Poles apart, the best

Jim Clark achieved 33 pole positions and 25 victories in 72 races

Jim Clark, born 4 March 1936, Kilmany. Died 7 April 1968, Hockenheim, Germany

Scotland has long had a connection with the world of motor racing, thanks to household names such as Jackie Stewart, David Coulthard, Dario Franchitti and Colin Mcrae.

But Scotland’s connection with the sport was sparked by Jim Clark.

Born into a farming family in Fife in March 1936, Clark – the youngest of five children and the sole boy – grew up in the small Berwickshire village of Duns. From the moment he was able to drive, Clark developed an interest for competing in rally and hill climb events - initially in his own car, a Sunbeam-talbot. His talent and ability led to him joining the Border Reivers racing team in 1958, where he got behind the wheel of Jaguar D-types and Porsches and competed all over the UK.

The 22-year-old Clark won 18 races, running Lotus chief Colin Chapman close in a Boxing Day race at Brands Hatch that same year. Noting his talent behind the wheel of a Lotus Elite, Chapman brought Clark on board and started him racing his ‘Formula Junior’ cars. By early 1960, Clark had progressed to driving for the Lotus Formula One team.

He won his first points in just his second Formula One race at Belgium’s Spa Francorchamps circuit, but the race was overshadowed by the deaths of two British drivers Alan Stacey and Chris Bristow - just six laps apart.

The following year the Scot stormed to victory in seven out of 10 races driving the Lotus 25, securing his first World Championship title and a maiden Constructors’ World Championship title for Lotus.

Although he was pipped to the top spot the next year by John Surtees, Clark found time to compete in, and win, the British Touring Car Championship of 1964. Clark’s last memorable year was 1965, when he won six of the 10 races and picked up his second Championship title. Incredibly, Clark only competed in nine races – the Monaco Grand Prix clashed with the Indianapolis 500 in America, which he won for the first time, two years after finishing second.

By 1966, changes had been made to Formula One’s regulations and Lotus struggled to reproduce the form that had seen them sparkle in the early 1960s. Clark was just 32 when he took part in a relatively low-key Formula Two race at the Hockenheimring in Germany, on behalf of tyre firm Firestone, on 7 April 1968. Fresh off the back of victory in the season’s first race, Clark was competing in a Lotus 48 at the circuit.

Early on in the first race, the Lotus veered off the track and hit a tree. Clark sustained serious head injuries in the collision, and tragically died shortly after. Of the 72 Grand Prix races he started, Clark had achieved 33 pole positions and 25 victories. A memorial stone stands at the Hockenheimring while a statue of Clark in his racing overalls honours his memory in Kilmany. Clark still tops polls of the greatest Formula One driver of all time. ANGUS HOWARTH