Jim Clark 40th Anniversary

[Project Four]

Today is the the 40th Anniversary of the death of Jim Clark.

One of the greatest and lost too young, what might have been if he had lived at least a multi-WDC.

[P_O_L]

People always quickly say ''he will be a multi-wdc, if hed still be alive, hed be multi-wdc''

Is one championship not hard enough? Or not good enough? Its not a critic on what you said but it suprises me lots of people use this.

I gotta agree that Jim Clark was probably one of the greatest, if not THE greatest racedriver ever, no matter what stirling moss says about hamilton. The guy was quick in just about anything he touched.

[Project Four]

P_O_L Jim Clark was a multi-WDC, 1st in 1963 and 2nd in 1965.

[Ciro Pabón]

I don't think Clark would have made a lot of fuss about his legacy. He wanted to be recognized as a good farmer, which speaks volumes about him.



I went to my first GP in 1967 (my gosh, 41 years ago!), at the old Jarama circuit in Spain, with my uncle. Jim Clark won. I'll never forget the sound of the engines, when they started. I've never stopped watching F1 since.

I had a picture of him that my uncle, a fan of him, had given to me before the race. An english woman saw me clutching the picture when the race was over. She took my picture to the pits and came back with the picture signed by him, I never knew who she was. I lost the picture in the 80's.

[donskar]

Not only was he a great F1 driver, he was a great race car driver. Why do I make the distinction? For you younger members of this forum, there was a time when F1 drivers drove all sorts of cars. I saw Chris Amon drive a Ferrari Can-Am (he also drove Prototypes and Tasman Ferraris) and John Surtees in a Chaparral. Leading F1 drivers appeared in F2, Indy, Prototypes, Can-am. You name it. Now we've lost that, and I think it is a loss for the sport in general.

[segedunum]

At the risk of being controversial, I'll say that Jim Clark was the greatest driver ever to have got into the cockpit of a Formula One car. Who you want to put into second between Senna, Fangio and a couple of others is entirely up to you.

It's the manner of some of his victories and his racing that stands out. His number of pole positions is testament the to fact that he was a very fast driver with raw speed, but his ability to even a car's pace out over a whole race distance, conserving tyres and other mechanical bits (usually essential in a Lotus) and not being panicked is highly unusual. You usually get one but not the other. Imagine combining Senna and Prost into one driver. Driving other cars then, I believe, also made the drivers far better. I think driving lots of different cars in lots of different circumstances gives you experience you can't get just by driving in one Formula for years.

Alas, we'll never see drivers of the talent of Clark and Villenuve again, nor drivers who had a strange in-built desire to win in the manner of Senna, Prost or Mansell. Circumstances are different now, and not for the better I think.

[Tom H]

He was a great driver for Lotus. He really stood out for sure =D>

[DaveKillens]

My personal list of the "greatest is shared by a small handful. But Jimmy Clark is definitely one of them. Every generation there comes a driver who stands out, is bulletproof, seemingly invinciple. And sadly, some perish in racing. Senna, Clark, Earnhardt. Racing is a harsh mistress.