THE world motor racing champion, Jackie Stewart, faced a haphazard journey from his Geneva home to Glasgow in January 1970 to receive an award. So unexpectedly haphazard, in fact, that the dinner was halfway over before he arrived.
Stewart was only the second recipient of the Jim Clark trophy, an annual award by the Royal Scottish Automobile Club to the Scot they considered to have contributed most to motor sport.His parents were on hand to see the presentation. In the end, his 14-hour, 1,500-mile journey entailed three flights and two car journeys.
“I intended to fly this morning from Geneva to London and from there to Glasgow,” he said. “My wife should have been with me. Geneva was fogged in, so I had to drive to Lyons, France, 120 miles away. I missed a plane to Paris by half an hour, and had to wait two-and-a-half hours for the next one, and I got the last seat. I had to leave my wife Helen behind to make her way to London on her own, when she should have been here with me. I just missed the plane to London from Paris, and on the next one Air France put me in one of the aircrew seats. I just missed the 6pm flight from London to Glasgow, but managed to get the 7pm one.”
The dinner was due to start at 7.30pm. The RSAC had a car on standby at Glasgow Airport to fetch Stewart. But Abbotsinch was closed because of fog. The plane landed at Prestwick just before 9pm. Just after 10pm he arrived at the venue in a hired car. And finally, the presentation could take place.
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