Elite Traveler July-August 2016

elite traveler JULY/AUG 2016 97

well adjusted. What I call mind management is important. I learned it from shooting. Before I became a racing driver I shot for Scotland and Great Britain in Olympic trap shooting. I was shooting competitively from age 14 to 23. That taught me mind management. If I wasn’t concentrating or was over confident I would miss a target – and you don’t get it back. I could make a small mistake driving and correct it in another corner. In golf you can mess up a drive, but make a good bunker shot. In shooting that doesn’t happen.” SUNDAY One feature of Weekend of a Champion is the weather. It rains almost the whole weekend until race day dawns bright and sunny. In 2016, the opposite is true. After a glorious Friday and Saturday, race day dawns with thunderstorms and heavy rain. Many people are caught out, but Sir Jackie is not. He comes to the paddock prepared, pulling out a pair of waterproof trousers. He admits he finds race weekends demanding, with Monaco more intense than the rest. “Monaco is the most difficult. If I go to the paddock, the frustrating thing is not being able tomove with all the photographers and people. I can’t complain about that, but it is not easy hosting guests and getting them pushed around because someone wants a picture with me or wants my autograph. But motor sport is a fantastic magnet.” He is clearly proud of his achievements behind the wheel, in that golden era when men were men, and when the cars and tracks were so unforgiving. And of his three world championships? “The third world championship meant the most because I knew it would be my last. Every race was special. I came to Monaco that year knowing I wouldn’t be driving here again. And it was great to win.” This brings to mind a future when he finally fully retires from F1. Hopefully, it will be a long time before we have to experience the F1 paddock without the tartan attire and recycled jokes. F1 may have lots of money, but it is a richer place while its favorite uncle is here to enjoy the party.

cameras at the previous week’s Grand Prix, tells Polanski: “If you are going to crash, do it with publicity in mind.” He’s being flippant, but attitudes to driving – and crashing – have changed in the intervening years. “It was a very dangerous sport in those days. If you raced for five years there was a two out of three chance you were going to die.” And having already lost several close friends, the death of his young teammate François Cevert, seemed to be a final straw that led to Sir Jackie giving up driving for good. He says one major difference between now and then is that drivers today take greater risks. “In my day you couldn’t have the kind of accidents that are going on today. You would be dead. The cars were more fragile, barriers non-existent. Drivers are taking liberties that in my day were unacceptable. Today, the quality of the driving in Formula 1 surpasses any in the rest of the world. The engineering is second to none.” But he remains convinced he drove in a golden era for motor racing. “In the period I was driving there was the best collection of drivers in the history of motorsport. You had Jim Clark, Jack Brabham, Graham Hill, John Surtees, Jochen Rindt, François Cevert and I probably missed some. They were all highly skilled drivers. There was also more camaraderie. Now there are these huge motorhomes along the paddock and a lot of the drivers have their own private aircraft.” If the drivers are more cushioned now and cars are safer, drivers’ attitudes are also different. It is common to see footage of F1 cars being smashed to pieces in a high-speed collision and see drivers get out and walk away. So what does it take to be a driver today? “The animal is always the same. The technology is different. But if you think of Caracciola or Nuvolari in the 1920s and 1930s, or Fangio, Farina and Ascari in the 1950s, or Stirling Moss, or Jim Clark in the 1960s, then onto my era and afterwards with Lauda, Prost, Senna, Schumacher and so on, we are all the same animal. There is the same mentality and abilities.” And he is clear, it is the mental side that matters to a champion. “Champions are committed and mentally

Above from left: The circuit that makes the Monaco Grand Prix unique; a section of track running alongside the sea; Sir Jackie Stewart in his role as Rolex ambassador; a practice session; The Grand Prix brings many wealthy visitors to Monaco Below: Sir Jackie Stewart

Photos: Rolex/James Moy & Jad Sherif