by Unknown
JIM CLARK
1960 - 1967
‘When a famous works team like Aston Martin gives a young man with only three years’ club racing experience a trial in a Grand Prix car, it must mean that the young man in question is possessed of the latent qualities that many, many people would like to possess themselves, but very, very few, in fact, do - ie, those of a brilliant racing driver. ‘Recently Aston Martin invited Jimmy Clark down to Goodwood for testing and Jimmy, who had only sat in a single-seater twice before in his life, covered about 50 tours, lapping between 1 min 30 secs and 1 min 31 secs, his fastest lap being 1 min 29.8 secs, and all this on a damp track. ‘From this you will appreciate that Jim obviously has what it takes to become a GP driver. All he lacks is experience with really fast machinery.’ So there you are - I discovered Jim Clark, for those were the opening paragraphs in my Profile of the lad (barely a couple of years older than I), which Autosport published in February, 1960. Of course, I did no such thing, for his potential had already been spotted, first by his great friend Ian Scott Watson, then Jock McBain of Border Reivers, Colin Chapman of Lotus and Reg Parnell of Aston Martin. At that time, the Goodwood lap record stood to Stirling Moss (Cooper-Climax) and Mike Hawthorn (Ferrari), who had both recorded 1 min 28.8 secs during the Fl race in the 1958 Easter Monday Meeting, so Jim’s best lap of just one second more than that in the Grand Prix Aston Martin (by no means the fastest GP car in the world) was pretty impressive. In due course, the 24 year-old signed to drive for Aston Martin in Fl and Lotus in F2 and Formula Junior. As things turned out he never did race an Aston in a Grand Prix (for which he must have been deeply grateful) but he drove for Lotus on several occasions early in 1960 and knocked up four FJ wins before travelling to Germany in May for his first race at the Nurburgring, where he was to drive an Aston Martin in the 1000 Kms. In view of Reg Parnell’s interest in him, it was appropriate that he should race an Aston Martin, and not just any old Aston, but the very car - DBR1/3 - which Stirling Moss and Jack Brabham had driven to victory in the 1958 event. This same car had caught fire in spectacular fashion whilst being refuelled in the 1959 Tourist Trophy at Goodwood. Although the smoke and flames were considerable, the damage to the car was slight and it was quickly repaired and later sold to Border Reivers for the 1960 season. Jim did two minor races with the R1 in April, first at Oulton Park, where he finished third in a 10lap sportscar race and then at Goodwood a couple of weeks later, where he retired. This was hardly good preparation for the Nurburgring, where his Border Reivers co-driver was to be the very Scottish Roy Salvadori! Roy’s ‘Highland ancestry’ had stood him in good stead in the very first 1000 Kms race in 1953, when he had finished second in a Ctype Jaguar, owned by Ecurie Ecosse. He had been back with Aston Martin in 1956, 1957 and 1958, but had only managed to finish once - sixth in ‘57. The next year, however, he was a superb second in the German GP, driving a works Cooper-Climax, so he certainly knew his way around the circuit. As did Jimmy, in a manner of speaking, for it was not his first visit to the Ring, as Ian Scott Watson recalls: “In 1957 Jimmy and I and another friend went on our first holiday abroad. While we were in Germany we went to the Nurburgring, paid our Deutschmarks and did a few laps - in my two-stroke DKW Sonderklasse. It was so heavily laden with the three of us and our luggage that we had to come down to second gear for some of the hills!” Armed with this knowledge of the most demanding circuit in the world Jimmy immediately showed his potential as a Ringmeister by setting fourth fastest practice time with a splendid 9 mins 55.8 sees. Aston Martin had won this race for the previous three years, thanks to Tony Brooks and Stirling Moss, but the chances of a fourth win were slim, indeed. The ageing DBR1 was up against the Birdcage Maserati of Moss and Dan Gurney and the very fast Porsches of Jo Bonnier/Olivier Gendebien and Hans Herrmann/Maurice Trintignant. Clark took the first stint and actually had the Aston on the move before Stirling had the Maserati stirring. ‘I was into the Aston and sliding out onto the road before anyone else.’ wrote Jim in his autobiography, Jim Clark at the Wheel. ‘This gave me a great start and I led Stirling round the first corner and up behind the pits. Stirling passed me on that opening lap but I managed to hold on to second place ahead of Masten Gregory (Maserati) and Ricardo Rodriguez (Ferrari). Ian Scott Watson was jumping with joy in the pits when I came past in second place, about fifteen seconds down on Stirling, but quite a bit ahead of Masten.’ Unfortunately, that was as good as it got, for the Aston slipped down the field and was in fifth place when the engine dropped a valve and Jim came to a halt at Quiddelbacher Hohe during the sixth lap. ‘That was my first taste of the Nurburgring,’ he wrote, ‘I had heard a lot about it, with its innumerable corners, its dips and dives through the forest and I took to the circuit right away.’ A year later he was back for the same race and in an Aston again, but this was DBR1/1 (the 1959 winner), which had been bought by John Ogier’s Essex Racing Team. This time his co-driver was Bruce McLaren and they were up against the works V6 Ferrari 246s of Phil Hill/Taffy von Trips and Richie Ginther/Olivier Gendebien and the 3-litre V12 entered by NART (North American Racing Team) for Pedro and Ricardo Rodriguez; the Camoradi Maserati Birdcage of Masten Gregory/Lucky Casner and the works RS Porsches of Stirling Moss/Graham Hill, Jo Bonnier/Dan Gurney and Hans Herrmann/ Edgar Barth. After a frustrating first day’s practice, when the Aston only had third and fifth gears, Jim recorded 9’ 56.5” on the Saturday, which was way off the fastest Ferrari’s time of 9’ 33.7”. However, once again he took the Le Mans start and once again he beat Moss to the draw and it was the Aston which led as they came past the back of the pits and headed out into the countryside. By the time they had completed the lap, Jimmy was down to fourth. Considering that this was the very first DBR1 - built for the 1956 Le Mans - it was going very well, but at the end of the seventh, lap Clark was down in eighth place and called in at the pits to have a stone removed from under the clutch pedal. He rejoined without losing his place. During lap 16 it began to snow, which played havoc with the Ferraris in particular and after 22 laps - half-distance - Bruce McLaren found himself in fourth spot. It was too good to last, though and on lap 26 the Aston came to a halt at Flugplatz with a broken oil pipe. Aston Martin’s Grand Prix cars failed to appear at Monaco and when it was announced that they would not be going to Zandvoort, either, for the Dutch GP, Colin Chapman invited Jimmy to fill in for John Surtees, who had motorcycling commitments. He made a classy debut, battling with Graham Hill’s BRM until he was sidelined with a broken gearbox when in fifth place. He remained with Team Lotus for the rest of the season (and, indeed, the rest of his life) and Colin Chapman knew he had an exceptional talent on his hands. He signed him for 1961 and Jim made his Nurburgring Grand Prix debut in a Lotus 21. That was the year of Stirling Moss’s sensational victory over the Ferraris with his Rob Walker Lotus, but it was Phil Hill who dominated the first practice day with his extraordinary lap in 8 mins 55.2 sees, the first-ever under nine minutes. In the morning session Clark could only do 9’ 20.9”, which was 2 sees quicker than team-mate Innes Ireland. In the afternoon Jimmy got down to a very respectable 9’
08.1”, with Ireland 10 secs slower. Then on the Saturday he had a big accident on his first lap when the steering broke and the Lotus was badly damaged. It was repaired in time for the race and Clark made a superb start from the third row of the 4-3-4 grid to be seventh at the end of the opening lap. Three laps later he was in fourth place, where he stayed until the end, finishing 1 min 17 secs behind Moss. His was a fine drive, but it went virtually un-noticed by everyone, as all eyes were on Moss, Taffy von Trips and Phil Hill throughout the 15 laps. But it was Jimmy who was the cynosure of all eyes during his next appearance at the Ring, in the 1962 1000 Kms, and this is how it came about, as he recounted in his autobiography: ‘Back in the winter of 1961 I had been in London seeing Colin at the factory and I found myself without a car. At this Colin turned round and said, “How about taking this Anglia back to Scotland with you?” I’m no motoring snob, but the idea of driving up
to Scotland in an Anglia didn’t sound too good. But Colin was insistent, and so off I went. This, however, was no ordinary Anglia. This car really had poke and I started to enjoy myself with it. I remember catching up with a Jaguar and giving him the fright of his life by passing him at well over 100 mph. ‘Obviously, Colin had been doing something radical in the engine compartment and at the first opportunity I lifted the bonnet to see not the familiar Ford engine, but the flat tops of two camshaft covers stamped with the name Lotus. This was my first meeting with the very hush-hush ex1962 Germany GP, Nurburgring perimental twin-cam Lotus cylinder head for the Ford engine. As time went on I heard that Colin was considering using this engine in a Lotus 23 and the idea of about 100 bhp in the back of a lightweight like the 23 became intriguing. ‘I didn’t have long to wait, for in May, just after the Dutch Grand Prix I found myself back at the Nurburgring, this time with a mobile shoe rather than a big, husky Aston. My partner here was Trevor Taylor, and although entered privately by John Ogier’s Essex Racing Team it was of course, Colin’s works car.’ To be precise, it was Colin’s works engine, for the 23 had been purchased by John Ogier and his mechanics looked after the car, leaving the preparation of the engine to Team Lotus. Both Chapman and Ogier were present at the Ring and must have enjoyed the sight of John’s entries, which were truly ancient and modern, for he had also brought along his trusty DBR1/1 (now in its seventh season and, as wicked rumour had it, on loan from the Montagu Motor Museum!) to be driven by Bruce McLaren and Tony Maggs. On paper neither car had a cat in Hell’s chance of victory, for they were up against the Ferrari entry of two V6s, a 246SP for Phil Hill/Olivier Gendebien and a 196SP for Giancarlo Baghetti/Lorenzo Bandini and a 4-litre GTO for Mike Parkes /Willy Mairesse, not to mention the two Flat 8 Porsches of Graham Hill/Hans Herrmann and Dan Gurney/ Jo Bonnier. By a nice co-incidence the two Essex Racing Team cars lined up side-by-side for the Le Mans start, the enormous Aston looming over the diminutive Lotus. They were sixth and seventh fastest overall, McLaren having lapped in 9 mins 43.1 sees and Clark in 9’ 48.9”. Considering the great age of the former and the size of the latter, these were pretty remarkable times, and just as remarkably, it was the old banger that would outlast the young upstart in the race. And it was the former in the hands of Bruce McLaren that got the jump on the latter in the hands of Jim Clark at the start. According to Philip Turner in The Motor, ‘Clark had contemplated running up the nose of the Lotus to enter its small cockpit, but had been deterred by the fear that he might slip and put a foot through the glass fibre body.’ In the event, Jimmy entered the Lotus in the conventional fashion and John Ogier and Colin Chapman had the great pleasure of seeing their cars lead the field into the South Turn. ‘With everyone worrying about the rain which seemed about to fall, Bruce McLaren and I had a wonderful start,’ wrote Jimmy. ‘Bruce was using the “world’s oldest Aston Martin”, one of the familiar DBR1 3-litre cars and he led into the first curve, but on the exit the Lotus breezed past the Aston and into the lead. I was determined to really have a go with this car, which looked so ridiculously small compared with the opposition. I concentrated on clipping the verges as close as possible and managed to build up a 17-second lead at the Karussell, and then 25 seconds at the end of the first lap. In the wet conditions and with the handling just right the Lotus just kept on building its lead. On the main straight I was only getting about 125 mph and kept glancing in my mirrors, but couldn’t see anyone.’ Of course he couldn’t, because his team-mate Bruce McLaren in the big old Aston held up the faster Ferraris and Porsches all the way down to Adenau, and although by the end of the first lap Gurney, Parkes, Graham Hill and Phil Hill had got past, Clark was out of sight, revelling in his skills and the ability of the Lotus to handle the wet conditions. “It was unbelievable!” recalls Ian Scott Watson, “It was pissing with rain and after about 10 minutes there was still no sign of any cars until, all of a sudden, we heard just one. It was Jimmy in the Lotus and he shot past the pits and had disappeared round the South Turn before anyone else came in sight.” The little Lotus was able to put all of its 100 bhp onto the wet track and that, combined with Jimmy’s remarkable skills, meant that it simply romped away from the rest of the field. He completed lap six in 9 mins 48.0 secs and had a lead of 1 min 41 secs over Dan Gurney. Two laps later and the lead was 2 minutes, but now the sun was shining, the road was drying rapidly and the power of the big bangers came into play. Mike Parkes took over from Willy Mairesse in the 4-litre GTO and began rapidly to gain on the Lotus. Clark’s lead at the end of the first hour had been 1 min 40 sees, but at the end of the 11th lap, after almost two hours of racing, it was down to only 42 secs - and Jimmy was in trouble. ‘The exhaust manifold started to leak,’ he recalled, ‘I didn’t notice it at first, then I began to feel drowsy. At the same time the brakes were not so good and a combination of all this led to my downfall. Coming into the Hocheichen I changed down, but the car jumped out of gear and went into a slide. My reactions were too slow and I just couldn’t correct it and the car went off into the bushes.’ Happily, Clark was not hurt, but he was almost unconscious from the fumes and lay down on the banking beside the track for some time, until his head cleared. Then he made his way back to the pits. “After the race, the mechanics went to retrieve the car, but couldn’t find it,” says Ian Scott Watson. “It had gone through the bushes, which had closed behind it and although Jimmy had told them where it was, more or less, it took them almost an hour to locate it. In fact I think he had to go back and show them where it was in the end.” While it had lasted the tiny Lotus had given the opposition a severe fright in the very damp conditions and Jim Clark had given notice once again that a new Ringmeister was in the making. That was Jimmy’s last appearance in the 1000 Kms, but he was back at the Ring in ‘62 for the Grand Prix, driving Chapman’s new Lotus 25 monocoque, powered by the Coventry-Climax V8 engine. Eight cylinders were all the rage now, in the second year of the 1.5-litre Fl. BRM had built their own, Porsche had produced their Flat 8, aircooled unit and the Coventry-Climax V8 was now in the back of the Lotuses, Coopers and Bowmaker Lolas. On the Friday morning Jimmy got down to 9 mins 17.2 secs, which was way off the pace, but he was bothered by steering problems. These solved, he recorded an excellent 8’ 51.2” in the afternoon, but was beaten by Dan Gurney (Porsche) who won pole with 8’ 47.2” and Graham Hill (BRM) on 8’ 50.2”. Fourth fastest was John Surtees, who got his Lola round in 8’ 57.5” and these remained the fastest times, as Saturday was wet. This upset an interesting plan hatched by Jimmy and Colin Chapman, as Denis Jenkinson revealed in Motor Sport: ‘Practice usually begins with everyone lined up at the pits ready to go; then they dash off in a bunch round the South Turn, back through the gate (to the start-finish area) and set off on a timed lap, so that the first few laps are pretty crowded until the field spreads out, by which time corners can get marked with rubber or oil. While everyone was going round the “starting circuit” Jim Clark shot off round the full circuit, which meant that his first lap would not be timed by the official timekeepers, but Chapman was timing him from behind the pits. ‘The point of this was that the whole circuit was entirely clear and Clark could have a real go knowing that he would not have to lap anyone, or find any oil spilt anywhere. In theory, this was to be the lap to end all laps, the one I’ve been waiting to see for a long while. Unfortunately, the organisation held up the start of practice and by the time Clark set off the rain had begun to fall, but even so he carried out his plan and got round in 9 mins 13 secs by Lotus timing on the wet track. This more than satisfied them as it meant they knew that the combination of Clark and the Lotus 25 could cope adequately with a wet track, but what a pity practice did not start at 11-30 am as scheduled, for then Clark would have had it dry and cool all the way round.’ With a front row comprising Gurney, Hill, Clark and Surtees - unquestionably the four finest drivers of the time - the spectators had every expectation of a four-way battle in the Grand Prix. Unfortunately, this prospect was ruined at the start -by Jim Clark. ‘I
did a very silly thing,’ he admitted in Jim Clark at the Wheel. ‘The start of the race had been delayed as there was a freak thunderstorm. After it had eased off the organisers decided to allow each car to do one exploratory lap so that each driver could check the track for flooding. Finally, we took up our positions on the start line and having started the engine I found that my goggles were steaming up as they had got excessively wet during the warming-up lap. I had switched off the fuel pumps, as had been my custom since a fouled plug had given me trouble in the first few laps at Monaco earlier in the season. In the last seconds before the start I was so concerned with these confounded goggles that I forgot to switch the petrol pumps back on. ‘At precisely the moment the flag fell the engine, which had been running on the petrol lying in the carburetters, expired. I felt so annoyed sitting there in a silent car as the rest of the field roared away in a great cloud of spray! I realised my mistake immediately, and having corrected it, I set off in hot pursuit determined to make amends for my unforgivable blunder.’ And make amends he did. There were now 25 cars in front of him and although he started some 13 seconds after they had departed he disposed of 15 of them in the opening lap, crossing the line in 10th position. On lap 2 he overtook Jack Brabham (Brabham-Climax) and Richie Ginther (BRM). On lap four he passed Bonnier (Porsche) and then Phil Hill (Ferrari) to take sixth place. His was a meteoric drive, to be sure, but it was being overshadowed by the battle for the lead between Graham Hill, Dan Gurney and John Surtees, who were seemingly tied together with string in a battle which had the 350,000-strong crowd enthralled from start to finish. On lap eight Jim snatched fourth spot from Bruce McLaren (Cooper) and was now just 25 seconds behind the leaders. ‘On some corners the leading trio would be almost touching each other,’ wrote Denis Jenkinson in Motor Sport, ‘and in 1965 Germany GP, Nurburgring other places they would spread out, but never by much and after 10 laps they were as close as they had been on the fourth lap, but Clark was now down to 14 secs from them, his driving in the wet being almost unbearable to watch. Time and again he was in almost uncontrollable slides on the wet and slippery surface, but always he was the master of the situation, until on his 11th lap he got into two really big slides while in 5th gear, and he was lucky to get away with them. Until this point he had been driving in one of those inspired trances that are brought on by being niggly with oneself, but after nearly losing the car completely at very high speed he came to a more reasonable sense of proportion and decided to ease off and settle for a very firm and well-won fourth place. When trying absurdly hard there often comes a point when a driver knows he has chanced his luck far enough, and this point had come to Jimmy Clark, so it was no disgrace to ease off and let the leaders go.’ Graham Hill won a famous victory, with John Surtees and Dan Gurney each a couple of seconds in arrears. Graham’s superb drive under so much pressure for 15 laps confirmed him as a Ringmeister and Surtees, Gurney and Clark had proved that they were Ringmeisters in waiting. All they had to do now was to win a race at the Ring in the manner in which Graham had just won the German Grand Prix. John Surtees would see to it that Jimmy would have to wait a couple of years to do that. He got off to a flying start in 1963, winning four Fl races before going to Monaco for the first Grande Epreuve of the season. He failed to finish and then went to Indianapolis, where he was narrowly beaten into second place by Parnelli Jones. Back in Europe he won the next four Grandes Epreuves on the trot and arrived at the Nurburgring looking for a fifth. Jimmy put the Lotus 25 on pole with 8 mins 45.8 secs, which was comfortably under Phil Hill’s existing lap record of 8’ 57.8”, set with the Ferrari in 1961. But it was the Ferrari of John Surtees that proved to be Clark’s nemesis in this race, for although Richie Ginther’s BRM unexpectedly led the field at the end of the first lap, Surtees took the lead on lap two, with Clark on his heels. But the Lotus was in trouble, as one of its eight cylinders kept cutting out. ‘This was later traced to a dud plug,’ Jimmy recalled in his autobiography. “Luckily, I managed to keep John, who had taken the lead, in sight for part of the time and keep ahead of everyone else, but my progress was erratic, to say the least. I developed a whole new system for going round the Nurburgring on seven cylinders. This was completely spoiled on occasion because I would arrive at a corner I knew was flat out on seven cylinders and set the car up. Then the eighth cylinder would come in with a bang and there would follow an exciting second or two as I sorted the car out. What a difference that one cylinder makes when you have committed yourself to a line with what you thought was a seven-cylinder motor car! ‘The Nurburgring was a very enjoyable race, and I have no regrets about finishing second. John Surtees deserved his victory, for he had tried hard for a number of seasons. All the same, I think that if I had consistently been running on eight cylinders I could have beaten John, for I felt in the mood for the Nurburgring that day.’ Jimmy went on to win the Italian, Mexican and South African GPs, becoming World Champion for 1963 with a massive 54 points to the 29 of Graham Hill (BRM). In 1964 he retired at Monaco yet again (he would never win there) and at Indianapolis, but then won the Dutch, Belgian and British GPs, before going to the Nurburgring. To be thwarted yet again in his attempt to win the German GP. He had a brand new Lotus 33 for this race and spent the first Friday practice session getting it to his liking, so his best time in that session of 9 mins 04.1 secs was way off Graham Hill’s best of 8’ 44.4”. In the afternoon Jim got down to 8’ 47.9” but Bandini in the Ferrari was at the head of the list with 8’ 42.6”. The next day Clark recorded 8’ 38.8”, only to be pipped for pole position by Surtees (Ferrari) who was just 00.4 secs quicker. Clark made a great start and led for the first lap, but his gearbox was playing up already, giving him fifth when he went from second to third, which was hardly ideal. That was to be the least of his problems, however, for on lap three his Climax V8 went off song and he retired at the end of lap eight. An exhaust valve had stuck open, with disastrous consequences. John Surtees went on to score his second successive victory in the German GP, but Clark was not about to win his second successive World Championship. He never won another Grand Epreuve that season and the title went to Surtees. However, everything came good for Jimmy in 1965. He began by winning the South African GP on January 1st, then went to Australia and New Zealand for the Tasman Series, where he racked up a string of 10 wins before returning to Europe. He and Colin Chapman were determined to win the Indianapolis 500 and were distinctly miffed that they had missed out in 1963 and ‘64. This year the 500 was scheduled for the same weekend as Monaco, and Chapman caused some controversy when he and Clark decided to forego the chance of some Championship points by giving Monaco a miss and going instead to Indy. Their decision paid off handsomely, for Jimmy won the 500 at his third attempt and then proceeded to win the next five Grandes Epreuves on the trot, the last being the German GP at the Nurburgring. It would be nice to record his thoughts on that victory but they are nowhere to be found in Jim Clark at the Wheel. Pan Books were so keen to cash in on his success at Indianapolis that they rushed out a new edition containing a brief, twopage account of the race and then four paragraphs describing his victory in the Belgian GP at Spa. And that was it - the book ends in mid-season, with no account of Jim’s successive wins in the French, British, Dutch and German GPs and his second World Championship. Instead, a Publisher’s Note tells us that, ‘As this new edition goes to press Jim Clark has become World Champion for 1965, having won the British, Dutch and German Grand Prix (sic) since the beginning of July. These successes bring his record to six Grand Prix wins in a row: a feat never before achieved by anyone.’ Not only did the Publisher omit Jim’s victory in the French GP, he conveniently forgot that Alberto Ascari had won nine Grandes Epreuves in a row during the 1952-’53 seasons. Ah, well! In practice for the German GP it was young Jackie Stewart who was the sensation of the Friday morning session, recording a shattering 8 mins 30.6 secs in his BRM, beating John Surtees’ lap record by almost nine seconds. In the afternoon Clark, however, showed who was boss and won pole posi
tion in the Lotus 33 with 9’ 22.7”. His main opposition for the race came from the BRMs of Graham Hill and Jackie Stewart, the three Brabhams of Jack Brabham, Denny Hulme and Dan Gurney, the Ferraris of John Surtees and Lorenzo Bandini and the Coopers of Bruce McLaren and Jochen Rindt. Jim led them all a merry dance from start to finish. He set a new lap record from a standing start with 8 mins 36.1 secs, but he was lucky to complete the lap, as Gregor Grant noted in Autosport: ‘After hitting a bump, the Lotus aviated and, with Clark’s foot hard down, the tachometer needle shot up to 11,600 rpm. Theoretically the engine should have burst, but thereafter it ran like a sewing machine.’ Lap two took Jim just 8 mins 27.7 secs, an average speed of 100.5 mph, making him the first man to lap the Nurburgring at 100 mph in a race. Next time round he reduced that to 8’ 27.4”, as did Graham Hill, who kept up with him initially, but after five laps Clark’s lead was nine seconds and ever-increasing. On lap 10 he secured the lap record for himself with 8 mins 24.1 sees (101.22 mph) and was now 24 seconds ahead of Hill, with Dan Gurney (Brabham) a further 14 seconds back in third place. For the first time the German Grand Prix was being covered by TV, and there were 17 cameras around the circuit. In The Motor, Philip Turner reported that, ‘As Clark set off on his final lap, Colin Chapman leapt off the pit counter and abandoned his lap chart to watch with intense eagerness his man’s progress round the circuit on the television set, until there on the screen was Clark’s Lotus sweeping through Brunnchen only three miles from the finish and everyone turned their backs on the TV and peered down the road. Up came the chequered flag and the triumphant Clark swept past the great grandstand to a roar of cheers from a highly enthusiastic crowd after a drive that he said had been completely lacking in drama.’ Maybe so, but that comprehensive victory established Jim Clark once and for all as a Ringmeister. He had always been very keen to win the German GP and was well aware that the 1965 race provided his last chance in the current, 1.5-litre Formula, so that victory must have been most satisfying. It certainly made Denis Jenkinson happy and he was positively effusive in his praise: ‘In the July Motor Sport I I said that there were only two achievements of note that Jim Clark had not yet accomplished, and one of these was a resounding win at the Nurburgring. He has now rectified that omission without any “ifs” or “buts”, his performances in practice and the race proving without question that he is a true World Champion and the best Grand Prix driver we have ever seen.’ Ian Scott Watson recalls, “Jim always enjoyed himself at the Nurburgring; he enjoyed the challenge of it.” That said, it comes as something of a surprise to find that in Jim Clark at the Wheel he never tells us what he thought of the circuit, merely commenting that, ‘At Nurburgring, you have a long straight where you can relax and every time I go round Nurburgring I come to the straight which is three miles before the pits (three kilometres, CN) and think: “Well, that’s the end of the lap.” Then I come to the end of the straight and the bridge which follows and I realise I still have quite a way to go. With that bit of straight, however, you can sit back and think about the whole circuit, where you went wrong, where everyone else is, or how you can improve your line through a certain point. Earlier I said that I had learned the Nurburgring quickly, which is true, but I would say that you can always improve on Nurburgring. There are so many corners that though you may know which way they all go, you can still improve your line. It’s funny that at Nurburgring I got to know the first half of the circuit long before I had memorized the second half.’ Juan Manuel Fangio made exactly the same comment. The new 3-litre Formula got off to a poor start in 1966 as neither Cosworth nor BRM had their new engines ready in time. At the Nurburgring Lotus and BRM were still using 2-litre versions of their 1965 V8s, but this did not prevent Clark from gaining pole position with a remarkable 8 mins 16.5 secs. This was just 1.5 sees faster than John Surtees, whose Cooper was powered by a vast, 3-litre Maserati V12. Jackie Stewart (BRM) was third, with 8’ 18.8” and completing the front row was a surprise - Ludovico Scarfiotti in a 2.4-litre V6 Ferrari. Jim’s race was over before it had begun, really, as shortly before the start Colin Chapman decided to change from wet-weather Dunlop tyres to Firestones. The race began in heavy rain and Jimmy was never happy on the new rubber, being way down in sixth position after five laps. He was still there after 10 and on the next lap the Lotus flew off the road at Aremberg, ending up in a field, where Jim was able to commiserate with Bob Anderson, whose Brabham had expired at the same spot earlier. Clark won pole position yet again in 1967. This time his Lotus was powered by the new Cosworth V8 and Jimmy went round in 8 mins 04.1 secs, (105.5 mph), despite the addition of a chicane at the end of the straight designed to slow the cars as they passed the pits. This time reportedly won 10,000 lire for Mauro Forghieri, Ferrari’s Chief Engineer, who had bet a friend that Jim would lap in under 8 mins 05 secs. Clark was almost 10 seconds faster than the next man, Denny Hulme in the Repco Brabham and looked set for a second victory at the Ring, but it was not to be. He set a new record on his opening lap with 8’ 22.5”, but on lap four he dropped to 13th place and came into the pits to retire. The Lotus had suffered a punctured left rear tyre early on and then, possibly due to the fact that this had lowered the car onto the road, a front suspension arm was severely bent. That was Jimmy Clark’s last visit to the Nurburgring, for in April the next year he crashed fatally in a Formula Two race at Hockenheim. The damage to the Lotus was so comprehensive as to make the cause of the accident impossible to ascertain, but a punctured rear tyre was thought to be the most likely culprit. Whatever the reason, in common with Alberto Ascari and Stirling Moss, the career of a truly great driver was ended in unexplained circumstances.
