Jim Clark
- This article is about the racing driver Jim Clark. For namesakes, please see James Clark.
| Formula One World Championship career | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | British |
| Active years | 1960 - 1968 |
| Teams | Lotus |
| Entries | 72 |
| Championships | 2 |
| Wins | 25 |
| Podiums | 32 |
| Pole positions | 33 |
| Fastest laps | 28 |
| First entry | 1960 Dutch Grand Prix |
| First win | 1962 Belgian Grand Prix |
| Last win | 1968 South African Grand Prix |
| Last entry | 1968 South African Grand Prix |
Jim (or Jimmy) Clark OBE (born March 4, 1936 – died April 7, 1968) was a Scottish Formula One (F1) racing driver considered by many experts, such like the great Juan Manuel Fangio, as the best and most natural gifted driver in motor sport history. Fangio said about Clark in 1968 and again in 1995, shortly before his own death: "In my opinion, Jim Clark was by a league the greatest racing driver ever". He was born James Clark Jr. 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 the town of Duns in Berwickshire in the Scottish 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.
Although his parents were opposed to the idea, Clark started his racing career driving in local road rallies and hill climb events driving his own Sunbeam-Talbot, and proved to be a fearsome competitor right from the off. By 1958 Clark was racing for the local Border Reivers team, racing Jaguar D-Types and Porsches in national events, and winning 18 races.
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 run in one of his Formula Junior cars, and the rest, as they say is history.
Clark and Lotus
After Aston Martin's F1 programme fell through, Clark was a free agent. Colin Chapman snapped him up for his F1 squad, and Clark made his debut in the 1960 Dutch Grand Prix. Throughout his F1 career from 1960 to 1968 Clark drove only for the Lotus team. He developed a near telepathic relationship with Chapman, which contributed to their outstanding success together. Chapman's innovative and nimble designs combined with Clark's skills at the wheel made for a nearly unbeatable force. 1962 saw Clark battling Graham Hill who drove for BRM for the World Championship in Chapman's brilliant Lotus 25, but in the final race an oil leak caused him to drop out just as victory seemed a formality.
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' car prevented him from winning. In 1964 Clark came within just a few laps of retaining his 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 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.
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 14 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 onward Lotus used the more complex BRM H16 engine in the Lotu-BRM 43 car, with which Clark won the United States Grand Prix.
During 1967 Lotus and Clark used three completely different cars and engines. The Lotus-BRM 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, driven by Clark. He won with it again at the British, United States and Mexican Grands Prix; and, in 1968, at the South African Grand Prix. He had established himself as the dominant driver in the dominant car.
Jim Clark`s unrewarded Italian Grand Prix 1967 at Monza was one of the greatest drives ever in F1. After starting from pole, Jim was leading in his regular Lotus 49 R2. He was leading the race when a tyre punctured. He lost an entire lap while having the weel changed in the pits and rejoined 16th. Now Clark showed his incredible genius; for the crowd on this rare occasion, to see the man at his own limit. He ripped back through the field, progessively lowered the lap record, eventually equalling his pole time of 1m 28,5s, 233,898 km/h, and not only regained that whole lap but also the lead. He was narrowly ahead of Brabham and Surtess starting the last lap, but his 49 failed to pick up its last dregs of fuel - it faltered, and finally coasted across the finish line third.
This performance is until today unmatched in the long history of F1. Other examples for his unbelievable skills are the Nürburgring demonstrations in 1962 in a Lotus 23 sportscar during the 1000 km-Race or the qualifying for the German Grand Prix 1967, when he took pole position by nine seconds and more.
The 14.2-mile Nürburgring-Nordschleife circuit brought out the very best in Clark. In the 1962 Nürburgring 1000 km he drove the small Lotus 23, fitted with the 1500 cc Lotus-Ford twin-cam engine, only 110 b.h.p. He ran rings round all the big-class 2,5 liter and 4 liter cars from Ferrari with 270 b.h.p. (Dino 246 SP), 390 b.h.p. (330 GTO) and worldclass drivers like Phil Hill, Olivier Gendebien, Willy Mairesse, Mike Parkes, Pedro Rodriguez, Lorenzo Bandini at the wheel on a patchily damp course and led with nearly 2 minutes (!) outright until, affected by fumes from a broken exhaust, he was unable to correct one last slide in time to prevent the car clattering off course into the bushes.
On April 7 1968, however, Jim Clark's life and driving career was brought to a premature and tragic end when, during a Formula 2 race, his Lotus 48 veered off the Hockenheimring, Germany and crashed into trees. The cause of the crash was never definitively identified, but investigators concluded it was most likely due to a deflating rear tyre. The 1968 F1 Drivers' Championship was subsequently won by his Lotus team-mate Graham Hill.
Legacy
Clark achieved 33 pole positions, 25 victories, 28 fastest laps, and 13 hattricks (!) (pole, fastest lap, victory in the same Grand Prix) from just 72 Grands Prix starts! 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 2nd in class in 1959 driving a Lotus Elite, and finishing 3rd 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?".
Jim Clark is buried in the village of Chirnside in Berwickshire.
Awards
- F1 World Champion, 1963 and 1965
- Indianapolis 500 winner, 1965
- British Touring Car Championship Champion, 1964
- Tasman Cup winner, 1965, 1967 and 1968
- Third place overall, 1960 Le Mans 24 Hours
- He was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1990.
- He was inducted in the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1990 in the open wheel class.
Bibliography
- Jim Clark At The Wheel; Jim Clark, Barker, 1964
- The Jim Clark Story; Jim Gavin, Frewin, 1967
- Jim Clark, Portrait Of A Great Driver; Graham Gauld, Hamlyn, 1968, ISBN 0668018429
- Jim Clark Remembered; Graham Gauld, Patrick Stephens, 1984, ISBN 0850597307
- Autocourse Driver Profile: Jim Clark; Doug Nye, Hazleton, 1991, ISBN 0905138775
- Jim Clark, The Legend Lives On; Graham Gauld, Patrick Stephens, 1994, ISBN 1852601442
- Jim Clark; Eric Dymock, Haynes, 1997, ISBN 0854299823
- Jim Clark And His Most Successful Lotus; Doug Nye, Haynes, 2004, ISBN 1844250296
External links
- Jim Clark, Formula One World Champion
- Jimmy Clark at the Grand Prix History Hall of Fame
- Jim Clark Memorial at Hockenheim
- Jim Clark memorial room at Duns, Scotland
- Video clip: Jim Clark breaks records at Brands Hatch (July 1964)
- Jim Clark Memorial Rally
- Jim Clark statistics