The great Jim Clark only ever made small mistakes, and had very few accidents. The biggest crash of his career killed him when a rear tyre deflated and came off the rim of his works Lotus during a Formula 2 race at Hockenheim in Germany. The date - 7 April, 1968 - is indelibly imprinted in many minds.
GRAHAM HILL: "At Hockenheim I remember soldiering on in about eighth place and, every time I came into the infield, I could see my team mate Jimmy in front of me on one of the twisty bits of track - then he disappeared. I thought perhaps he had gained a bit on me, or lost a bit, and was just in a different part of the circuit. About the same time I also noticed on the back straight, on one of the fastest bits of the circuit, that there were some skid marks going off the track and into the trees. I realised straight away that whoever had gone off there was in serious trouble, but it never occurred to me that it could have been poor Jimmy. For me, it was very touching to find in Jimmy somebody who wasn't hard and cynical but was basically a warm, honest person."
COLIN CHAPMAN: "Jim raced because he loved it. Naturally, he made a lot of money out of it, but to him it was a sport, not a business. If he had his way, at the end of a race he would creep away into obscurity until it was time for the next race. He was not interested in the glamour or the thrills."
JACKIE STEWART: "Nobody knew what was going on inside Jim. He was an incredibly private person. He isolated himself. But you could see his anxiety, and it got worse as he got older. He had a stiffness in his shoulders. He was the coolest, calmest, most calculating racing driver in the world, yet he continually chewed his fingernails with nervousness. In a way he was a terribly highly tensed man and yet the moment he slipped into a racing car he changed."
Innes Ireland, having retired from driving in 1966, was now the Sports Editor of 'Autocar' magazine. He wrote an acclaimed obituary for his fellow Scot...
INNES IRELAND: "I have known Jim Clark for perhaps longer than any of his contemporaries for my father was a veterinarian surgeon in the area of the Clark farms in Scotland - in fact I bought one of my first racing cars from his brother-in-law, another farmer nearby. We spent two good years together in Team Lotus in 1960 and 1961. But to my great regret, I did not know him as well as I might, for our early friendship was later clouded over by the circumstances of my leaving Lotus.
"His past performances need no recollection here - they are indelibly printed in the record books for posterity. He had a great love for his heritage, which was the basically simple, rustic life of farming and animal husbandry: but his dedication to motor racing was even greater, for he forced himself to leave all this behind to concentrate on his chosen profession. And it is in this light that we must remember him, for he died as he lived, giving his all in a racing car.
"I am sure that he would express no regrets at the violence of his passing and surely this is answer enough for us who are left. I can only say to look at it as he would have done - otherwise his life has been in vain. And to those who still question the wisdom of people who wish to risk their lives in racing cars, I would say that motor racing, as a sport, is the most exacting, demanding, exhilarating and, above all, satisfying sport in which a man with red blood in his veins could indulge."
CHRIS AMON: "I don't think Jimmy's death slowed anybody down but I think it probably cast some doubts in people's minds because, if it could happen to him, it could happen to anyone. A lot of us had a sort of 'bullet-proof' attitude at the time and it certainly put a dent in that."
BRUCE McLAREN: "Jimmy ranked with, perhaps even out-ranked Nuvolari, Fangio and Moss, and I think we all felt he was in a way invincible. To be killed in an accident with a Formula 2 car is almost unacceptable."
COLIN CHAPMAN: "For me, Jimmy will always be the best driver the world has ever known."
- excerpt from F1 The Autobiography (Edited by Gerald Donaldson)
No comments:
Post a Comment