A 30-year career in motorsport saw Norfolk racing driver Steve Skitmore, who has died suddenly aged 62, won national and international trophies.

He finished second in the world final of national hot rod in 1991 having led the entire 75 laps at the Ipswich track in his Banham Poultry-sponsored Peugeot 205. The world supreme title eluded him but he finished runner-up in 1994 by the length of a bonnet having been forced to retire a year earlier while leading.

He was also voted national hot rod driver of the year in 1991 and told the EDP of his delight to be 'appreciated by the fans'. In the same year, he won the English Points Championship, the first of many. In that year, he also paid tribute to 'the teamwork and having the continued support of [the late] Paul Foulger of Banham Poutry.'

He had stepped up to national hot rod in the late 1980s after a career at Swaffham.

Born and raised at Rockland All Saints, near Attleborough, he went to the village primary school and then to Watton. After working as a welder and fabricator assembling skips, the self-taught engineer's specialist automotive business at Snetterton made and designed innovative body shapes, which were often imitated by other racing professionals.

His life revolved round motorsport on the short oval track, often competing in up to 60 races a year in the UK and Ireland in his white Peugeot. He won trophies including the national masters crown in Scotland. He switched to a Vauxhall Corsa, which he drove in his last world final in 2002.

He leaves a widow, Wendy, children Mark and Stacey and six grandchildren.

Michael Pollitt