BRITISH motorsport has lost one of its most enduring stars with the death of racing ace, Barrie ‘Whizzo’ Williams, a larger than life character who hailed from Herefordshire.

Known to all as Whizzo, the boy from Bromyard whose skill and grit made him a force to be reckoned with on the international racing circuit, died just a matter of weeks before his 80th birthday.

His mother, Kaye, who is 101, is still living in the town where her famous son was born in 1938.

He appeared on TV’s Top Gear – taking a Morris Marina for a spin – and commented that Jeremy Clarkson was “really quite a nice chap”.

He won the first international Welsh Rally in 1964 driving a Mini Cooper S, his performance duly noted by BMC competitions’ boss, Stuart Turner.

This meant that for the next two years his car was in action at all major events in the British Isles, as well as rallies overseas such as Geneva and Sweden.

Whizzo had a reputation for racing “anything, anywhere” and for more than half a century he was the man to watch. Clearly remembered for his on-track success, he will also go down in the annals of motor racing for his larger than life personality.

A pupil at Hereford Cathedral School, his friend, local historian Roger Pye from Kington remembers Whizzo as a great character, whose father, Frank ran an engineering business at Bromyard.

Frank was involved in the early days of go-karting, and his son was soon racing karts. By 1960, Barrie had taken part in his first car race in Yorkshire, driving a Morris Minor.

“He was a very fast driver, he wrote a lot of cars off!” said Mr Pye. “He won the Welsh Rally and to win that you have to be pretty good. Everybody in the motor racing industry knew him.

He recalled: “He went through school drawing racing cars. He didn’t care about anything else.”

During the next two decades Whizzo’s name became synonymous with racing saloon and touring cars and he raced for the works Colt team in the British Touring Car Championship.

By the 1990s he was a sought after driver in historic racing, his enviable skills demonstrated in handling Jaguar E-types, Connaught A-type, Aston Martin DBR4 and the Maserati 250F.

He joined the British Racing Car Driver’s board, always wearing the badge with great pride. In later years he sported a distinctive orange helmet emblazoned with BRDC badges.

He was president of the British Motor Sport Marshall’s Club, and an instructor at Silverstone’s racing drivers’ schools.

His funeral was at St Peter’s Church in Bromyard, and his family asked guests to wear a “flash of orange” in tribute to his sporting colour.