Jim Clark: Formula One's Greatest Driver
Born on 4th March, 1936, in Scotland, Jim Clark grew up at his father’s farm in Berwickshire hills with his four other siblings. The only son, Clark’s upbringing against the backdrop of the rural estate’s tranquil, sprawling pastures meant he was far removed from the wild and wanton world of motor racing. It was only when the 13 year old left home for Edinburgh to be schooled at a private institution that he discovered the sport that was to become his future vocation in journals and newspapers. Although young Jim thrived at hockey and took up cricket, it was the world of motor racing that was increasingly beginning to capture his imagination.
Young Jim obtained his driver’s license promptly as he turned 17, by which time he had also abandoned school to take up a permanent role looking after the family property. The Scotsman’s first car purchase-a Sunbeam Talbot bought for private errands-was soon being used to contest regional motor racing congregations and test drive outings. With the backing of affluent sport-devotee pals, Jim had begun signing up for various racing competitions, where he was triumphing with increasing regularity. The young Scotsman’s incredible talent took everyone, including himself, by utter amazement. Yet Jim’s satisfaction with his burgeoning success was always tinged with a measure of regret; it was a career choice his family did not approve of at all.
Egged on by his buddies, the initially hesitant Clark began to ponder a motor sporting future ever more earnestly. In 1958, the Scotsman instantly caught the attention of Lotus boss Colin Chapman when he tore the defences at Brands Hatch in spectacular style with his Lotus Elite machine. Chapman offered the budding driver a test drive outing on a Lotus Formula Junior and Clark instantly dazzled. The Lotus principal quickly added him on to his squad’s payroll for the remaining 1960 Formula One campaign.
Yet the unpredictability and ruthlessness of the Formula One circuits led Clark to solemnly contemplate an exit from the profession on more than one occasion. The 1960 Belgian event highlighted ever more significantly the dangers inherent to the sport when two of Clark’s colleagues, including his Lotus teammate Alan Stacy, crashed to their bloody deaths while lapping the Spa curves right before the devastated Scotsman’s eyes. In 1961, Clark’s Italian Grand Prix run at Monza was marred by his crash with Ferrari’s Wolfgang von Trips, a mishap that killed the Ferrari front-man and 14 members of the audience. Although blameless and unscathed, the accident took a severe toll on Clark’s conscience and he was all set to hang his gloves until Chapman influenced him otherwise.
The Clark-Chapman partnership proved to be a highly productive match. With his natural pace married to Chapman’s state-of-the-art Lotus equipment, Clark took the Formula One circuits by storm. The 1962 championship title eluded him only due to a mechanical failure at the season’s ultimate event and 1963 the Scotsman raced to his first World Championship title at spectacular speed. The 1964 championship trophy evaded Clark once again not due to a kink in his repertoire, but because of a technical botheration that came to plague his Lotus at the year’s very last race. In 1965, Clark triumphed at six races from ten to steer his Climax-V8-powered Lotus all the way to his second World title. The Scotsman also went on to make a name for himself in the U.S. where he quickly distinguished himself after sealing victory at the Indianapolis 500 event in 1965.
Clark mooted an exit from Lotus after a less than flourishing 1966 campaign, but ultimately decided to stay put with his British mentors. It was a wise move considering Lotus’s fortunes gained momentum once again during the 1967 season and in 1968 Clark managed to parallel Juan Manuel Fangio’s tally of 25 Grand Prix victories. Yet tragically, the Scottish greats incredible run was brought to a calamitous halt when on April 7th, 1968, an accident at the German F2 event in Hockenheim claimed his life. Clark’s was an untimely death that left thousands of his admirers and the motor sporting world shocked and distraught at the loss of one of Formula Ones finest drivers ever.
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