The legendary Scottish racing driver Jimmy Clark is often overlooked when people list their greatest Formula One drivers of all time. Names like Michael Schumacher, Ayrton Senna, and Juan Manuel Fangio are thrown around with consummate ease but it is rare for Clark to be mentioned among even the top three drivers of all time.
Nobody is arguing he was the most successful but some do believe he was the most naturally gifted.
2008 marked 40 years since his tragic death, and this writer wants to make a case for James Clark Junior, the most naturally gifted F1 driver of all time.
He grew up close to the small Fife town of Kilmany as the only son of a farmer and as such, would have had many a chore growing up. Therefore, his father, at first, had little time for his fast paced hobby.
Ironically his father eventually said, "make it pay or give it up"—and make it pay he certainly did, and all during the life time of a very proud dad.
Two Time Drivers World Champion Clark made his F1 debut at 24 years of age driving a Lotus, like he would throughout his career, in the 1960 Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort.
It wasn’t to be a blistering start to life in F1 but he did finish fifth in his first race at the famous 8.7 mile Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium in only his second outing. A race in which fellow drivers Chris Bristow and Alan Stacey sadly lost their lives.
He didn’t win an F1 championship at his first attempt or even his second in 1961, during which he is remembered more for his coming together with Ferrari’s Wolfgang von Trips, which left the driver and 15 spectators dead at the Italian GP, than his success on the track.
Success was to come, however, and the flying Scot won his first GP at Spa in 1962.
It was the first of 25 career wins which famously passed the previous record of 24 GP victories held by Fangio. Even more impressive was the fact Clark would go on to win four successive GP’s in Belgium, arguably the toughest grand prix in the championship at the time.
1962 would see the first championship assault by the man from Fife, but he lost the title in the final race of the season after mechanical issues had forced him to retire. It wouldn’t be the only time Clark would suffer this travesty. In 1964, he would lose the title due to his engine seizing on the final lap of the final race of the season.
In the 60’s, prestige was measured at tracks like Spa, which would kill a man with half a lapse of concentration—and Clark won four successive races there. Today and in recent times, such prestige has been saved for Monaco, with tracks like the old Spa and Nurburgring banished to the driving enthusiast.
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