Most of you would never have heard of Jim Clark but he was the greatest racing driver of all time. Forget the Schumacher's and Senna's of this world as he puts all of their achievements in the shade. He was a Scottish racer that came from humble beginnings as his dad was a shepherd.
He was spotted by Lotus at a young age and he never looked back and nor did Lotus. I am going to concentrate on one year of his career in this post to show you how good this guy really was. He raced at a time when literally hundreds of drivers were being killed every year. The cars they were driving were like little bombs as the drivers were surrounded by fuel and oil.
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In 1965 Jim Clark took on the world of motor sport and won. He raced the Formula One ,Formula Two series in Britain and France,British Touring car series plus the Tasmin Racing series and the Indianappolis 500. The thing is he won every championship he entered. Drivers today complain that they have too many races and they need a break. This year the formula one calendar has a total of 21 races scheduled. In 1965 Jim Clark raced in 65 races.
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The British Touring Car with his Cortina.
What we need to understand is that in 1965 they never had modern aircraft that could take you to Australia in one trip and it involved 8 flights. His accomplishment is nothing short of miraculous.Nothing was made easy for him either as even though he was a world Formula One champion the Americans were not overly keen to have someone new appear and take their glory. He had to pass a driving exam for an oval track. He made them suffer by putting the Americans in their place by winning their race by over two minutes.
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The Indy 500 victory was done on his first attempt.
He kicked 1965 off by racing the Tasmin Series and took the crown by winning 11 out of 15 races. He then took on the Formula Two races in France and Britain which he won.
In 1965 he competed in 63 races and won 31 of them and was on the podium another 8 times. The guy was a genius and the mechanics that worked with him said he had a special feeling for every car he raced in. He knew if there was something not quite right and the mechanics listened every time as they always found something after inspections were made. On one occasion a seal had worn down and he could tell the difference.
Cars in those days were scary as you had little or no protection and self preservation by looking after your car was paramount. A mechanic knew when they stripped the teams cars down which parts came off whose cars as Jim Clarks were still basically brand new.
He was just a natural driver who understood the car and what it's abilities were. Cars were not as strong and reliable and were in reality quite fragile. He never put a car through extra tests when they weren't needed. Qualifying would be only one or two laps. One lap to learn the track and the second one was to win pole.
To give you an idea in the one race his gearbox broke and he continued racing by driving with one hand on the gear stick holding it in place and the other on the steering wheel. That race he won by over 5 minutes, giving up was not in his vocabulary.
Another example was the Formula One race at Silverstone when his car was losing oil pressure. Under these circumstances the car could easily blow up when going into the corners due to the g-forces in play. His solution was to turn the engine off in the corners and restart it again on the exit. He won the race against all odds.
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In his short career he had 8 grand slams which basically means pole position,fastest lap,leading for every lap of the race and winning the race. This has only been achieved by a Schumacher (5) and Senna (4) and his 8 is not likely to be ever beaten.
In 1968 sadly he was killed when his car left the track at 179 mph and entered a tree filled area. He died instantly and was only 32 at the time. Up until that point he had won 33 percent of all Formula One races he had entered, 25 out of 75. What is ironic is he was Senna's hero and we all know what happened to Senna.
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Thankfully Sir Jackie Stewart has opened up a Jim Clark museum so his story can be told and never forgotten. His achievements were just that good and is a true legend of motorsport.