteem.

I was totally complexed.

I was bitter and twisted that I was so much of a failure inside of me.

So I have to prove myself, I suppose, looking back now.

'And prove himself he did, but not behind the wheel.'

Here we are. All in one piece.

'It was on the shooting range

'that Jackie first put his brilliant hand-eye coordination to good use.'

And I'll take my... Right.

'When I was 14 and a half, I really started to shoot.'

And my first competition I went into, I won.

Shooting was just... turned my life right around.

I mean, to be good at something, you know, to win,

and to be applauded, was a completely new experience for me.

'In fact, he was so good

'he was a member of the Scottish shooting team.'

Pull!

GUNSHOT

Now, the idea is to try and make it dust like that. JAMES LAUGHS

It turns out that dyslexia - something we both suffer from -

drove Jackie to succeed.

To this day, I can't recite the alphabet.

I was 42 when I was assessed and told I was dyslexic. And it was like...

I was saved from drowning.

-I was 36 when it happened to me.

-Well, there you are.

The great thing about being a dyslexic for both of us -

and surely it's helped you - you find other ways of doing things.

-I got into food because I felt that I could cook.

-Yeah.

Pull.

GUNSHOT

-Oh! It was behind that.

-That was a miss. I'll let you have a go.

There you go.

Pull.

GUNSHOT

-That was dust.

-Yeah.

-You're pretty good at this, aren't you?

A bit lucky sometimes.

My shooting life was hugely important to my motor racing life.

To try and avoid a miss, I'd get myself ready,

I'd get myself relaxed, I would breathe correctly

and then I would go for the target. So you remove emotion.

That's what I did while shooting, and I learned that from shooting.

I won most of my races in the first five laps,

because everybody else was all wound-up.

Oh, you were a bit late on that one.

'The personality of Jackie really, really has come out of today,'

and you can understand why he stood out in amongst others.

'The house that he's got and the lifestyle that he's got,

'that's been hard-earned.'

He's probably one of the most driven people I've ever met.

Shooting provided Jackie with success,

but his love of cars soon became too much to ignore.

In 1962, a customer at his parents' garage

offered him a test run in a sports car.

He posted a time that was so impressive

he attracted the attention of talent spotter Ken Tyrrell.

I'd heard that he'd been driving very quickly and I invited him down

to drive my Formula 3 car.

And he put up such a terrific performance in that car

that there wasn't any doubt in my mind then

that he was going to be a very fine driver indeed.

That was a very big break.

It was a sort of rocket ship into Formula 2 and then Formula 1.

It was like I was his son, almost.

What did your mum think when you went back that day and said,

"I want to race?"

Oh, that was a disaster.

I was entering under the name of A.N. Other - ANOther,

so that my mother wouldn't find out.

-Right. What would have happened if she'd have found out?

-I don't know.

I hate to think. But she never, ever recognised I was a racing driver.

And then I won the World Championship, not a word.

No recognition of that.

And when I retired, she looks at me and she says, "Hmm!

"You're well out of it."

THEY BOTH LAUGH

And that was it.

-COMMENTATOR:

-'And driving a BRM was the up-and-coming Jackie Stewart.'

After winning the F3 Championship,

Jackie was signed to BRM as an F1 driver in 1965.

His team-mate - World Champion Graham Hill.

It was an ideal opportunity

to go up against someone who was extremely well-regarded.

Jackie learned a lot

from my dad about how to become

a professional racing driver.

-COMMENTATOR:

-'BRM's first and second.'

And although they were in mortal combat in races,

the relationship between my dad and Jackie was pretty good.

I also like him as a friend too.

'There is a good deal of clowning about

'before BRM goes on to win once again.'

There was no, "He's my number two, I'm the number one,

"you just sit back and watch." None of that.

'Jackie Stewart fast asleep in front of the BRM.'

It was in the Italian Grand Prix that Graham Hill's number two

first showed he had the potential to be number one.

There was a group of us.

And eventually we drew away from some of them.

-COMMENTATOR:

-'Clark's Lotus let him down and he had to retire.'

And it was left with Graham and I, with quite a few laps still to go.

'This was the chance for the BRMs to get their own back.

'Jackie Stewart in one of them.'

And he and Graham

had a real old tear-up that just went on and on and on.

The two of them were racing hard for that Monza victory.

We were given a signal by Tony Rudd, the team manager, "Ease off,"

because we had such a big lead,

and yet we were actually going as fast, if not faster.

In the end, Graham made a mistake and I went through on the inside

and took about a three-second lead.

'Jackie Stewart in one of them brought off a fantastically narrow win,

'beating Hill in the other BRM by just over three seconds.'

And it was Jackie who came out on top that day at Monza

and took his first ever Grand Prix win.

The Italian crowd is the most passionate crowd in the world.

They stream onto the racetrack and give you such a welcome

and such recognition.

Graham was fantastic.

Not once did he complain, not once did he have a cross word with me.

And it must have been frustrating for him,

because, in quite a few cases, I would be quicker than him.

'Very soon, I'd be strapping myself into Jackie's 1973 Tyrrell F1 car,

'and I was feeling a little unprepared.

'So I'd arranged to meet 1979 World Champion Jody Scheckter

'for some extra tuition.'

-Hi, Jody.

-Hi, James.

So how do I begin to learn how to drive like Sir Jackie Stewart?

-Well, he is known for his smooth driving.

-Yeah.

The theory behind that is you have so much traction in your tyres.

You've got to keep it on the maximum of that tyre the whole way round.

'I wasn't quite sure what Jody was talking about.

'But I was starting to realise there was more to driving fast than meets the eye.'

-You're getting your maximum traction that way.

-Right.

'The proof would be in my driving.

'Am I smooth enough to emulate Jackie?'

ENGINE REVS

I'm no stranger to track days but this was different..

I had a World Champion to impress...

..and a data-logging computer tracking my every move.

Brake hard. Straight line.

Back in the pits, Jody and John the boffin were analysing my lap.

Oh, my God, look at that.

So we can look at your line through the different corners.

So, for example, on this chicane,

you could probably get closer to the edge

to come out at the corner quicker there.

'If I was going to improve, I'd need to take some tips from my hero.

'So we watched Jackie's smooth driving in action.'

You can see you're actually just doing very, very little movements

-with the steering wheel.

-Yeah.

But the best way was smooth, there's no question about that.

Jackie believed his way of driving was safe and efficient

and developed a way of teaching it to the man on the street.

'So we take off from the line as smoothly and as cleanly as we can.

'The question is to keep the ball in the dish all of the time, going through all of the corners.'

Smoother driving IS the best way of driving.

Thankfully, Jody had lined up a modern-day equivalent

of Jackie's contraption.

So what's the plan?

-OK, so you've got to go through these pylons.

-Yeah.

And you've got to keep the orange in there

and you've got to be like Jackie Stewart.

OK. Oh, oh.

-It's actually not as easy as it looks.

-No, no.

Come on, you've got to get smoother than that. Oh, oh!

Jackie would have been much smoother.

'And the faster Jody made me go,

'the more difficult it was to stay smooth.'

Agh! Missed it.

You're having a laugh.

Yeah, I'll have an orange whilst you're waiting, then.

It's weird, your eyeline first of all goes to this

and keeping it in the pan, but then you become much smoother

because you're not concentrating on it, if that makes sense.

Bit faster, that's good.

'After what seemed like hours of patient tuition...

'I got it.'

-Yes!

-Well done, well done.

Yes! Get in there.

Well done, man - that's a lot better.

Well, I'm hoping this orange has improved my lap time.

Fingers crossed for the next lap.

ENGINE REVS

The on-board computer would compare this lap time with my last.

But I was busy concentrating on driving like Jackie Stewart.

That's 110 mile an hour round that corner.

Smooth, smooth, smooth.

Brake, look out for the turning point. In.

It feels so much quicker.

Power out.

That feels wicked.

I'm using gears that I never did before.

So much quicker out the exit.

And done.

-Woo-hoo!

-HE LAUGHS

It certainly felt good.

That's showing the delta time, so he's half a second up.

'But would the data show I was a smoother driver?'

So how do you think it is between the one that I did this morning?

Yeah, I think it's impressive.

First of all, you were three and something seconds quicker.

And then, also, you were very smooth.

So what about conveying this? Cos it's a different thing

driving one of these to driving one of the old Formula 1 cars.

Well, you know, the fundamental is the same.

You've got to get to the limit of the car

and it'll be harder to get to the limit of the car in a faster car.

-But what about impressing Sir Jackie?

-Well, that's a hard one.

But, you know, it's up to you. I think you'll...

If you do well, he'll let you know.

-COMMENTATOR:

-'And into the lead, Jackie Stewart's BRM, number 12.'

Jackie's second season as a Formula 1 driver couldn't have started better.

'Jackie Stewart, the winner, on the road to the Championship.'

'Now back to Spa...'

Having won the first race at Monaco,

he arrived in Belgium with high hopes.

'Completing the front rank, Jackie Stewart...'

But it was a race that would change everything for Jackie.

Motor racing is dangerous. There's a mystique about danger.

There's an attraction. But you don't want to be having accidents.

To finish first, first, you must finish.

But Spa in 1966 was a race Jackie was never to finish.

'And that's all we've seen -

'only six cars have gone through at the end of the first lap.'

I had no idea what had happened to Jackie.

But another two wives, one drowned about half a bottle of whiskey,

one went hysterical, because they had no idea what happened.

'The drivers encountered a fierce rainstorm

'at the 145-mile-an-hour corner at the bottom of the hill.

'And that was where Graham Hill saw, in the field, the other BRM,

'that of Jackie Stewart, upside down with Jackie still in it.'

Jackie bounced off a wall, off the front of a cottage,

and landed with his BRM literally banana-shaped around him.

And I was soaked in fuel -

high-octane aviation fuel in those days.

It was burning my skin right off me.

And there was nobody there.

No marshals, no help.

He was in his own bomb.

But that day wasn't going to be his tenth of a second.

It just wasn't.

And that was the day that he formulated his creed

that he was paid to show his skill and not to show his bravery.

# Ob-la-di, ob-la-da, life goes on... #

Despite his experience at Spa, life was good for Jackie.

He had become a key part of the racing fraternity

and was best friends with Scottish ace Jim Clark.

He was the best driver I ever raced against.

I think it's impossible to overemphasise

just how important Jimmy Clark was to Jackie.

You know, they even shared a flat together at one point.

The fellow Scot took Jackie under his wing

and helped him adjust to life in Formula 1.

I learned so much from Jim Clark, seeing him, how he dressed,

how he ate, how he talked,

how he wasn't infatuated by his own success,

and I spent my life as a professional racing driver trying to do just that.

Jackie was hungry for the same success as his friend, Jim,

but his BRM car was becoming less and less competitive.

To win a world title, he needed to be in a better vehicle.

Fortunately, he was approached by the man who first discovered him -

Ken Tyrrell.

Ken tapped him on the shoulder one day and said,

"Why don't you drive for me next year?"

I said, "Ken, you don't have a racing team, you don't have Formula 1."

He said, "Well, what if I had?"

I said, "Well, then we could talk about it."

They never actually signed a contract between the two of them.

They shook hands on it and that became their contract.

And we just had a gentleman's understanding.

Tyrrell sourced a car that would suit the Scot

and built a team around him.

Jackie's future was full of promise,

but his commitment to racing

was about to be put under intense emotional strain.

-COMMENTATOR:

-'It was in the fifth lap that something went wrong.

'Clark's car had not reappeared in front of the timekeepers.'

Jim Clark ran off the road,

hit a tree and suffered unsurvivable head injuries

and the car was smashed to pieces and broken in two.

Helen was the one who broke the news to Jackie

and Jackie recalls just sobbing his heart out.

If Jim Clark could die, anybody could die.

He would have been the last person we would have expected

to lose in a race car.

Jackie responded to the death of his hero in the only way he knew how...

..with the greatest performance of his entire life.

-COMMENTATOR:

-'You can call it the Grand Prix that nearly got lost -

'lasting fog and torrential rain,

'3,000 feet up in the Eifel mountains.'

They were conditions in which a race would not even be started these days.

And it's one of the great motor racing drives of all time.

He beat everybody by almost a lap.

And you don't do that unless you're a real virtuoso,

one of the real greats.

'Jackie Stewart, number six, in a Matra-Ford,

'was piloting his car as though he had built-in radar.'

To win there in those conditions

and to show such enormous balls and driving at that rate

just put him onto a plain that was so far ahead of everybody else

it was just untouchable.

And it's one that justified his stance on safety in later years

because nobody could accuse him of being chicken.

'Stewart took the chequered flag at an average speed

'of 86.82 miles an hour.'

Jackie and team Tyrrell had shown the world what they were capable of.

But many people doubted that a new team could win

the 1969 world title.

He was a World Champion in the making, but he hadn't done it yet.

So for Jackie Stewart to take the gamble and say, "You know what?

"I'm going to go with Ken Tyrrell and his new team,"

that was a gamble but it paid off big time.

'This left the field wide open for Jackie Stewart

'and his Anglo-French Matra-Ford.'

He had an overpowering effect on my way of thinking,

my preparation, my commitment...

'The man with his sights set on the 1969 Drivers' Championship.'

..and to allow my natural ability to be able to display itself.

'And Jackie Stewart fulfils the promise that talent spotter Ken Tyrrell saw in him.'

1969, I think I won six Grand Prixs. I think four were back-to-back.

'Can Stewart hold the line? It's the last lap. Somebody is challenging.

'It's Rindt going through.

'It's over the line together, and it's almost a dead heat.

'It's Jackie Stewart!

'Nobody has ever seen the finish of a motor race like this.'

'The South African Grand Prix, the Spanish, the Dutch,

'the French, the German, and finally Monza

'had clinched the Championship

'and written a cheque for £100,000 in prize money.'

After a triumphant season, Jackie won his first world title,

aged just 29.

Ken Tyrrell and the mechanics, the Matra designers, and everyone else,

really put the thing together in a very good package.

Really, it was only left for me to drive the car

because I think we had a pretty perfect setup.

I almost inherited the Jim Clark position

as the leader within Formula 1.

'15 years ago, Jackie Stewart got Fangio's autograph.

'Now he's the idol, one of the new generation,

'making fortunes in sport.'

He's the best racing driver driving today.

As a businessman, I think he may be even better.

By the end of the '60s, Jackie had hit the big time.

The Stewarts moved to Geneva, where they enjoyed an idyllic lifestyle,

something I've come to the Alps to get a taste of.

Well, I think I have a wee surprise for you.

I'm going to give you a taste

of Jackie Stewart's jet-set period of the early '70s.

-Right there.

-Oh, look at this!

-A De Tomaso Pantera.

-Pantera.

This exotic super car was the stuff of many a boyhood fantasy.

And when Jackie's sponsor, Ford, bought the Italian manufacturer,

he was the recipient of a new company car.

'For Jackie Stewart, getting home is a treat.'

-Well, you can see it's a good looker.

-It certainly is.

Let's go for a spin up on the Alps and then you can drive it.

Give you a bit of reminiscence to the swinging '70s, as it really was.

-Thank you. This is a boyhood dream, this.

-Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Now, when you first came to Switzerland,

you kind of had an image and marketed that image.

Well, I guess I was the first what I would call

truly commercial sportsman, particularly in motorsport.

By the time I was threatening the World Championship,

-suddenly advertising arrived.

-Yeah.

And the great thing about motorsport for a sports person is,

if you're a football player, there's the boots and the strip,

if you're a Grand Prix racing driver, there's tyres, fuel and oil,

there's engines, there's cars, there's sparking plugs.

Yeah, but it's not just that. Things like the sunglasses, the hat,

the image - everything. Tartan...

That was lifestyle too, you must remember.

# Baby, here I am

# I'm a man that's on the scene... #

It was the swinging '60s to begin with.

The lifestyle was synonymous with money.

I was seeing other, well, I'd say rich people living a rich style.

To afford that, you couldn't do it just by driving cars.

You had to have outside commercial relationship.

# Pretty little thing Let me light your candle

# Cos, mama, I'm sure hard to handle now... #

Business is no different than sport. I love doing deals.

I get as much satisfaction doing business today as I ever got

driving a racing car. You've got to have the great attention to detail.

And that attention to detail, somebody told me,

that even came down to what you were wearing.

-Didn't you have a shirt with a shorter sleeve?

-Yes.

-No, it was wider. I'm wearing one now.

-Yeah.

My left cuff is wider than my right cuff

so that if I'm photographed, the watch is visible.

# Cos, mama, I'm sure hard to handle now... #

And it was Jackie's financial nous that drove the decision

for the family to leave their UK home and relocate to Switzerland.

When I left in 1968,

I had to pay 93% tax.

As a racing driver, the chances are I was going to be killed.

Helen would have had nothing left. It was a big move.

Very unpopular in the Glasgow Herald, the Daily Record,

the Scotsman newspapers, and it still isn't popular today.

'And with that, it was time to fulfil my childhood fantasy

'and drive the Pantera.'

-Oh, we've got the hat on!

-I got this for you.

-Look at that.

-How is that? Good?

-Wow, that looks like a...

-Pull the sideburns down a bit.

-..a '70s child!

THEY LAUGH

-And the shades!

-I feel as if I'm in the zone.

-Oh, wow.

This is what my started my love of cars, this car.

'Sometimes, though, it's better not to fulfil your dreams.'

It's weird the seatbelt, it's flapping around.

-Yeah.

-Pretty pointless to be honest.

'Ever the gentleman, Jackie tried to distract me.'

Look at this vista, isn't this wonderful?

Look at that castle up there, right at the top there.

As much as I love the countryside,

-I'm just concentrating on what's in front of me.

-Good!

Three-times Formula One world champion sat next to me!

-Well, I'm well braced.

-Never mind well braced, you need to be well insured, that's the thing!

Off the power, on the brakes.

-The steering!

-Off the brakes.

Gently gas pedal. Whoa! There we go, sheer acceleration.

JAMES LAUGHS

Jackie became motorsport's first millionaire,

but he was about to learn that money in the bank

wouldn't guarantee another world title.

The first race in the 1970 Grand Prix season.

The '70s began with Jackie Stewart as the reigning world champion.

But the French company who built his winning car

refused to supply Tyrell for the new season.

That meant they had to buy an off-the-shelf alternative.

'The world champion's number on a march.

'A brand-new body, Ford Cosworth engine.'

Now Jackie had little chance of keeping up with Austrian star

Jochen Rindt in his expertly-engineered Lotus.

You've had a very good chance to look at the new cars on the track.

Which of them impresses you most?

Actually none of them impresses me very much

because they're all the same.

As Jackie struggled in his slow, unreliable car,

Rindt grew ever-closer to the world title.

I think the fastest at the moment is certainly Jochen Rindt.

Jochen Rindt now has a commanding lead of 20 points in the championship.

But despite their rivalry,

Jackie and Helen were close friends with Jochen and his wife.

Jochen was great, and Nina was fantastic.

She was one of the most beautiful women in the world.

He was somebody who had an important part in my life,

and one of THE drivers I would have trusted under any circumstance.

But Rindt's season ended in tragedy.

I literally was there by his side, I mean literally.

And they wouldn't admit that he'd died because in Italy,

had he died on the track,

they would have had to cancel that Grand Prix for the weekend.

I was in tears when I put my visor down.

And I went out and I passed the spot that Jochen died

and then I got on it...

..and I did the fastest lap I'd ever done.

But the death of the Austrian star was just one of many.

In 1970, three drivers died in three months.

Jochen was in September. Piers Courage was in June

and so was Bruce McLaren in June,

and somehow or another it was part and parcel of life at that time,

and the shock, the despair, the grief will never be erased.

Jochen in fact won the world championship in 1970,

the first posthumous world champion ever.

That year Jochen's wife, Nina, collected the world title on his behalf.

Off the track, Jackie took his safety campaign to a whole new level.

Are you all wearing seat belts?

You have to. It's entirely your responsibility.

The most important thing to me is to live to be a very old man.

If I did not prepare myself for an accident

by using the best helmet, the best clothes, the best thermal underwear,

the best seat belts, I think I would be irresponsible. I think I would be a fool.

Crash barriers, run-off areas, and flameproof protection

were just a few of the things that Jackie pushed for.

Terribly important that everyone pays the right amount of attention.

Everyone, from car designers to track owners,

were at the receiving end of his battle for safety.

Jackie was not the most popular driver,

certainly not with some commentators who thought

he was taking the masculinity out of the sport.

If these people are afraid of racing, well, give up.

People thought Jackie Stewart was a wimp.

The attitude in those days

was the throttle works both ways.

If you're going too fast, then back off a bit.

But Jackie didn't stop at motorsport.

He used his star profile to put safety on the agenda in every walk of life.

Now, I've lost friends very close to me

and I tell you it hits you very, very hard.

If you're walking on the pavement or crossing a road,

I think you've got to give as much concentration to what you're doing

as I have to when I'm driving a racing car.

But on the track Jackie still had a job to do.

To make sure he had the right car to do it in,

Ken Tyrell commissioned his own Formula One vehicle.

Ken, without anybody knowing, got Derek Gardner,

a wonderful designer who had designed this car in his own living room.

I would go up secretly and get into his garage

and get seat fittings for this car of the future.

The Tyrell F1 car was ready for the 1971 season,

but would the home-made car perform on the world stage?

Jackie Stewart hadn't won a Grand Prix

since his Spanish victory a year ago.

Sure enough, when it came out, immediately it was fast.

After five laps, Stewart took the lead and there he stayed.

His sixth Grand Prix victory is won in the world championship for the

second time, and the manufacturer's title for Ken Tyrell,

and puts the name of Jackie Stewart firmly amongst the all-time greats of motor racing.

The Flying Scot was back,

and in Monza he was crowned double world champion.

Leaving aside your undisputed skill, dammit,

what single factor do you think contributed towards your victories this year?

I think, again, my skill.

LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE

To drive Jackie's winning Tyrell, I'll need to experience

the extreme G-forces an F1 car can produce.

And that's why I'm here at the home of British motorsport.

One of my pet hates is a passenger in a fast car

so it would be actually my idea of hell,

being in strapped into something that's super-quick by, um...

by a driver that I don't even know.

And, of course, that's exactly what's going to happen

in this hypersonic F1-style two-seater.

It's a bit basic.

There's not a lot of room in here. I'm just wondering what that is.

If it had one seat, then I'd be interested.

Well, I'm hoping the guy knows what he's doing.

I haven't ever seen a two-seater racing car like this before.

Hi, James. I'm Jack. 2012 British Formula 3 champion.

-I'm your driving coach for the day.

-And have you driven this before?

Er, the first time I drive it will be you in a few moments.

-You are having a laugh, aren't you?

-It's only a racing car.

"It's ONLY a racing car"?

-How old are you?

-19.

-19?

Jack's a great kid, but he's a kid.

You know? He probably still plays with Star Wars figures and Lego when he gets back home.

It's going to be interesting to see you try and get in the back, that's for sure!

Oh!

Not nervous, are you?

-Proper bricking it, to be honest, yeah.

-Oh!

I'm not good as a passenger.

I'm certainly not good sat in the back seat.

And on that thing you can't actually see anything in front of you.

Yeah, I'm not really looking forward to it.

Jeez!

See, actually, this is quick enough, to be honest.

'As we accelerated out of the pit-lane,

'I braced myself for the physical forces

'that I know a Formula One car can generate.'

My God!

At this moment in time,

I'm supposed to say something to let you know how it feels.

I can't say anything!

Whoa!

HE LAUGHS

I can feel the whole car slipping in his hand. It's right on the limit.

You can feel it. Look at that!

HE LAUGHS

'In the late '60s, aerodynamics completely changed motorsport.

'Modern-day F1 cars with their sharp nose and wings front and rear,

'can be traced back to Jackie's day.

'The overall effect pushes the car to the tarmac,

'meaning it can corner at phenomenal speeds.'

The G-force left to right through there, at the end,

your neck... Argh!

'And as for Jack, my junior racer...'

What a driver! Unbelievable.

That's enough for me.

Slow down! Otherwise I'll phone his mother.

HE LAUGHS

'It ended up being an enjoyment, to be honest.

'An experience that I've never felt before in my life.

'I'd much rather be in the front seat than in the back seat.'

You've got twice as much horsepower in the Tyrrell

as opposed to that thing. But it's going to be incredibly hard work.

'The celebrity life. Stewart spends more time in the air

'than the South African Airways captain who flew him into Johannesberg.'

By 1972, Jackie was a global superstar,

but his relentless drive for success was pushing him over the edge.

This year was different somehow.

I was very tired. I was very uptight.

And I couldn't unwind.

I just destroyed myself health-wise. I just burned out.

I missed a few Grand Prixs.

I lost the World Championship. I finished second that year.

And then I thought I might retire because I was feeling so bad.

There's puddles round the track. The place is a mess.

And maybe in the wet you can accept that?

-I should think I will... be able to accept it.

-Well, anyway.

April of '73, I made a complete decision that I was going to retire,

but I would race until the end of the year for Ken's sake.

But Jackie made the decision

knowing he was handing over the reigns to a safe pair of hands,

his young understudy, Francois Cevert.

'And a very promising number two in the Tyrrell team...'

For Jackie, there were two aims, I think, that year.

To wrap up another title, to end on a high, but to give Francois

that little leg up to make sure that he could continue in that vein

for the Tyrrell family, which was so important to all of them.

-And then, second?

-First.

First for the left - the right one. And the...

But in Monte Carlo you don't want to be nervous.

Because I knew I was retiring,

there was nothing that I kept back from Francois.

He was a very attractive man for the ladies.

He had unbelievable eyes. He had a great sense of humour.

He had a fantastic physique, like a young fighting bull.

And as a racing driver and as a team-mate,

I couldn't have had a better one.

There was an affection there,

a genuine affection that Jackie had for Francois.

He was part of the Stewart family.

You would think that Jackie teaching me everything he knows,

I will become another Jackie Stewart.

-But yet?

-Well, but for the moment I'm far to be as good as Jackie Stewart.

So I am Francois Cevert.

Team Tyrell had a bright future.

All Jackie had to do, was go out in style.

In 1973, we just couldn't do a thing wrong.

They were like two brothers on the same team.

Jackie kept his decision to retire a secret

and approached his final season with renewed vigour.

'Jackie Stewart racing towards the finishing line.

'With team-mate Cevert second,

'a triumph for Stewart and the British Tyrrell Ford.'

The end of that season was at Watkins Glen.

And Jackie had already wrapped the championship up.

That was just going to be his 100th race.

On Friday, we practiced, and we were quick.

We looked like we could win the race.

On the eve of Jackie's final race, Ken Tyrrell came to him with a plan.

"Everybody would love it if you're leading the race,

"and you move over and let Francois win."

I said, "Oh, Ken, you're asking a lot.

"This is my last race ever. If I can win the race, I'd love to."

He said, "Yeah, but you'd be even bigger if you didn't."

'Mr Cevert was the winner of the 1971 Grand Prix in the United States.'

Suddenly there is no noise and there is no cars coming back to the pit.

Francois Cevert was killed in an absolutely appalling accident.

I was one of the last to arrive,

and, er, there was debris everywhere.

And Francois was still pretty much half in the car.

I would hate for anybody to see that.

I was so shocked by it, but then I was so angry

that the sport could do this.

And I stayed for what I thought was long enough.

But looking back, I wish I hadn't left when I did.

'Tyrrell Ford went through the guardrail.

'No reason has been given for the accident.'

Everybody on the team were terribly affected, naturally.

Jackie got together with Ken Tyrrell and they decided

that they were going to withdraw the team.

That was how it ended for Tyrrell that year.

And certainly that's how Jackie Stewart's career ended.

He missed his 100th grand prix.

He achieved his World Championship for the third time.

But he did it in very tragic circumstances.

I then said I was no longer going to be a racing driver.

It was a decision I have never, never, ever regretted.

I was never tempted ever to go back. It just never entered my head.

40 years on, Francois has his own bench

in the ground of Stewarts' house...

..along with dozens of Jackie's fallen comrades.

It is very moving when you're here

because you look out and you just see benches,

and that's a friend of yours that's died.

-Francois Cevert, he would have been the number one driver in '74.

-Yeah.

And I think he would have went on to win the World Championship, He was that good.

You know, what should have been a terrific ending for me,

cos I think we could have won the race. And that was the end of that.

'But Cevert's death wasn't in vain.

'I'm at McLaren to meet a man who took Cevert's place

'in the Tyrrell team - Jody Scheckter.

'Jody benefitted first hand from Jackie's safety crusade,

'which gained even more momentum once he retired.'

This is the car very similar to the one you drove?

Yeah, it's the same car as I drove.

Now so much has changed since that crash of Cevert.

I mean, you were there, so you actually saw what happened?

I was on the scene, I tried to get him out, and, you know, he died.

I just remember, well everything carried on.

And I said, "A guy's just died", you know.

You had a huge off in a car not dissimilar to this, didn't you?

At Silverstone, yeah, I remember that, yeah.

'Jody Scheckter's lost it.'

'Miraculously, no-one was seriously hurt.

'The new breed of cars fulfilled their promise,

'and not one of them caught fire.'

But, you know, if you look at the cars before,

say when Jackie started, these are a massive improvement.

You know, Jackie, if he gets into something, he doesn't stop.

I suppose that he talked so much, they just gave up!

Sir Jackie's tireless work transformed the sport -

something that hits home when you look at Lewis Hamilton's car.

So it's not until you look at a modern Formula One car do you see

all the safety features they were starting to work on in the '70s.

It's gone a long, long way. I mean, if you go here,

you just feel how solid it is compared to that car.

-You don't have to do much more. And this is all padding.

-Yeah.

So if you have a side crash, it's going to protect you.

Jackie Stewart was unique in motorsport

because he fought against the grain,

whereas everybody else just got in a race car

and took it for granted that these things happen.

He was unique that he stood on his own, at times, and still does.

He moved it on more than anybody in the history of motor racing.

They are so much safer now.

The last person killed in a Formula One car was the great Ayrton Senna.

Senna, yeah, yeah.

Motorsport will always be inherently dangerous.

But what Jackie Stewart has left

is something that will be blue-stamped throughout motorsport

from now on.

Um, and what he did was save people's lives.

Before Sir Jackie and I parted company,

there was one last thing for me to do.

We were at Lake Como, which could only mean one thing -

I'd be driving round Monza.

I have to say, I want a little bit more of this lifestyle.

But the problem is I've go to get in a Formula One car!

To say that I'm not nervous is an understatement.

I get to drive your 1973 winning Tyrrell.

Yeah, a wonderful car. It's a very famous car. You'll like it to drive.

But it's quite tricky, quite a nervous car.

So Lake Como's a special place

and Monza has a huge stamp on your career.

You were always hyped up for Monza.

Everybody gets wound up, just because of the atmosphere.

This was for me part of the build-up, part of the chemistry,

that allowed me to get rid of all that tension

and get rid of all that expectation.

You brought your family here. The kids are running around.

You could have walked out that door and never seen them again.

Emotion's fantastic to get rid of.

The car feels your nervousness if you have it.

The speeds that you're doing around Monza in the Tyrrell I'm driving,

I mean the top speed, what would you get out of it?

187, 188 mph.

We never quite cracked 200.

Don't look at me, I'm not going to be doing it either!

-Oh, yes, you are.

-I'm calm.

I'm quite happy to sit here all day, to be honest,

and leave the car for you lot.

Well, maybe I sort of felt like that too sometimes!

I'm unbelievably nervous.

And...to say that I'm not scared is a bit of an understatement.

You know, I'm driving something that is a 1970s Formula One car,

and they're inherently dangerous.

A lot of people were killed on this track.

You know, Francois was killed in this car.

It fills me with trepidation, fear, excitement.

Can I do that?

-A little bit like that.

-Just for me!

Well, this is your baby for the day. You couldn't have any better.

Right, in you go. Both hands back. That's it. Just slip right down.

-OK.

-All right?

Well, listen, I hope you enjoy it. It's a great car.

Just take your time, particularly the first lap.

ENGINE STARTS

Oh, my God!

OK, James.

Oh, my God!

Well, he must be a wee bit nervous,

because to be in that car around Monza, with so much history...

I'm actually at Monza!

..you know, it's a big moment.

Hit the brakes.

'Jackie's advice was to tip-toe around the first chicane.'

Then it was time to open the Tyrrell up

and find out just how magical this car really is.

My God, this is incredible!

Now he's getting a few revs over. That's good.

I'm going to go up the pit wall and see him through.

Good!

Bump, bump, down a couple of gears now.

ENGINE POPS One...

ENGINE POPS ..two... Three?

ENGINE POPS ..three.

Second gear. Oh, get it in there!

Into the first chicane and then he's going to accelerate out of that.

There he goes. Heading down towards the next chicane.

What a car!

He's going to go through on a bit of a dip underneath a bridge.

How cool is this?!

Now he's going down the main straight.

It looks good to me. I think he's got it fine.

I've never really seen a Tyrrell go round this racetrack. It's nice.

'..steal the march on someone else.

'Will it be Stewart, Rindt, McLaren or Beltoise?

'It could be any of them. And they're inside now...'

I still love the sport. I absolutely love it.

For all the bad things that have happened, there's, you know,

a hundred better things that have happened in many ways.

And it still gives me enormous joy just to be around the cars

and to be able to see somebody having that much pleasure out of it,

that in itself is terrific.

'It looks to me as if Stewart's just got it!'

'Jackie Stewart the winner. Jochen Rindt in second place.'

I cannot believe it.

'Unmistakeably the world champion, without any question.'

Honest to God, I was in tears on the back straight as I was coming in.

I didn't want to come in. I just wanted to keep going round and round.

Just...just incredible. Absolutely incredible.

Just let me sit here.

Good.

What an experience.

If there's a heaven, it's got a steering wheel and four tyres!

And it's painted blue!

THEY BOTH LAUGH

# Faster than a bullet from a gun

# He is faster than everyone

# Quicker than the blink of an eye

# Like a flash You can miss him going by

# No-one knows quite how he does it

# But it's true, they say

# He's the master at going faster. #

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