My friend Stuart! I first met Stu in 1970 at the Bristol Gazelle Kart Club at their track at Long Newnton near Tetbury in Gloucestershire. I arrived at my first meeting as a spectator, with all of the schoolboy excitement of one passionate about motor sport. Stu was one of a group of racers informally referred to as the Bath Boys comprising of Stu, Hugh Patten, Pete Jennings, and John Carey. Hugh raced for Great Britain in European events, competing in the 100 International Class. Stu also raced in this class while John raced in 100 National and Pete raced in 200Super, a gearbox class using the Villiers engine. All of them helped each other and often supported Hugh when he was racing abroad. This team of enthusiastic racing drivers raced all over the UK along with Charlie Atherton, John Thomas and his team mate John Brazier, who manufactured the Bristol Viper and Venom karts, they even raced at Snetterton in the 9 hour endurance race. Imagine that in a kart! Stu was not only a very competent, competitive and crafted racer but one who placed a great deal of emphasis on appearance, whose kart was always immaculate, and only outdone by his afro permed hair and droopy moustache ala Jason King style. With his British team colours racing suit, Stu struck a pose in the paddock which was of youth, glamour, success and sex. With a big smile and a fun sense of humour, there were always girls at Stu’s feet at these race meetings. The irony of it, was that never to take himself too seriously, Stu never recognised his appeal to the fairer sex. Desperate to have the best equipment and the latest demon tweak on his kart or engine Stu would spend hours with Pete Jennings tuning engines, carb’s or making other improvements. Often making other sacrifices to go karting Stu always had an idea for sponsorship and was one of the first racers to bring sponsorship to karting with Lex Motor Company sponsoring Stu’s Blow Gnat kart and Komet engine. Other companies to support Stu were Ian Swift Garages and then Removatop glass sunroofs. Other kart drivers at that time included the only man that one of Stu’s idols was ever to look up to, and that was Terry Fullerton, the driver to beat Ayrton Senna in his attempt to take the 100cc world karting championship. Nigel Mansell was another regular competitor at Long Newnton and Little Rissington back in the 70’s. One of the funniest things to happen to Stu was at Long Newnton when he outbraked himself and spun at the end of the straight and ended up on the inner circuit. Raving mad with himself, he jumped out of his kart, picked up the back and ran with it before dropping the back to bump start it, he then leant forward to place one hand on the steering wheel and one hand on the seat back before jumping into it. However in spinning the kart, the throttle return spring had disengaged and the throttle was stuck open as it had been when he span. So.... he dropped the kart and off it took without Stuart! Well a 100cc kart with a driver hits 0 to 60mph in about 3.5 secs and tops out at 100mph. You can imagine just how quick they are with you the weight of a driver. Well, the bloody thing hit the raised rumble strip, took off, flew across the track and hit another rumble strip which launched it into the air over the fence and onto the bonnet of a brand new XJ6! Thankfully the Jaguar owner had parked the car by a sign stating “Motorsport is dangerous you are here at your own risk!” After losing touch, Stu and I met up again in 1978 racing at the Clay Pigeon circuit and then we formed a greater friendship and went on to race in various national championships as well as making alcoholic fuelled revelry, after hillclimbs and race meetings in Jersey & Guernsey where Stu became a very popular friend of the channel islands racing fraternity. One evening, Stuarts love for soup was demonstrated at The Longfrie hotel just outside of St Peter Port in Guernsey. The Longfrie was owned by Keith & his wife Maggie, and was a haven for all race and rally drivers and motorcyc le racers all over the island. This was in the days when drinking and driving was a regular occurrence and the very danger of it had not been realised by most of the population including the crowd of racers from the island of Guernsey and probably most kart racers from Bristol & Bath. The evening started with Stuart in the restaurant ordering soup of the day as his first course. To his delight it was Pea and Ham soup, not a favourite of most people but there is no accounting for taste! Stu loved it so he ordered a second bowl having declared his undying live for this dish, after the second came a third and then a fourth followed by a fifth, sixth, and seventh. While the rest of us were having to wait until Stu had finished his first course and giving him some grief before we could move to our main course, all he could do was smile make some comment about not rushing an Englishmans’ meal and continued slurping it! After finishing dinner we moved into the bar and riotous it became. Keith flying the flag at 1am (removing trousers and other underwear and then saluting the union flag) before leaving us in charge of the bar at 2.30. People would fall over and then sleep, before waking and continuing drinking again. Eventually at 07:00 Stu and I left the bar and went for breakfast before going to our respective bedrooms to shower and get changed for another day. We sat down for breakfast and the waitress asked if we would like orange or grapefruit juice, Stu’s response: a rye and dry for Rich and a Bacardi and coke for me. We thought we were coherent, the elder ladies on a touring holiday did not! Stu was adored by the entire racing fraternity not just for his racing exploits but the general fun he created. Riding around the island of Sark on a bicycle with a shopping basket on the front with his dog a cross collie called Hector sat in the basket with his tongue hanging out and sporting a pair of Raybans. This dog (far to loose a term for such a clever animal) recognised Stuarts kart by its particular noise and the colour of Stu’s racesuit and would park his front paws on the fence at Clay and looking like a spectator would wait for Stu to come around, and then with his head, follow Stu’s progress around the track never moving from his favourite spot. Hector was well known in Keynsham, Bristol, for the unusual habit of parking his last digested meal half way up a stone wall! Never a gutter, never the pavement, never the road, just find a wall for him to reverse against and he was happy! Quite apart from a flagrant disregard for pedestrians, anyone who had drunk just a little too much was likely to be the target of one of Stu’s practical jokes! Waking up after a kipette and standing up to go find ones mates, but promptly falling over because Stu had toed shoelaces together! Shouting we’re off ‘round the pub and then hiding while the poor hapless individually is knocking on the door of the pub thinking it was a lock in, and he was missing it only for the landlord to stick his head out of an upstairs window and utter an expletive explaining that it was actually 1:30 in the morning!! Stuart eventually left Ian Swift Garages and with Andy Fido set up his own road and rally car repair workshop and bodyshop in Keynsham mid way between Bristol and Bath. The business was not to flourish and eventually the partnership dissolved and when Stu’s first wife Jenny was made redundant, the two decided on a career change and moved to Torquay to open a bed and breakfast. Stu still did a little repair work on cars before joining a glazing company in between helping as waiter in the guest house! Eventually Stu’s passion for karting was reignited and trying to find parts for karts in the area was virtually impossible so he decided to open a karting business named Torbay Kart Centre from the garage of the guest house. Not long after this, he bumped into Martin Lyddiard who as a rising star had been a junior member of the British team back in the late 70’s before leaving the sport. Memories came flooding aback into Stuart’s life and although Stu and Martin made an unlikely alliance it suited them both. Martin raced and Stuart organised it and great fun they had too. Sometimes they could not even afford to get to the circuits and would coast down hills dangerously in an attempt to save fuel costs so they could get to the track! Sleeping eating and working out of an old un-heated and un-insulated Mercedes van, the one thing that was certain was much laughter would come from the Torbay Kart Centre pits! Stu was more of a Basil Fawlty than he was a Manuel. Losing all sense of humour when Jenny sent him to the table with a Cottage pie causing him to return to the kitchen with aforementioned pie explaining that the guest has said that this “freshly backed Cottage pie” was actually frozen solid in the middle! Jenny defrosted it and assured Stu that it was Ok and so he returned to the table. A few minutes later the patient, but never to be a repeat customer, showed Stu the ice in the middle of the pie! Stu took it back apologising, grovelling and looking very uncomfortable. The pie was then ditched while a new one was taken from the freezer and defrosted and served only for this to be luke warm! Stu flatly refused to serve the Black Forest Gateaux that had come from the same freezer to this table of guests! Stu’s optimistic view had to be admired. Never could it possibly fail, go wrong or fall apart. So the offer of a pair of racing skis for next to nothing was just too good an offer to refuse. Martin offered to get them cut and waxed and this would help Stu, who despite having only skied only once before, obviously felt he was a very talented and fast skier and well frankly it was a surprise he had not picked to represent England in the downhill slalom! Martin insisted he would teach Stu on day 1. Day three, Stu joined Maggie, Danielle, Dane and me with a private instructor. The speed of the skis were very apparent as when standing still on a very gentle slope Stu started to go backwards without any help. First just a tad quick, then a little more quick, then getting really quick and then very fast. Being a close friend, I dropped everything, turned round, fell over and lay on the snow laughing my head off while Stu disappeared out of sight backwards! When Stuarts first marriage broke down Stuart nearly did the same, but for Martin and other close friends who kept an eye on him and generally looked out for him. But out of the depths of despair was to come the very best years of his life! Stuart was to call me around 1998 to tell me he wanted to come up to our home in Wiltshire, and bring his girl friend. Well, result! Stuart and San arrived and they both spent the entire weekend gazing into each to each others eyes! No Sambuka sessions, no Tequila slammers, no reminiscing about racing, nothing!! Just start struck love! All gazing and sighing! Maggie and I might as well have not even been here! While those of us that knew Stu from old were worried in case his dreams were not too last, our fears were soon proven unfounded when he announced his engagement to San. The move to Spain with San was undoubtedly the best thing after marrying her that had ever happened to Stu. At our last meeting, at his special birthday, Stu confided that he was the happiest he had ever been. There is no doubt in my mind that the last 10 years of Stu’s life were the very best. He was very happy, very content and very much in love with San who very much loved him. So while it is sad for San and Stu’s friends that Stu’s life should end prematurely, what a great 10 years he had just spent! Stu, What a racer! What a friend! What a husband! We all miss you. Richard Watkins, February 2010