The Legend Lives on ….
It’s not just the local folks of Berwickshire who revere the name and celebrate the success of Jim Clark, the Duns farmer and twice world Formula 1 Motor Racing Champion. His appeal is universal, even 45 years after his untimely passing.
He wasn’t the first to bring world wide attention to this corner of Scotland. In the 1920s and 30s Hawick’s multiple Grand Prix winner and Isle of Man TT hero Jimmy Guthrie put Scotland firmly on the map of world motor cycle racing success. But it was Clark’s success and modest character that propelled this small nation’s passion for speed to a much wider audience. And when he won the Indianoplis 500 in 1965, even the Americans were impressed!
With the post-war motor racing circuits at Charterhall and Winfield no longer in use, the annual Jim Clark Rally, organised by local car club members, was seen as a fitting tribute to the local motor sporting heritage which Guthrie and Clark originated.
What is not so well known is the fact that Jim Clark liked all forms of motor sport. He started his motor sporting career on local navigational rally events, and even contested the 1966 RAC Rally of Great Britain in a Ford Lotus Cortina.
So it was only natural that when the first major motor rally in Berwickshire was created in 1970, it bore the name of Jim Clark. This year’s 43rd running of the Jim Clark Rally on the weekend of 31st May – 2nd June continues that tradition, but Clark’s appeal transcends county and national borders.
In a week’s time, Club Lotus will be hosting a unique event in Duns to commemorate not just Jim Clark’s legacy, but also the marque with which he was so closely associated, Lotus Cars. Created by the brilliant and inspirational Colin Chapman, Clark’s name was to become forever linked to the marque which revolutionised world motor racing while at the same time becoming a byword for affordable and exciting road sports cars – with racing and rallying potential.
Over 2 days (Saturday and Sunday, 18/19 May) club members will gather in Duns with a huge variety of Lotus racing and sports cars culminating in a Sunday procession to Chirnside Parish Church just after Noon on Sunday. Prior to the procession, there will be a special treat in store for those with an interest in all things mechanical and especially for those who constantly wonder what all the fuss is about. Club members will fire up two Lotus 25 F1 cars and then take them for a wee spin up and down Newtown Street.
On the weekend of the rally itself, at a special ceremony in Troon in Ayrshire (not far from the old post-war motor racing circuit at Turnberry) on the evening of Saturday 1st June, the winner of the annual Jim Clark Award will be presented to this year’s winner. Organised by the Association of Scottish Motoring Writers, this annual award celebrates and honours the motoring industry and motor sporting achievements of Scots who work, race and rally on the national and world automotive stage.
First presented in 1970, award winners have included Professor Murray Mackay, OBE, FREng., DSc, for his work on road safety, and Andrew Muirhead of Bridge of Weir Leather who supply finest quality materials to the world’s car makers. Perhaps better known are the likes of Jackie Stewart and David Coulthard, Allan McNish and John Cleland, Jim and Colin McRae, Andrew Cowan and Louise Aitken-Walker, Steve Hislop and Niall MacKenzie, while last year, the award was won by David Bogie from Dumfries who won his fourth consecutive national Scottish Rally Championship title, beating the late Drew Gallacher’s record of three consecutive titles (although he did win 4 in all!).
The celebrations don’t stop there. At Silverstone Racing Circuit in Northamptonshire, the home of the British Grand Prix, the remarkable racing achievements of Jim Clark will be honoured during a special event on the 26-28 July.
Members of the British Racing Drivers’ Club and Silverstone Classic competitors will host a commemorative dinner which will include special tributes to the Scotsman, still widely hailed to be Britain’s greatest ever Grand Prix driver.
Many of those who knew Clark from the Sixties will be sharing their memories and several of his trophies, cars and other memorabilia will be on display.
“Jim Clark was one of the greatest racing drivers of all times as well as a notable member of the BRDC and a true Silverstone hero – that’s why we are so pleased and privileged to be honouring his incredible career with this special BRDC Silverstone Classic Dinner in July,” said Derek Warwick, President of the British Racing Drivers’ Club.
Further south and later in the year, over the weekend of 13/15 September, the Goodwood Revival meeting near Portsmouth will host its own special tribute to Jim Clark. A daily track parade will include a variety of Jim Clark’s most famous cars to honour the life and achievements of this incredible and versatile man.
The track parade will include the Lotus 25 in which he won the F1 World Championship in 1963, the Lotus-Cortina in which he won the 1964 British Saloon Car Championship, and the Lotus 38 in which he won the Indianapolis 500 in 1965.
Goodwood Revival founder Lord March fondly recalls meeting him as a motor racing-obsessed boy, saying: “Jim was always very nice to me – quiet, charming, a thoroughly good guy; not brash like some of the other drivers. He was an absolute world-class driver, and effortless is a good way to describe his ability.”
Jim Clark was not just a local or national hero, Jim Clark was motor racing world royalty.
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