HE was wearing a sharp suit and shades rather than a tartan tammy and trousers but it was undeniably Sir Jackie Stewart who swept into Edinburgh yesterday on a mission to supercharge Scottish motor sport. When the Formula 1 roadshow alights at Monaco in a fortnight's time it will be a cool half century since this three-time world F1 champion won on the streets of the principality for the first time. Sponsors Rolex are throwing on a special dinner to mark his second-ever Grand Prix win, the four finishers that day still the fewest in any race in history, but the main focus of Stewart's attention yesterday was jump starting a sport in this country which has too often stalled.

While a badly-needed piece of admin has put a halt to some 'People's Front of Judea'-style factionalism - motorcycle governing body the Scottish Auto Cycling Union (SACU) has united with four-wheel governing body the Motor Sports Association (MSA) to form an umbrella group called Scottish Motor Sport - unlocking £360,000 funding over four years from sportscotland, Stewart is demanding more from the political and business community to promote a sport which has always punched above its weight. Quite apart from his three world F1 titles, Stewart, of course, was the driving force behind Paul Stewart Racing then the Stewart Grand Prix team, setting figures like David Coulthard, Dario Franchiti and Allan McNish on the road to motorsport stardom.

"I feel as if I have done my bit," said Stewart. "I raised hundreds of thousands over a great number of years and we had those drivers win - they were good and they were competing against the whole world. But the whole world was giving more money than we were giving.

"The Government never gave us any money - and that is not the current government, that is any government you could think of - whereas in Brazil or other countries like Malaysia for example, they were building huge race tracks.

"Scotland has never used Jackie Stewart. It has never used Jim Clark, Dario Franchitti or David Coulthard. They haven't used the champion rally drivers we have had. Governments sometimes are slow to recognise what can be done outside the narrow life that they live.

"The fact the Scottish government is coming in now is a good thing," the 76-year-old added. "The amount of money they are bringing in is not a lot of money. We need a better facility than Knockhill. Now it could be at Knockhill - but it has to be a better facility. The facilities are as important as anything else because then you will bring a crowd. There is no good putting them in a leaking tent."

Already a new surge of Scottish talent is bubbling under. The likes of Rory Skinner, a 15-year-old from Perth, who competes in the Moto3 Junior World Championship, and Sandy Mitchell, a teenager who competes in the British GT Championship, have come to the attention of Christian Horner at Red Bull. They may not quite be at the levels of Max Verstappen, the teenager he promoted from Toro Rosso to Red Bull recently, who is the youngest ever F1 competitor but give them a few years and who knows?

Stewart would rather not name the next Scottish motor sport superstar - it might equally be a mechanic than someone who actually drives the thing - but he is prepared to stick his neck on the block for another knight of the realm. Like Stewart did when moonlighting in the world of clay pigeon shooting, Sir Chris Hoy has traded in his track cycling career to have a tilt at the Le Mans 24-hour race next month.

"He [Hoy] is a person I know," said Stewart. "He has been down to the house and I like him a lot. He has good hand-eye coordination, a competitive mind, he is ambitious and he doesn’t just stop at being the champion in one area. It is like me, I have been the Scottish Champion and British Champion at shooting but that never got the exposure I eventually got driving racing cars in every corner of the world.

"He is a determined man and he has had to learn that sport just as he had to learn his other sport," Stewart added. "It is not just a case of walking in because you are Chris Hoy. You have to be competitive because if you are not, the team don’t need you. We will see how it goes but he is already a very talented racing driver."

One excuse which no longer exists are the safety fears against the sport, in these days when Fernando Alonso can walk out of a car which flips twice and disintegrates after hitting a barrier at 200mph. "If I raced for five years there was a two out of three chance that I was going to die, that was the batting average," says Stewart. "We sat down and worked it out and we found I had 57 friends who were killed in racing cars." It was a sombre note to end the conversation on but Scottish motorsport is embarked on a brave new journey.