1. James Clark was a British racing driver from Scotland, who competed in Formula One from 1960 to 1968.
55 Facts About Jim Clark
1. 2.
Jim Clark made his formula racing debut the following year in Formula Junior, winning the championship ahead of reigning seven-time Grand Prix motorcycle racing World Champion John Surtees.
3.
Jim Clark took his maiden win at the 1962 Belgian Grand Prix, achieving further wins at his home Grand Prix in Great Britain and in the United States, as he finished runner-up to career rival Graham Hill.
4.
Jim Clark held the Formula One records for the most race wins until 1973, pole positions until 1989, and fastest laps until 1989.
5.
Jim Clark still holds several records in 2024, including the most grand slams.
6.
Jim Clark was a champion in the British Saloon Car Championship, winning every race he entered in 1964, as well as in French and British Formula Two.
7.
Jim Clark was a three-time champion of the Tasman Series, winning in 1965,1967 and 1968, with a record 15 wins in 32 starts.
8.
Jim Clark was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1990.
9.
James Jim Clark was born into a farming family at Kilmany House Farm, Fife, the youngest child of five, and the only boy.
10.
Jim Clark was educated at primary schools in Kilmany and then in Chirnside.
11.
On Boxing Day 1958, Jim Clark raced against the man who would launch him to superstardom.
12.
Chapman was sufficiently impressed to give Jim Clark a ride in one of his Formula Junior cars.
13.
Jim Clark had made an earlier FJ appearance in a one-off race at Brands Hatch on Boxing Day, 1959, driving a Gemini-B.
14.
Jim Clark made his Formula One Grand Prix debut, part-way through the 1960 season, during the 1960 Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort on 6 June.
15.
Lotus had lost Surtees, who took part to the Isle of Man TT series; alongside Innes Ireland and Alan Stacey, Jim Clark was one of the acceptable substitute.
16.
Jim Clark retired on lap 49 with final drive failure.
17.
In 1961, Jim Clark was involved in one of the worst accidents in the history of F1 racing.
18.
In 1964, Jim Clark came within just a few laps of retaining his World Championship crown.
19.
Jim Clark made amends and won the Championship again in 1965, and won the 1965 Indianapolis 500 in the Lotus 38.
20.
Jim Clark had to miss the prestigious 1965 Monaco Grand Prix to compete at Indianapolis but made history by driving the first mid-engined car to win at the fabled Brickyard, as well as becoming the only driver to date to win both the Indy 500 and the F1 title in the same year.
21.
Jim Clark picked up another second place at the 1966 Indianapolis 500, this time behind Hill.
22.
The Lotus 43 performed poorly at the opening 1967 South African Grand Prix, so Jim Clark used an old Lotus 33 at the 1967 Monaco Grand Prix, retiring with suspension failure.
23.
Jim Clark won with it again at the 1967 British, United States, and Mexican Grands Prix, and at the 1968 South African Grand Prix.
24.
Concurrent with competing in the F1 World Drivers' Championship, Jim Clark competed with Lotus in the Australasia-based Tasman Series, run for older F1 cars.
25.
Jim Clark was series champion in 1965,1967, and 1968.
26.
Jim Clark won fourteen races in all, a record for the series.
27.
About 17 laps into the race, with the rain coming down harder than ever, Jim Clark had lapped the entire field except for Bruce McLaren, and was almost five minutes ahead of McLaren and his Cooper.
28.
Jim Clark lost a lap while having the wheel changed in the pits.
29.
Jim Clark was narrowly ahead of Brabham and Surtees starting the last lap.
30.
In 1963 and 1965, Jim Clark equalled Alberto Ascari's record for the highest percentage of possible championship points in a season.
31.
Jim Clark still holds the Grand Chelem record; as of July 2023, only 26 drivers had secured a Grand Chelem, of which there had been 66 in total.
32.
Jim Clark's record is that he had the most races taking pole, fastest lap, race win, and leading every lap, achieving this eight times in a 32-race span over three years.
33.
Alongside Vettel and Verstappen, Jim Clark is the only drivers to achieve a Grand Chelem in three consecutive years, and is the sole driver to accomplish this feat for four consecutive years.
34.
On 7 April 1968, Jim Clark died in a racing accident at the Hockenheimring in West Germany.
35.
Team Lotus drivers Graham Hill and Jim Clark were in Gold Leaf Team Lotuses and a young Max Mosley was in the race, moving up from the Clubman series.
36.
Jim Clark suffered a broken neck and skull fracture, and died before reaching the hospital.
37.
Jim Clark's death affected the racing community terribly, with fellow F1 drivers and close friends, such as Hill, Surtees, Amon, Jackie Stewart, Dan Gurney, and Jack Brabham, all being personally affected by the tragedy.
38.
At the time of his death in 1968, the 32-year-old Jim Clark had achieved 33 pole positions and had won 25 races from his 72 Grand Prix starts in championship races.
39.
Jim Clark had more Grand Prix wins and pole positions than any other driver, including five-time World Champion Juan Manuel Fangio, despite winning three fewer World Championships; he won most of the races he finished and was often winning, or in a podium position, when he had to retire due to mechanical failures, without which he could have equalled, if not beaten, Fangio's World Championship record.
40.
Jim Clark is remembered for his ability to drive and win in all types of cars and series, including a Lotus-Cortina, with which he won the 1964 British Touring Car Championship, Champ Car World Series, rallying, where he took part in the 1966 RAC Rally of Great Britain in a Lotus Cortina, and sports cars.
41.
Jim Clark competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans race in 1959,1960, and 1961, finishing second in class in 1959 driving a Lotus Elite, and finishing third overall in 1960, driving an Aston Martin DBR1.
42.
Jim Clark took part in a NASCAR event, driving a 7-litre Holman Moody Ford at the American 500 at the banked speedway at Rockingham on 29 October 1967.
43.
Jim Clark was able to master difficult Lotus sportscar prototypes, such as the Lotus 30 and 40.
44.
Jim Clark had an ability to adapt to whichever car he was driving.
45.
Jim Clark never bullied a racing car, he sort of caressed it into doing the things he wanted it to do.
46.
Jim Clark is buried in the village of Chirnside in Berwickshire.
47.
The Jim Clark Trophy was introduced in the 1987 season and for drivers of cars with naturally aspirated engines but was discontinued after turbo-charged engines were restricted in 1988 and dropped for 1989.
48.
The now Jim Clark Memorial Award is an annual award given by the Association of Scottish Motoring Writers to Scots who have contributed significantly to transport and motorsport.
49.
The Jim Clark Rally is an annual event held in Berwickshire.
50.
Jim Clark was an inaugural inductee into the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame in 2002.
51.
In 1965, Jim Clark was awarded the American Broadcasting Company's Wide World of Sports Athlete of the Year.
52.
Jim Clark was inducted into the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame in 1988.
53.
Jim Clark was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1990.
54.
Jim Clark was inducted into the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame in 2002, a member of their inaugural class.
55.
For reasons of space, only those Formula Two events which Jim Clark attended are shown.