Everyone has their favourites when it comes to motorsport, two wheels or four. For me, the ultimate idol was neither driver nor rider but broadcaster: the great Murray Walker. However, when it comes to four wheels, they don’t get much more naturally talented than Jim Clark, the quiet Scottish farmer who just happened to become a double Formula 1 World Champion and Indy 500 winner.
Greg Haines writes from Barcelona
Born on 4th March 1936, had he lived Clark would have turned 90 last month. Sadly, 7th April earlier this week marked 58 years since the man from Kilmany in Fife lost his life in a Formula 2 accident at Hockenheim in 1968. To this day the exact cause of the crash remains a mystery although it was most likely caused due to a tyre failure or puncture as Clark battled horrendous weather conditions. The Scot’s Lotus speared off the long Hockenheim straights and into the trees. As with Ayrton Senna in 1994, even the world’s greatest racing driver couldn’t prevent disaster when having to deal with suddenly unexpected circumstances with just tenths of a second at play. The loss of Clark was a major shock and another horrible reminder that, if it can happen to him, it can happen to anybody.
I personally rank Clark as the most naturally talented racing driver ever. Very rarely these days do F1 competitors get to pit their skills against others in anything other than a Formula 1 car. Back then, it was commonplace to switch between different types of vehicle. For instance, in 1964 – the year between his two F1 title seasons – Clark won the British Saloon Car Championship (now the BTCC) in one of the fantastic Lotus Cortinas. Can you imagine that now? It would be like Lando Norris winning the BTCC title in 2026 before taking another F1 crown in 2027. However, one of the very best things about Clark was his calm and gentle nature which saw him lose his patience very, very rarely. Fellow drivers, not least close friend Sir Jackie Stewart, only ever have very good things to say about the man. What Clark did was a rarity: serial motorsport success with respect and a lack of controversy.
As Murray Walker said, you can’t compare drivers from different decades; the cars changed, the tracks were different, the regulations varied and so did the rivals. But you can say Clark was the finest of his era and, bearing in mind he achieved what he did with finesse and minus the controversy we saw with the likes of Senna and Michael Schumacher, there’s every justification for stating Clark was the most naturally talented racing driver ever. Give him a D-Type Jaguar, Porsche 356 or Colin Chapman’s Lotus 25 and Jimmy would do the honours. He died at the age of 32 but remains immortal to racing fans worldwide. A superstar, yes, but Jim Clark was the absolute definition of ‘gentleman racer’.
Greg Haines - Commentator & Presenter 