“The long-awaited new Jim Clark museum is brilliant”

What do Ayrton Senna and I have in common? It’s a question even I have never asked myself, but here’s your answer: we have both visited the Jim Clark Room in Duns.

Now, sorry Ayrton, but last month I eclipsed you as I visited the brand new

Jim Clark Motorsport Museum.

The long-awaited revamped Jim Clark memorial museum is now open and, let’s cut to the chase, it’s brilliant. As my mum’s partner put it: “You could spend days in there.”

There was absolutely nothing wrong with the old room but, now that the site has been expanded into the garage next door and converted into a true museum, what stood before now seems pathetic.

“You need to bring life into anything no matter whether it’s the Jim Clark Room or the British Museum,” the museum’s assistant curator Andrew Tulloch tells MN.

“We needed to bring it more up-to-date, we needed to add cars because people wanted to see cars, we needed to introduce more modern display techniques, go beyond just here’s a trophy and then another trophy.

“We’re trying to get through to the story behind the trophy, the cars, the circuits, the type of racing, things that were touched on but not really covered in the old museum.

And it’s done in such a way that the visitors can get as much or as little as they want.”

Clark’s career and his tragic demise will be familiar to you as an MN reader, but even motorsport anoraks like us will walk out of the museum with new-found knowledge of Jim’s superb life and career.

Did you know that his first trophy was won navigating on a rally? Or that he was a founding member of the Scottish Motor Racing Club? Or that he was an avid supporter of road safety, creating a campaign to stop youngsters speeding? I didn’t.

The presence of Clark’s 1963 championshipwinning Lotus 25 and the Lotus Cortina he took to the 1964 British Saloon Car Championship no doubt adds interest. The plan is to change this cast as the years progress to freshen up the display and keep the visitors coming back.

The final word must go to the Jim Clark

Trust and Live Borders for their tireless work to create a truly interactive and poignant experience. Make sure you get yourself to Duns in the Scottish Borders and take a look for yourself. Tickets cost £5 and are valid for an entire year.