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Peter Ratcliffe’s passion for motosport was ignited at the age of four after his first trip to Goodwood with his father. On this weekend he met Stirling Moss for the first time. Ratcliffe recalls, ‘Stirling was so kind and friendly to me’, he became my schoolboy hero from that day on.’
Ratcliffe also recalls being present in 1962 when Stirling had his near life changing accident at Goodwood in April ’62. ‘As the St John Ambulance passed I cried as my father told me he thought Stirling had been killed’.
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| Peter driving his Senna JPS LOTUS at the Goodwood Festival of speed |
In 1973, Ratcliffe moved to Mallorca for 6 years managing the legendary Boats & Beaches Parties. He then moved to Los Angeles where he managed the Union 76 gas station on Malibu beach. He was then head hunted to run 6 ladies shoe shops in New Orleans. He then joined an up-and-coming New York based airline named People Express as customer director. Ratcliffe left after one year and returned to London to land a job clearing tables at the Hard Rock Café! ‘I did these jobs to attain the experience from them’. Ratcliffe was deputy manager after 4 months.
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| Peter racing the 1964 David Piper Ferrari P1 at Goodwood 2009 |
A limited edition Alan Stammers print for Legends in Time |
He then moved to Rimini with his new American wife and began running a twice weekly Boat Party! ‘It was great fun and I made a great deal of money which I then used to travel to Los Angeles to buy and import E-Type Jaguars. ‘I imported 116 E-Types in two years and was one of the first to do so.
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| Pater in Cooper Maserati Goodwood | Peter with his Lightweight E-Type Capetown South Africa |
From the profits Ratcliffe started his signed print business, Legends in Time. He says, ‘I saw a gap in the market as there was nothing signed or collectable available to Formula One fans. I discovered a talented artist called Alan Stammers and commissioned over 60 originals with him in the coming 12 years. I managed to get all of the greats on board, from Fangio to Schumacher, from Stewart to Lauda, Senna to Mansell and the rest is history’. Ratcliffe also had a 200 race driver career racing all over the world including the USA, South Africa, China and all over Europe. He also owned the ex-Ayrton Senna JPS Lotus which he demonstrated at Goodwood for 5 years, Brands and Donnington.
Senna presents Peter with his overalls in Adelaide Australia 1992
Ratcliffe held the first ever F1 auction and opened the first of his 4 Motorsport galleries in Windsor. After 13 years at the helm of Legends in Time, Ratcliffe took a sabbatical to South Africa for 4 years where he designed and built 14 houses with a 22 man team. On his return, Ratcliffe, who had become a very close friend of Stirling Moss, thought about designing and creating a watch to celebrate Stirling’s 80th birthday. So, the Moss 80 was conceived and almost half of the 80 pieces were sold at the Goodwood Revival in 3 days. It was then that Ratcliffe set about creating and designing a further 5 watches to celebrate Stirling’s most memorable victories.
During this time Ratcliffe appeared as the main dealer on Channel 4’s series ‘Four Rooms’ for 3 years.
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| MGB | Peter racing his 1972 Ferrari Dino Johannesberg South Africa |
Ratcliffe more-or-less shelved Legends in Time for 6 years, this was because of Stirling’s failing health and other personal reasons.
Peter shaved and massaged Stirling for 3 years every week until his passing in April 2020. He says, ‘I went to his Mayfair home on the day of his passing and organised the Funeral Directors to take special care of him’. Of course, it was a sad day but Ratcliffe remembers a sense of relief as Stirling had fought so hard for 3 years.
In 2021 peter has re-launched legends in Time and is both designing and manufacturing very high-quality watches in Switzerland.
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| Peter coming through the chicane at Goodwood |
What’s next for Ratcliffe on his incredible life journey? He says ‘well, I am passionate about my watch company and have a project concerning Climate Change called ‘NoNeed’.
I am sure that will suffice for now.
