Jackie Stewart and Ken Tyrrell

When it comes to sporting marriages made in heaven, Jackie Stewart and Ken Tyrrell has to be one of the all-time greats. Stewart tells Nigel Roebuck how it all came about

Jackie Stewart and Ken Tyrrell

Ken Tyrrell and Jackie Stewart chat during their successful 1969 campaign, when the Scot became world champion for the first time

display_0587737846

When we speak of legendary partnerships in motor racing, perhaps the one that would spring first to most minds is that of Colin Chapman and Jim Clark: throughout his eight-year Formula 1 career Jimmy never raced other than a Lotus, after all, and one can scarcely imagine him in anything else. He and Chapman communicated in a way that was almost telepathic, and beyond that was a friendship Colin rarely enjoyed with those who drove for him.

Friendship was even more at the heart of it in the case of Ken Tyrrell and Jackie Stewart. It was Ken who brought Jackie into the big time, and ultimately they went on to win three world championships.

“No question about it,” Stewart says, “Ken was the most influential man in my motor racing life – and the best leader of a racing team that I ever came across. He was always absolutely his own man, never in any way diverted from his mission, and his leadership wasn’t directed only towards the drivers: everyone in the team respected him, and to the highest level. I liked the way Ken did things – it suited me.”