Ian Macpherson McCallum Stewart (15 July 1929 – 19 March 2017) was a British racing driver. Info from Wiki
Bio by Stephen Latham
After doing National Service with the Gordon Highlanders, Ian Stewart enrolled at Edinburgh Agricultural College with a view to eventually running the family farm business. However a drive in his mother’s MGA ignited a passion for fast cars and he drove the MG in rallies and at the Bo’ness hillclimb. He then acquired a Jaguar SS100 and then a Healey Silverstone, with which he competed in Scotland’s first ever motor race meeting at Winfield in late 1950, securing a third and a fourth place in his two races. In 1951 he raced a Jaguar XK120 and enjoyed much success, winning just about every race for which it was entered during the year; the Jaguar started off silver, but after a collision with a furniture van it was painted red and then, on the way to race at Tumberry he fell asleep and turned the car upside down.
He was one of the original Ecurie Ecosse drivers, designing the team’s iconic badge and suggesting his blue racing colours. Racing for Ecurie Ecosse, he won the Jersey International Road Race and took several other victories, including Castle Combe and the Wakefield Trophy in Ireland. One of his most notable successes was at Charterhall when he held off Stirling Moss all the way to the flag and he also raced a factory Jaguar C-type at Le Mans and in the Goodwood 9 Hours, sharing with Peter Whitehead though retired from both races.
The following year, again sharing a C-type Jaguar at Le Mans with Peter Whitehead, they finished fourth, and followed this with a third place in the Goodwood 9 Hours race. Ian enjoyed one of his finest achievements in the Ecurie Ecosse C-type, when he and Roy Salvadori finished second overall in the Nurburgring 1000km behind the Ferrari 375 MM Spider of Alberto Ascari and Giuseppe Farina and they also comfortably won the Production Sports Car class. Ecurie Ecosse ran a Connaught A-type and a Cooper-Bristol T20, in which Ian had occasional outings, including the 1953 British Grand Prix in the Connaught though retired with engine problems. He always claimed he held the record for crossing the finish line backwards at Silverstone.
However, his career was to end after he was injured when competing in a long-distance road race in Argentina in 1954. Sharing an Ecurie Ecosse C-type with Jimmy Stewart in the Buenos Aires 1000 km, he crashed while trying to avoid a back marker and broke his collar bone. His father had never been keen on him racing and the accident enabled him to pressurise Ian into ending his moor racing career at the age of 24. With his father’s health failing, Ian hung up his crash helmet, and when his father died two years later he then ran the family farms, becoming a notable cattle breeder, and ran a flourishing chain of pubs. He also never gave up on his fast cars. Despite earlier failing to convince his father that a Porsche 365 was a good farm car he did eventually obtain a Mercedes 300 gullwing and in the 1970s became Scotland’s first Ferrari dealer, enjoying driving the demonstrators.
Jackie Stewart said he obtained Ian Stewart’s autograph while attending races as a young boy and said of him “It was clear from the start that he was skilled and talented. He looked good in a racing car. He was stylish, just as Stirling was stylish, relaxed.. Ian looked as though he was part of the car, and the manner in which he drove brought him good results. His lap times were the target for other drivers.”
Gallery Other
