FORMER Dursley businessman and rallying legend David Stokes has passed away after a battle with cancer.

David was a six-time British national rally champion in a career that spanned over 50 years. His interest in motorsport was started by his father, with younger brothers Andrew and Keith also rallying.

David started his long and illustrious career way back in the 1960,s doing the whole Motoring News road rally series in a Ford Anglia in the late 1960s.

He switched to the first of his Escort Twin Cams, and results started to come, but the arrival of the ex-Adrian Boyd RS1600 REV 120 K saw his rallying take off.

The BTRDA national title arrived in 1975 followed by the illustrious Castrol Autosport National crown in 1976 with the late Bill Andrews alongside, these two became infectiously known as the "Gloucestershire Hillbillies", he formed part of the famous Castrol/Team Avon Tyres setup with Graham Elsmore, Gordon Batchelor, and Richard Iliffe.

A move to a semi-works contract under Ford Motorsport boss Peter Ashcroft saw HHJ 702N ex-Russell Brookes Escort RS1800 arrive, with a host of top three Castrol/Autosport Championship finishes over the next four years, plus a string of outright victories.

He was up to fourth overall on the 1977 Welsh International two thirds of the way through the rally with a host of top names trailing in his wake. only a piston failure curtailed his progress, saw David as one of the top drivers in the UK.

A big accident on the 1980 Gwynedd which left the Dursley driver with a long list of injuries and brought part one of his career to a halt.

Fast forward 22 years after building up successful businesses, David returned to the sport he loved and still followed closely duriing his sabbatical.

After a chat with brother Andrew another Escort mk1 arrived at Waterley Bottom, and was lovingly tendered in the garage by Wayne "Eric" Ball in the early years.

David was the first big name of the 1970’s to return and raised the bar of historic rallying to a whole new level, and historic rallying is looked at today.

It is the best championship in the UK, and with David’s return it brought a lot of other people back into the sport, plus encouraged the younger element to make historic championship so competitive and strong. But his return with brother Andrew in the co-driver’s seat, it wasn't long before successes returned, with both Ian Oakey and Den Golding occupied the co-driver’s seat with more success over the years,before Guy Weaver joined him and the rest as they say is history.

He won four British MSA Historic titles, the Welsh Historic Championship and countless Category two titles and event wins.

The list goes on, probably the most successful historic driver of all time. His record will be hard to beat and his partnership with Guy Weaver was just so successful through hard work and attention to detail.

But there was much more to David than just a great driver, his enthusiasm for the sport was unrivalled. He just loved driving. Rally cars competing, testing or corporate events, he loved entertaining, was very quick witted and full of fun, and always had a tale to tell. Journalists loved him, and people just warmed to that broad West Country accent. Spectators loved his all action sideways style. He was a proper character that is so sadly missed in our sport today.

But make no mistake once the helmet went on his competitiveness came to the fore. He wanted to win.

He was regular at UK’s biggest motorsport shows like Autosport Rally Day, and Race Retro. He served on various rallying committees and was a huge supporter of the HRCR club.

Friend Paul Willetts said: “I personally have known David for 40 years and have many memories of him ,but the one that sticks out is on the Robin Hood Stages some years ago the two day event held in Nottinghamshire, featured three stages on the Saturday night in the Clipstone Forest complex.

“It was a still, balmy clear March night as stars lit up the night sky, you could hear a BDA barking away in the distance, but this was different sound, the throttle was blipping away, then hard on the power, another blip as the lights criss-crossed the night sky.

“I turned to a friend and said, here is David. Some twenty seconds or so later, a white mk1 shot into view. A Scandinavian flick a big drift into a hairpin. A montage of flash lights lit up the car and the name Stokes emblazoned on the door.

“Hard on the power up over the crest and away into the night with spectators applauding. Pure magic. Pure David. He was a rally man through and through and his passing will leave a massive hole in British rallying.

“David Stokes - a true champion in every sense of the word.”