The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Trophy won year before Jim Clark’s death fetches £7,750
HISTORY: Scottish motor racing legend won trophy in 1967, with his goggles also sold at auction
A trophy won by Scottish motor racing legend Jim Clark the year before his tragic death 50 years ago has fetched £7,750 at auction.
The Lady Wigram Trophy was awarded for winning the Motor Racing Club’s 100 Mile Race in Christchurch, New Zealand.
Clark, from Duns in the Scottish Borders, won the race in 1967, driving his Lotus Climax V8.
The silver plated cup was sold to an American collector bidding in the auction room at Bonhams’ auction at Goodwood, near Chichester, West Sussex.
It came with a pair of Clark’s iconic racing goggles, which the Scot taped across the upper half to shut out sunlight.
One of the finest racing drivers in history, Clark twice won the Formula One world championship in as well as the prestigious Indianapolis 500 in America.
He remains the only driver to have won both the Formula One and Indy 500 titles in the same year.
He died tragically in April 1968 after crashing at Hockenheim in Germany at the age of just 32.
Toby Wilson, Bonhams’ automobilia expert, said: “It is extremely rare to find a trophy won by Clark still in private hands.”
The Lady Wigram Trophy made up part of the Tasman Series, held annually from 1964 to 1975 over a string of races in New Zealand and Australia.
Illustrious winners in the 1960s included the great Australian Jack Brabham, in ’60-61, and Stirling Moss in ’62.
Clark first won the major trophy in 1965.
Fellow Scot Sir Jackie Stewart won in 1966, but Clark regained the trophy in 1967 and won again in 1968, just months before his death.