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By Mr Lotus at 2008-03-20 20:24
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Jim Clark (OBE) was born James Clark Jr. on the 4th March 1936 into a farming family at Kilmany House Farm, Fife, the youngest child of five, and the only boy. In 1942 the family moved to Edington Mains Farm, near Duns, Berwickshire, in the Borders. He was educated at primary schools, first in Kilmany and then in Chirnside, and then following three years of preparatory schooling at Clifton Hall near Edinburgh he was sent to Loretto School in Musselburgh, near Edinburgh.
Unassuming off the track, Clark was formidable when he got behind the wheel of a motor vehicle. Even as a child growing up in Scotland he would race his pedalcar at breakneck speed. After leaving school he did some rallying before competing in his first proper circuit race at a disused airfield near Aberdeen. He was soon regularly winning at the events he entered and yet whilst others would see star quality in this young scottish driver and were amazed by his awesome speed and effortless car control, he himself was diffident about his talents and only much later on in life would he recognize his own gifts. Even whilst he was undoubtedly the world's best racing car driver he remained reserved, preferring the company of his close friends and family instead of living the highlife under the spotlight of the world media.
Although his parents were opposed to the idea, Clark started his racing in local road rally and hill climb events driving his own Sunbeam-Talbot, and proved a fearsome competitor right from the off. On 16 June 1956, in his very first event, he was behind the wheel of a DKW sonderklasse at Crimond, Scotland. By 1958, Clark was driving for the local Border Reivers team, racing Jaguar D-types and Porsches in national events, and winning 18 races. He raced in rallies and other local races under the guidance of his friend Ian Scott-Watson. Later he joined a team run by Jock McBain known as the Border Reivers.
Ironically in 1959 the Border Reivers planned to buy a single-seater Formula 2 Lotus for Clark but after watching Graham Hill lose a wheel in a similar car, Clark decided that the Lotus cars were not safe and that he would stick to sports cars for the time being. Eventually he graduated to an Aston Martin which brought him to the attention of Reg Parnell, the factory team manager. Aston Martin was planning on entering Formula 1 and after a test he signed the young Scotsman. Then on Boxing Day 1958, Clark met the man who would launch him to superstardom. Driving a Lotus Elite, he finished second to Colin Chapman. Chapman was sufficiently impressed to give Clark a ride in one of his Formula Junior cars. Clark then signed a Formula 2 contract with Colin Chapman's Lotus team. Aston Martin's Formula 1 car was a disaster and the factory decided to abandon its efforts. In Formula 2 Clark enjoyed immediate success and when the Aston Martin drive failed to materialize, Clark signed on with with Lotus for Formula 1 as well.
His first race for Lotus was at the Dutch Grand Prix in 1960, where he raced in place of John Surtees who was still racing motorcycles at the time. His race was pretty uneventful as he worked his way up to fifth place before he had to retire with a seized gearbox. The next race was at Spa in Belgium. This was the most dangerous course in Grand Prix racing, a 9 mile monster and in 1960 it took the lives of two drivers including Clark's teammate Alan Stacey. Yet in spite of this Clark would manage to finish fifth in his second Grand Prix. The next year was met with limited success and some controversy.
Early in his career, Jim Clark was involved in one of the worst accidents in the history of Formula 1 racing. In the 1961 Italian Grand Prix on September 10th at Monza, Wolfgang Graf Berghe von Trips in his Ferrari collided with Jim Clark's Lotus. Trips' car became airborne and crashed into a side barrier, fatally throwing von Trips out of the car and killing fifteen spectators.
1962 had to be better, and it was. In those days the calendar was sprinkled with non-championship Formula 1 races and this season began with two which Clark promptly won. Looking forward to the championship season opener in Holland his hopes were dashed by another broken gearbox. A week later at Monaco, a race that he would never win he was again betrayed by his machinery, but this time it was an engine failure.
After the year began with so much promise Lotus was struggling to find some reliability. The Lotus 25 was a beautiful race car if only it could finish a race that counted. The answer came in Belgium at the track that Clark liked the least. Denis Jenkinson, the legendary journalist, discussing his disdain for the World Championship and its bias towards reliability over wins, declared that only one race should count, that race being Spa and whoever won it should be declared the World Champion.
Clark after a season long battle lost the championship to Graham Hill when his car broke down while leading the final race.
His first Drivers' World Championship came driving the Lotus 25 in 1963, winning seven out of the ten races and Lotus its first Constructors' World Championship. That year he also competed in the Indianapolis 500 for the first time, and only the oil on the track from winner Parnelli Jones's car prevented him from winning, as he finished in second position and won Rookie of the Year honours.
In 1964 Clark came within just a few laps of retaining his World Championship crown, but just as in 1962, an oil leak from the engine robbed him of the title, this time conceding to John Surtees. Tyre failure damaging the Lotus' suspension put paid to that year's attempt at the Indianapolis 500. He made amends and won the Championship again in 1965 and also the Indianapolis 500 in the Lotus 38.
He had to miss the prestigious Monaco Grand Prix in order to compete at Indianapolis, but made history by driving the first mid-engined car to win at the fabled "Brickyard," as well as becoming the only driver to date to win both that race and the F1 title in the same year.
During a break in action Lotus took the Grand Prix car to Indianapolis and tested it on the famous speedway while the track was closed. He soon had the car lapping at 140 mph. The Americans who were in attendance that day were catching a glimpse of the future. In 1963 Clark dominated the World Championship winning an amazing 7 out of 10 races and also gaining 7 poles. At his first race at Indianapolis he finished second to Parnelli Jones. The next year was an up and down year with the championship being fought between Graham Hill, John Surtees and Clark himself. The final and deciding race in Mexico saw Hill out due to a controversial collision with Surtees teammate Bandini. Clark was leading the race until the last lap when his engine seized and the title fell to Surtees and Ferrari. The championship in 1965 was again a duel between Clark, Hill and Surtees, but a fourth driver rose to the challenge the leading trio. His name was Jackie Stewart and the fellow Scot served notice that he would be a force to reckon with in the future. This year it was Clark's turn at the top rung and he included a win at Indianapolis for good measure. Leading the race for 190 laps out of 200 he left a lasting impression on his American rivals.
A quote from the times says "When Jimmy won in 1965, it was $150 for each lap you led on. He led for 190 of 200 laps. Jimmy never talked about money but he was so enchanted by this idea. He said, "It was so funny, I was like a cash register. I kept going around thinking, click, click, $150, $150"
At the same time, Clark was competing in the Australasia based Tasman series, run for older F1 cars, and was series champion in 1965, 1967 and 1968 driving for Lotus. He won fourteen races in all, a record for the series.
The FIA decreed from 1966, new 3-litre engine regulations would come into force. Lotus were less competitive. Starting with a 2-litre Coventry-Climax engine in the Lotus 33, Clark did not score points until the British Grand Prix and a third place at the following Dutch Grand Prix. From the Italian Grand Prix onwards Lotus used the highly complex BRM H16 engine in the Lotus 43 car, with which Clark won the United States Grand Prix. He also picked up another second place at the Indianapolis 500, this time behind Graham Hill.
Jim Clark's drive in the 1967 Italian Grand Prix is regarded one of the greatest ever in F1. After starting from pole, he was leading in his Lotus 49 (chassis R2), when a tyre punctured. He lost an entire lap while having the wheel changed in the pits. After rejoining sixteenth, Clark then showed his genius by driving at his own limit, something which was not required when leading. He ripped back through the field, progressively lowered the lap record, eventually equalling his pole time of 1m 28.5s, to regain the lost lap and the lead. He was narrowly ahead of Brabham and Surtees starting the last lap, but his car had not been filled with enough fuel for such a performance — it faltered, and finally coasted across the finish line in third place. This performance is considered unmatched in the long history of F1.
During 1967 Lotus and Clark used three completely different cars and engines. The Lotus 43 performed poorly at the opening South African Grand Prix, so Clark used an old Lotus 33 at the following Monaco Grand Prix, retiring with suspension failure.
Lotus then began its fruitful association with Ford-Cosworth. Their first car, the Lotus 49 featuring the most successful F1 engine in history, the Ford-Cosworth DFV, won its first race at the Dutch Grand Prix, in Zandvoort, driven by Clark. He won with it again at the British, United States and Mexican Grands Prix. Yet it was too late in the season and Clark had to settle for 3rd place in the World Championship.
1968 started with a win in South Africa, which allowed Clark to surpass Juan-Manuel Fangio in Grand Prix victories. Sadly, this was to be his last win for he was killed in a Formula 2 race in Hockenheim that year.
On 7 April 1968, Jim Clark's life tragically ended in a crash. He was originally slated to drive in the BOAC 1000 km sportscar race at Brands Hatch but instead chose to drive in a minor Formula 2 race for Lotus at the Hockenheimring in Germany, mostly due to contractual obligations with Firestone. On the fifth lap, his Lotus 48 veered off the track and crashed into the trees, killing him instantly. The cause of the crash was never definitively identified, but investigators concluded it was most likely due to a deflating rear tyre. Colin Chapman was devastated and publicly stated that he had lost his best friend. As a sign of respect, Chapman ordered the traditional green and yellow badge found on the nose of all Lotus road cars to be replaced with a black badge for a month following Clark's death. The 1968 F1 Drivers' Championship was subsequently won by his Lotus team-mate Graham Hill, who pulled the heartbroken team together and held off Jackie Stewart for the crown, which he later dedicated to Clark. A shy unassuming man his legend lives on as one of the very best and places him amongst the giants of the sport Nuvolari, Fangio and Senna.
He was the dominant driver of his era, winning two World Championships, in 1963 and 1965. At the time of his death, he had won more Grand Prix races (25) and more pole positions (33) than any driver up to that time. He also competed in the Indianapolis 500 five times, and won it once, in 1965.
Clark achieved 33 pole positions and won 25 races from his 72 Grands Prix starts in championship races earning both himself and Team Lotus 274 points in the process. He is remembered for his ability to drive and win in all types of cars and series, including a Lotus-Cortina, with which he won the 1964 British Touring Car Championship, IndyCar, NASCAR, driving a Ford Galaxie for the Holman Moody team, Rallying, where he took part in the 1966 RAC Rally of Great Britain in a Lotus Cortina, and nearly won the event before crashing, and sports cars. He competed in the Le Mans 24 Hour race in 1959, 1960 and 1961, finishing second in class in 1959 driving a Lotus Elite, and finishing third overall in 1960, driving an Aston Martin DBR1.
He was also able to master difficult Lotus sportscar prototypes such as the Lotus 30 and 40. Clark had an uncanny ability to adapt to whichever car he was driving. Whilst other drivers would struggle to find a good car setup, Clark would usually set competitive lap times with whatever setup was provided and ask for the car to be left as it was. He apparently had difficulty understanding why other drivers were not as quick as himself. After his death, Clark's father told Dan Gurney that he was the only driver his son ever feared. When Clark died, fellow driver Chris Amon was quoted as saying, "If it could happen to him, what chance do the rest of us have? I think we all felt that. It seemed like we'd lost our leader."
Jim Clark is buried in the village of Chirnside in Berwickshire. A memorial stone can be found at the Hockenheimring circuit, moved from the site of his crash to a location closer to the current track and a life size statue of him in racing overalls stands by the bridge over a small stream in the village of his birth, Kilmany in Fife. A small museum, which is known as The Jim Clark Room, can be found in Duns.
He was an inaugural inductee into the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame in 2002.
Below are a sample of the cars Jim Clark drove for Lotus during his illustrious career.
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