Jim Clark

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

(Redirected from Jim Clark (racing driver))

This article is about the racing driver Jim Clark. For namesakes, please see James Clark.

**Jim Clark**
Nationality	Scottish
Active years	1960 - 1968
Team(s)	Lotus
Race starts	72
Championships	2
Wins	25
Podium finishes	32
Pole positions	33
Fastest laps	28
First Grand Prix	1960 Dutch Grand Prix
First win	1962 Belgian Grand Prix
Last win	1968 South African Grand Prix
Last Grand Prix	1968 South African Grand Prix
edit

Jim (or Jimmy) Clark OBE (March 4, 1936 – April 7, 1968) was a Scottish Formula 1 (F1) racing driver, still regarded as one of the best and most naturally-gifted drivers of all time.

He was born James Clark Jr. into a farming family in Kilmany, Fife, Scotland, the youngest child and only boy.

Throughout his F1 career from 1960 to 1968 Clark drove for the Lotus team. His first Drivers' Championship came driving the Lotus 25 in 1963, winning seven out of the ten races and Lotus its first Constructors' Championship. He won the Championship again in 1965 and also the Indianapolis 500. He had to miss the prestigious Monaco Grand Prix in order to compete in the Indianapolis 500, but made history by driving the first rear-engined car to win the race.

The following year, under new 3-litre engine regulations, 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 Lotus-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 perfomed 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-Cosworth 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.

On April 7 1968, however, Jim Clark's life and driving career was brought to a premature end when, during a Formula 2 race, his car 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.

[edit]

Legacy

Clark achieved 33 pole positions and won 25 races from his 72 Grands Prix starts. He is remembered for his ability to drive and win in all types of cars (including Lotus-Cortina stock cars, Indycars, Nascars and sportscars such as the Lotus 30 and 40) and for his quick 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, but, 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. He was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1990.

[edit]