The Online Magazine for Italian and French Classic Car Enthusiasts
Story by Graham Gauld
There has been a lot on the internet recently about the official opening of the Jim Clark Museum in Duns, Berwickshire, which took place last Thursday, August 29. For me it was a memorable occasion, not because it was devoted to Jim Clark’s life, but for the large numbers of people who turned up and who, in one way or another, had their lives touched by Clark.
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Andy Middlehurst at the wheel of the Lotus 43 BRM, now beautifully restored.
By Graham Gauld
As you can see in this Special Edition of VeloceToday, there are plenty of photos and details about the racing at the event. But for me, Goodwood is another chance to meet up with old friends, make new ones, and keep an eye open for things that might have escaped notice or otherwise have been so obscure as to be missed by the many journalists around.
Clark and the E.R.A.
As this year was celebrating the 50th anniversary of Jim Clark’s first World Championship win in 1963, Lord March dedicated the meeting to him. There was a remarkable collection of cars that Jim Clark had raced, and then sent off in a parade round the circuit.
Among the more obscure was the 1936 E.R.A. voiturette R5B originally raced by the Siamese Prince Bira, but also raced for many years by Tony Rolt and journalist John Bolster. Eventually, in 1959, the Honorable Patrick Lindsay, who has been credited as the creator of what we now call historic car racing when he was a director of the well-established auction house of Christies, bought the E.R.A.
Ludovic Lindsay at the wheel of the 1935 1.5 liter supercharged E.R.A. that his father loaned to Jim Clark at the 1963 French Grand Prix.
Jim Clark deep in thought: Note the chewed finger nails.
By Graham Gauld
Had he lived, Jim Clark would have been 76 years of age on March 4th. This thought came into my head because someone sent me an email about Jim and the early days, before he came into Formula 1. Suddenly I realized that I had never written an article about Jim Clark in the past twenty years – partly because I had said it all in the three different editions of my biography of him and felt there was nothing more to say. Then I thought again. In twenty years a new generation has sprung up and at the same time my Clark books are now nearly 20 years out of print – so you can only find one on EBay or the like.
Jim Clark had great skill even in his earliest events like here at Leith Fort in Edinburgh with his Sunbeam Talbot sedan.
I thought a few notes and stories about his early days may not go amiss, if only to give a new generation an idea of what motivates and makes a racing driver.