Jackie Stewart reunited with his championship winning Tyrrell

It’s a testament to Stewart’s measured driving style that he was able to extract the maximum from the car so consistently for an entire season. In fact, he won in his first outing in the 006 (in the third round of the 1973 season in South Africa) and a further four times that year. 

It was at Goodwood in 1964 that Stewart got his big break into professional motorsport. He was testing a Tyrrell Formula 3 car on the same day as Bruce McLaren and consistently outpaced the future team-owing New Zealander. As a result, Ken Tyrrell offered him a Formula Three drive and so began his ascent of the motorsport ladder. Prior to that, Stewart’s talents had been nurtured by Barry Filer, a customer of the family business. He had allowed Stewart to test cars, including his Aston Martin DB4GT. Filer also bought the Marcos Gullwing in which Stewart claimed his first four race wins. This led to a couple of drives for Ecurie Ecosse.

While Stewart won’t be exploring the limits during the demonstration runs at Revival, the spectacle will nonetheless provide a taste of the sights and sounds of grand prix racing from half a century ago, a time when the top flight of motorsport was a very different beast to what we know today. 

Stewart had already decided to stop racing in Formula 1 at the end of the 1973 season and when his close friend and protégé Francois Cavert was killed in an accident during qualifying at Watkins Glen, he called time on his grand prix career straight away, without entering what would have been his 100th and final grand prix. He has famously been an advocate of improving safety in motorsport, a campaign he started after an accident at Spa Francorchamps in 1966. That legacy is at least equal to his impressive driving career results.

Watching him pilot his final championship-winning car at Goodwood is a memory that will live long. He didn't baby it, either.

Photography by Jochen Van Cauwenberge and Pete Summers.