Stewart plans wholesale changes to BRDC

Sir Jackie Stewart is launching an independent enquiry to create a blueprint for a major overhaul of how the British Racing Drivers’ Club is run after surviving an attempt to oust him as president and a board member of the organisation.

The three-time World Champion has vowed to unite the club that owns Silverstone and runs the British Grand Prix after more than a year of in-fighting between the board and its former chairman, Ray Bellm. Stewart had been the target of a campaign to be removed from the board after Bellm questioned his business acumen. But the club’s members gave the Scot a vote of confidence in May to stay on.

“This has been a very disruptive time for the club, the board and for me,” said Stewart. “My integrity was questioned. It would have been easier to walk away, but now that everyone has voted for me to stay it would not be right to turn my back on the club.

“We must put our house in order, with independent advice on how to run the club like a small PLC, not as a ‘jobs for the boys’ organisation.”

Stewart is also proposing to change the way the board is voted in every three years by introducing a nomination committee made up of club members with business backgrounds, plus some independents: “In the past if you were a name you got on the board. We need to use those in our club with the best qualities to run a company. I’ve always surrounded myself with people more talented than me, in racing and in business. That’s the best way to be successful.”