The racing driver Jim Clark

Born in Fife, Scotland to farming parents, it was hard to see the future of Jim Clark belonging to the glorious world of motor racing. As a child he developed many of the characteristics that would set him apart from many of the pretentious, narcissistic drivers of his era. He was, as many British rural farming folk are, rather shy and softly spoken. This belied a steely determination to succeed, coupled with immense bravery when behind the wheel of a racing car.

Jim’s early forays into racing, which comprised rallies and local events, weren’t particularly successful, but he persevered. This met with disapproval from his parents who had assumed he would take over the family farm, as he was the only son in a family of five children. The fact that he had earlier shown a keenness to help out on the farm by forfeiting his latter years of school, only served to heighten their expectation. But it wasn’t to be – he had caught the racing bug.

After several notable victories, mainly for the Border Reivers team who supplied him with a Jaguar, Jim Clark went to Brands Hatch late in 1958, where he raced a Lotus Elite. Finishing second only to the main man at Lotus, Colin Chapman, himself an excellent driver, Clark had clearly impressed. Chapman asked him to test a Lotus Formula Two car, which he did, although he was put off driving one, due to seeing the great Graham Hill lose a wheel in exactly the same model car.

Instead he signed for Aston Martin, with the intention of racing for them at Formula One. But by this time, Chapman had finally persuaded him to take a drive in the Lotus Formula Two car, and when Aston Martin abandoned plans to enter Formula One, due to the car being disappointing, Clark signed for Lotus at Formula One as well. From that time on, the majority of his races would be behind the wheel of the Lotus car.

The 1961 season was marred by a tragedy at the Italian Grand Prix, and Clark was directly involved in the accident. He collided with Wolfgang Von Trip’s Ferrari, and this car was sent cartwheeling into the crowd. As a result many spectators were killed, and so was the German driver.

Incredibly, Clark managed to put the disaster behind him. He would have won the title in 1962 but for the unreliability shown by his Lotus; the title went to Graham Hill. In the next season though, Clark won an amazing seven of ten Grand Prix starts, all of which counted to the World Drivers Championship that he won with ease. He also finished second in his first ever Indianapolis 500 race.

The ‘golden age’ of British motor racing was at a peak. John Surtees won the 1964 title, but Clark regained the title in 1965, winning the Indy 500 at the same time. Competition was fierce from the likes of Graham Hill and the emerging Jackie Stewart, as well as Surtees, which makes Clark’s achievements all the more special.

His dedication to the Lotus team also had its downside though. In 1966, Clark won hardly anything, because the car had become uncompetitive, due to a change in the rules for engine specifications. Although by the middle of the ’67 season the team had got a superb engine it was too late for Clark to make an impression on the World Championship. He finished third.

The season of 1968 started very brightly indeed. Clark’s win at the opening Grand Prix in South Africa made him the driver with most Grand Prix victories to his name, surpassing ‘the maestro’ – Juan Manuel Fangio. Tragically, on April 7 that same year, in a Formula Two race, Jim Clark’s Lotus left the track at Hockenheim and crashed into trees. The amiable Scotsman had died aged thirty-two. Such was his natural ability in a racing car, it is highly likely that if he had lived to race on, he would have broken every record in the book.