Jim Clark, The best of the best

Jim Clark was a genuine sporting hero. He won 25 of his 72 Grands Prix and in the sixties was the yardstick by which every other driver on the starting grid was judged, and by which they judged themselves. Quite simply, Clark was peerless. Stubborn and notoriously indecisive outside the car, he would nervously chew his fingernails, but he was a genius when he got behind the wheel. To many he remains the greatest racing driver of all time, not just because of his fearsome strike rate and the magnitude and manner of his achievements, but also because he remained humble and unspoiled throughout. Published on the 50th anniversary of Clark’s death, this book, 20 years in the making, is a deeply detailed look at a complex and compelling character.

• Starting in a friend’s cars in driving tests, sprints, hill climbs, autocrosses and rallies, Clark graduated to sports cars in his native Scotland while still pursuing his other passion, which was farming.

• Such was his subliminal driving talent that motorsport overcame farming (and parental opposition) and he went on to win in Formula 1, Formula 2, Formula Junior, the Tasman series, sports cars and touring cars, and to triumph in the legendary Indianapolis 500 in America.

• Clark’s Formula 1 début came in 1960, with Team Lotus, where his unique fraternal relationship with boss Colin Chapman became one of the cornerstones of success for them both.

• Driving for Lotus throughout his professional career, Clark was twice a World Champion, in 1963 and 1965, famously winning seven of 10 rounds on the way to his first crown.

• On his first visit to the Indianapolis 500, in 1963, he finished second, and two years later he became the first Formula 1 star to win it, with his Lotus the first rear-engine victor as well.

• Clark’s tragic death, in a Formula 2 race at Hockenheim in Germany on 7 April 1968, was likened by compatriot and close friend Jackie Stewart to motorsport’s equivalent of the atomic bomb.

• A special feature of this book is the personal insight from the author’s dozens of interviews with family, friends, drivers and mechanics.

Author David Tremayne has spent his career in motorsport journalism, with such notable roles as executive editor of Motoring News, long-time Grand Prix correspondent for The Independent and The Independent on Sunday, and co-founder of GrandPrix+, the sport’s first and fastest e-magazine. He has written over 50 books, including the award-winning Donald Campbell: The Man behind the Mask, a major biography of the speed king. He is a three-times winner of the Guild of Motoring Writers’ ‘Journalist of the Year’ award. In August 2017 he averaged 275mph during a test run prior to challenging the 301mph UK land-speed record, walking away with just a cut knuckle after a crash at 250mph, and vowing to try again. He lives in County Durham