The Legendary Jim Clark
A retrospective look back at some of the greatest drivers to ever grace the world of Formula One. This week is the incredible Jim Clark.
Formula One is currently ruled by the dominance of Red Bull and Max Verstappen — a driver who has won three consecutive World Drivers’ Championships, and after just two races this year, already looks set to win a fourth. The formidable young Dutchman is often mentioned as “one of the best drivers of all time” but who are the others he shares that accolade with?
Natural Talent
In a rare moment of modesty, Ayrton Senna once described Scotland’s James (Jim) Clark as “The best of the best.” Last week, March 4, 2024, would have been Clark’s 88th birthday, but in 1968, arguably one of the most naturally talented drivers in motor racing history lost his life in a Formula Two race at Hockenheimring, Germany.
On the fifth lap, Clark’s Lotus 48 veered off the Hockenheim track and crashed into trees. He died before reaching the hospital. The cause of the crash was never definitively identified, but many drivers including 1964 Champion — John Surtees and three-time world champion — Jack Brabham were convinced that the crash was caused by a deflating rear tyre and they were adamant that it was not a driver error — simply because they believed Clark was not capable of making such a mistake.
“He was almost bullet-proof,” said Jackie Stewart. “He drove in such a smooth and calculated way that he never over-drove. He was never a driver anybody would have ever thought would have died in a racing car.
There have been many deaths in Formula One history, but Jim Clark’s was one of the first to have changed the sport, and drivers’ attitudes towards safety. “If Jim Clark could die, anybody could die,” as Stewart once stated. But what made this shy, quiet farmer from Fife, Scotland, so legendary?
His Lotuses Didn’t Break
Juan Manuel Fangio once called Clark, “outstandingly the greatest Grand Prix driver of all time” and it wasn’t just Fangio and Senna that admired the Scot. “The greatest natural talent driving today is probably Clark and I say ‘probably’ just for the forms’ sake, because I’m convinced Jimmy is the best in the world.” Commented Sir Stirling Moss.
“Jim Clark is still my second all-time driver behind Fangio. Jimmy was so smooth, so clean.” Jackie Stewart talked about his friend and former flatmate. “His Lotuses didn’t break down very often because he was so gentle with the car.”
To understand just how good drivers were in those days, first, we must look at the machinery they were driving back then in the 60’s. It’s fairly common for all 20 cars to finish a race in the current era of F1, but that is only a fairly new narrative. Back in the 1960s, Formula One cars broke down… a lot, and crashes were often fatal.
Looking at Jim Clark’s Lotus 48, seeing how far safety has come is amazing. The driver sitting in the cockpit, head poking out the top, barely any protection on either side, the Cosworth FVA engine exposed at the rear, no front or rear wing to add downforce, no power steering or paddle shift gears on the steering wheel. Even the driver helmets back then looked unsafe for even a push bike. The drivers’ who drove these cars had to be brave, fearless…insane.
“Many people were killed in Lotuses at the time because if you drove them aggressively, they were a very fragile car,” Stewart added. “But you had to be gentle with it and Jim Clark was the master of that. Better than anyone else, other than Fangio, in my opinion.”
Jim Clark is famous for his smoothness and precision. There have been stories about the tires on Jim Clark’s car lasting four races, brake pads lasting 3-times longer than anyone else, and Lotus engineers being amazed to take apart his Lotus gearboxes after races to find them, amazingly still in pristine condition.
A Perfect Pairing with Colin Chapman
“Clark’s talent was even greater than he showed us. He never reached his limit. He only used 90% of his talent, which makes the gap between him and the other drivers even bigger.” Said Lotus founder Colin Chapman.
Jim Clark’s racing relationship with Colin Chapman and Lotus started in 1960, when he made his Formula One Grand Prix debut. After his first points finish (5th) in his second Formula One Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps, in a race that saw two fatal accidents, Clark was quoted as saying in a 1964 interview: “I was driving scared stiff pretty much all through the race.”
In 1961 Clark was nearly killed when his car got tangled up with Wolfgang Von Trips’ Ferrari at Monza at the Italian Grand Prix. Von Trips wouldn’t be so lucky, however. Clark recalled how the collision was unavoidable, “Trips was ahead of me, driving on the center of the track. Suddenly he slowed down. Since my Lotus was faster than the Ferrari, I tried to overtake him. In the same instant the Ferrari surprisingly pulled to the left, and a collision became unavoidable…”
It wasn’t until 1962 when Jim Clark and Lotus started to gain momentum. Two years after his first Spa Grand Prix, Clark won his first F1 Grand Prix at the infamous Belgian circuit. He also won his home race at the British Grand Prix, and his third win would be in France. That year he narrowly missed out on winning the World Drivers’ Championship, coming second to Graham Hill in the BRM.
Clark’s Unbelievable Wet Spa Win
1963 would be Clark’s year. Lotus, Chapman, and Clark had begun to be a dominant force. Jim Clark in the Lotus 25 won all but 3 races in 63' enough to win 27-year-old Clark the first of two World Drivers’ Championships — at the time, the youngest driver to ever do so. Clark also finished second at the Indy 500 of that year, but it wouldn’t be the last America saw of the rising young Scot.
One of Clark’s most famous wins, a race that has mythical status almost 60 years on, was Clark’s win at Spa in 1963. Clark started the race in eighth, but after a great start was up to first leading the pack into Eau Rouge. Commenting on his quick starts, Clark once said, “I’d get myself madder than hell and take off!”
Clark had pulled away from Graham Hill’s BRM, and after Hill was forced to retire from the race with gearbox issues, Clark was leading by over a minute.
As the race went on, the sky got darker, and on lap 24 — a common sight at Spa — The heavens opened. Due to heavy rain and even lightning, many teams were calling for the race to be stopped. This didn’t put Clark off however, the original rain master incredibly started to grow his lead from a minute and a half, to four minutes, then to six, and so on. This was Clark racing at his finest.
What made this rain-soaked race even more impressive was that gearbox issues had meant Clark had to hold his gear stick in place and drive one-handed, with four gears out of five working.
One of the most dangerous parts of any circuit in the 60’s was Spa’s Masta kink. A perilous part of the track that had taken many driver’s lives. Clark went through it wet, at 150mph, with one hand on the steering wheel and the other on the gear stick.
Clark had won the race lapping the whole grid except second-place Bruce McLaren who he’d gapped by almost five minutes.
His Ability to Win in Any Car
Although 1964 would be a difficult F1 season for Clark, winning only three Grand Prix, and consistent mechanical issues that finished his races early, he was still crowned a champion — a British Touring Car Champion, in the Lotus-Cortina, as well as winning the British and French Formula 2 championships. It’s unbelievable to think that a world-class F1 driver was racing all these different series and winning championships in today's world. Clark was an exceptional talent and could adapt to any car with sublime mastery.
Jim Clark won his second World Drivers’ Championship in 1965, in what would be Clark’s most successful season. He also returned To the US, this time taking home the Indy 500 win, after leading 190 of 200 laps. Clark’s record of winning the F1 World Championship and Indy 500 in the same year remains unbroken even today. Clark’s 1965 racing year is often regarded as the best year for any racing driver in history, as the Scot also won the Formula 2 Championship and the first of three Tasman Series Championships.
Graham Gauld, Clark’s biographer, knew him better than most. “I remember Walter Hayes telling me, the day after he won Indianapolis, Jimmy was invited to Ford in Detroit and was taken up to the top floor, the directors’ dining room, and Walter said here was this little guy and he walked in there with some of the most powerful men in America. Henry Ford II, all these people. And in 10 minutes he had them all eating out of his hand. Just by being ordinary! He had no airs and graces about who he talked to.”
1966 and 1967 Clark was unable to clinch a third World Drivers’ Championship as his Lotus’ would be plagued with reliability issues and development problems. However, he did win his second Tasman Series championship in 1967 and had a World Rally Championship race, again showing his versatile abilities in any type of car.
One-of-a-Kind
Jim Clark would win his final championship in 1968 — his third in the Tasman Series, before his tragic accident shocked the world. There was no driver quite like Jim Clark, and there has been no driver like Clark since.
“Jimmy was so unlike any other racing driver. He was very special. To be on the podium with Jim Clark was a privilege. In his driving he was so smooth, he was so clean, he drove with such finesse. He was a special man, one of a kind I have never seen since.” Jackie Stewart
Gauld: “I don’t think Jimmy had any weaknesses. He had this amazing capacity to adjust. I think that was maybe his greatest secret. I would never say that was a weakness.”
And Chapman said about him: “I was very, very close to Jim Clark, he was I would say my best friend, the best friend I ever had off the track. Jimmy was probably the greatest racing driver there have ever been, a very rare combination of fantastically high intellect, fantastically high ability with a tremendous concentration that, in my ten years racing experience, any other racing driver had.”
Clark was a true gentleman and will forever go down as one of the greats. He often shunned the limelight. “Jimmy was a highly introverted man,” recalls Jackie Stewart. “He ate his fingers, not just the nails but all the skin around them too.”
Some of his amazing records still stand to this day. And it’s a shame we didn’t get to see Clark race into the 70’s where I’m sure he’d of been the first to eclipse Fangio’s record of 5 World Championships, long before Michael Schumacher was able to do so in 2003.
There have been more technically talented musicians than The Beatles, more skillful footballers than Pele, more unbeatable boxers than Muhammad Ali, and drivers that have won more than Jim Clark, but none quite have the same aura, greatness, and legend surrounding them.
Jim Clark truly was the best of the best.
