Stock car racing, especially the British version of hard-hitting short-track action, doesn’t often have much room for emotion. But that wasn’t the case when the sport said farewell to one of its greatest exponents.
Smeatharpe Stadium on the Devon-Somerset border hosted a special Salute to Bill Batten – bringing together cars, competitors and fans from the Cornishman’s remarkable racing career, stretching over more than four decades.
During that time he secured world, European, British and other titles in the highly competitive BriSCA F2 category, as well as more short-lived success in F1 stock cars and national hot rods. 
His dominance of the thriving F2 scene in the South West of England through much of the 1970s has seldom been rivalled in any sport, and the fact that he was still one of the formula’s leading drivers decades later is testament fo his incredible talent, which earned him the title, The Master.
Some of the atmosphere from that special farewell meeting is captured in these photos by Alan Parkinson.
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