 |
Jim Clark
The
Perfect Partnership - Colin Chapman
Webmasters Note : Jim Clark is my personal all time
favourite driver. I had at first decided to write
the profile on him myself but after several
miserable attempts resulting in long
meandering/boring articles I cast my aspirations
aside and began looking elsewhere for an article
that is both A. Rarely seen these days and of great
interest B. Written by someone whom knew Jimmy
intimately. With this I hope and believe that I have
succeded. This article by the legendary Colin
Chapman was written soon after Jimmys tragic death
at Hockenheim in 1968 and published in the
compilation Jim Clark : Tribute to a Great Driver by
Graham Gauld. I highly recommend purchasing this
book if you can find it - BJ |
 "The first I ever heard of Jim Clark was from Jock
McBain, who had been purchasing Lotus sports cars
from us for two or three years. He mentioned this
young farmer, already legendary up in the Borders,
whom he felt was a very, very good driver. One of
the first occasions I really met Jimmy was when he
came down to Brands Hatch to try out a Formula 2
car, on behalf of Border Reivers, who were thinking
of purchasing one. There and then I was most
impressed with the way he drove the car, especially
as it was his first single-seater drive, and also
his first drive at Brands Hatch. He was steady,
consistent and, basically, just downright competent.
At around about the same time, he drove a Lotus
Elite for the Border Reivers at Le Mans, doing very
well indeed, and my impression of his performance
then was reinforced when he drove at Brands Hatch
one Boxing Day in an Elite.
"I drove in that same race, and we had quite a dice
together. Immediately afterwards I asked him if he
would like to join Team Lotus. This was during the
period when Team Lotus was in a stage of transition,
from being a racing team in which I was the
principal driver, and thus was virtually being run
for my benefit, to the point where I was sponsoring
a team for other drivers. This transition therefore
coincided with Jimmy coming to Lotus and therefore
he was the first driver to actually come to the team
as its principal driver. So really we came of age
together: Lotus was just getting into Grand Prix
racing, Jimmy was just getting into Grand Prix
racing. The fact therefore that we were both
learning together made our association very
interesting, and so very fruitful.
"As far as I was concerned, I felt right from the
beginning that he was such a good driver, and a man
with whom I was so completely at one, that I could
retire from driving myself and concentrate purely on
producing cars for Jimmy to drive. And this is in
fact what I did. We always got on so terribly well
-we thought alike and acted alike, we were both keen
on doing a thoroughly first-class job, and we found
out about racing together. This is something which
will never ever be the same again for me in motor
racing, because of all the problems, all the
successes and the anguish we shared together (and
there's a lot of anguish in motor racing).
Throughout it all Jimmy realised we were both
finding our feet and was very friendly, very
co-operative. For me, this made it enjoyable, easy
and pleasant.
"As we went along, too, he developed a superb
technical knowledge. When he started driving for me,
he didn't of course have the benefit of a formal
engineering background. But he did have what I can
only describe as a very very good intellect, and he
picked up the engineering side of motor racing so
rapidly that after a while I was able to interpret
his expressions regarding the car, its handling and
its requirements and so on. And this made it easier
for me to develop better motor cars.
 "Although at first certainly, he wasn't a
development driver in the accepted sense I think I
got even better results than I might have with a
driver trained in the engineering sense. For Jimmy
had no real preconceived ideas, he was merely
satisfied with reporting the facts, what actually
happened, and did not try to draw his own
conclusions. And of course, in many ways, this is an
ideal driver for an engineer to work with -
unfortunately, you do find that some drivers who
have some little engineering knowledge will form
their own conclusions about what is happening, and,
possibly subconsciously, make the facts fit their
conclusions. This Jimmy never did.
"I think the thing about Jimmy Clark as a driver was
that he was relaxed, he was always in command of the
situation and he very very rarely drove beyond nine
tenths of his capacity. The result was that he
always appeared to be smooth and extremely
competent. He had so much natural ability that he
was driving within himself far more than most
drivers do.
"There were occasions when he drove really hard and
of course those were the rare occasions when he
showed his sheer genius for being able to drive so
much quicker than any other contemporary driver. I
remember that 1962 German Grand Prix at Nurburgring,
when on the start line he forgot to switch his fuel
pumps on, and so was left behind at the start. This
was the sort of thing that would raise the tiger in
him, because he felt, rightly or wrongly, that he
had made a mistake and it was up to him to put it
right. He just drove fantastically well that day, so
that although he only finished fourth in the motor
race I would put this motor race down as one of his
best. Similarly, in the Italian Grand Prix at Monza
in 1967 he did something which up to that point I,
and I think most people, had felt was impossible. He
had a puncture which dropped him a lap and a quarter
behind, and at Monza he actually made up a lap on
the field - even if you do have a capability of
going faster than the other drivers, at Monza you
invariably end up towing them round with you. But
Jimmy actually caught the leaders, left them, and
then made up a whole lap on them. This I think was a
virtuoso drive which no other driver has ever
equalled or will ever be able to surpass.
"This was just one of the rare drives in Jimmy's
career when he drove flat out. I can only think of
four or five other
 occasions in the whole ten years
he drove for me that he really drew on all his
resources. Because generally he was capable of
making a very quick start, getting out in front of
the opposition, and demoralising them. From that
moment on he drove to a plan of his own which
conserved the machinery, which conserved his own
energies, and was adequate to win the race.
"I never controlled him when he was racing, all I
did was give him the maximum amount of information,
and let him run the motor race. I believe that the
driver is the only man qualified to make the
decisions, for example how fast to go; he is the
only man who can size up his capability, how much
he's extending himself, how much he is extending his
car, what the condition of the track is, and so on.
I think it is absolutely futile for any team manager
as such to try to manage a car during a race. His
purpose is to give the driver information; the
driver decides on the tactics of the race and drives
accordingly.
"I do not think it was true that he was always
happiest in a single-seater, or that he ever, ever
really played to the crowds. I think, for example,
that he used to enjoy Cortina racing just because he
enjoyed racing - he got a lot of fun from it. In
fact he used to tell me that some of the most
enjoyable rides, from his own personal point of
view, were when he drove Cortinas, because the car
was relatively difficult - it wasn't a precise
racing car, it was a car that you could play around
with, throw about. He could do all sorts of
ridiculous things with it, and he just used to enjoy
it - not because it pleased the crowd, but because
it pleased him. "I don't think Jimmy took any notice
of the crowd, he certainly was never racing for his
public as it were. He was racing for himself.
"I think he enjoyed sports cars, too. In fact he
liked to try any different form of racing - this was
a thing which evolved through his career. This
really is why he went to Indianapolis, certainly he
did not go because he believed all the mumbo jumbo
that surrounds the race, it was just that it was a
new type of motor racing, so he wanted to try it.
For the same reason, he later tried an American
stock car race, merely because it was something new,
and he enjoyed tackling new things. He would get as
much fun out of driving even a kart as he would out
of driving a racing car. Anything that needed
coordination and control was exciting to him. "For
the same reason he really loved flying. In fact I
remember just before his accident, he was talking
about his future and what he was going to do when he
stopped racing, and he said he finally made up his
mind that he wouldn't in fact go back to farming. He
still loved it, but I think he would have found it
difficult to go back to it after the excitement and
turmoil of racing, flying and the life he had been
leading. I think he wanted to settle down in some
branch of the aviation business. He certainly had
some business investments in aviation in Australia,
although I do not think he could have settled down
out there, as some people imagined. He certainly
enjoyed
 Australia
and New Zealand very much, he enjoyed the climate
and he enjoyed the people (Australia I think
probably more than New Zealand). While I don't know
if he would have gone out there to live, I don't
think so; I think he would have probably come back
to Europe. "It is difficult to say of course, how
long he might have gone on racing. We had talked
about it briefly and I think he would have certainly
seen the current Formula out to the end of 1970.
"In his racing one achievement was not fulfilled he
had won every major Grand Prix apart from Monaco,
and he would dearly have loved to have won at
Monaco. He actively disliked a few circuits-Spa most
of all. He felt it was a dangerous circuit, and he
was always very happy to get the Belgian Grand Prix
over. This could have been due to the fact that the
second Grand Prix race he ever did was at Spa when
his team mate Alan Stacey met with a fatal accident,
and I think this sort of thing made a lasting
impression on him. Certainly the season always
seemed a lot more relaxed once the Spa race was
finished.
"He never used to like Silverstone very much. Not
because he felt it was a dangerous circuit, he just
felt it was an uninteresting circuit. But, as well
as Monaco, he did like Nurburgring - this was
another of his favourites, because I think these two
were more challenging than most of the others.
"One of the things about Jimmy was that he had the
ability to adapt himself, or train himself, to cope
with almost any situation in life. This showed in
his development as an international figure. When he
was World Champion for the first time the speeches
and public appearances he had to make were very
foreign to him and he had to work very hard at them.
But, like anything he tackled, he very quickly
mastered this aspect of his career. This was just
another
problem to him, and within a year he had
licked it. If he hadn't have been a first rate
racing driver, I am sure he would have been at the
top of what ever profession he went in for.
"I have been thinking very much about Jimmy and
racing drivers and trying to analyse what really
made him so much better at his business than others
and I think it must boil down to that he just had a
very very superior intellect. He was very quick to
assess a situation, and not necessarily only whilst
driving. His mind had the resolving power to be able
to sift extraneous material from important matters,
and surely this is a mark of anyone who is truly
great in any profession, that they can sort the
trivial from the essential. "He also had such
exceptional physical attributes, of eyesight,
co-ordination and so on. Not only did he have these
physical attributes, but he had the mental ability
to go with them, plus a tremendous self control
which must have stemmed from his family background,
his upbringing, and his school. I have met his
parents really closely only since his accident, and
seeing the way they reacted to it and bore up under
the adversity, I realize that this is where he got
 this fantastic dourness. Farming must have played a
part in his moulding, too, for I think that farmers
in general must accept life and its quirks to a much
greater degree than most people - they have to
accept the influence that weather and other things
outside their normal control have upon their own
lives, and on their prosperity. And possibly too,
this showed in the way that Jimmy had an approach
which was always resigned to some of the problems of
life and living. This capacity made him able to cope
with them so exceptionally well.
"Looking round at other racing drivers, now, I think
without undue prejudice - although I must admit to a
little - I can't see any that have anywhere near the
total ability that Jimmy had. Really, his ability
was so much greater than even he revealed. As I have
said he rarely drove to his capacity, very rarely
indeed, and this makes the gulf between him and
other racing drivers even bigger. Certainly it is
bigger than is shown purely by the record book. It
wasn't what he did, it was the way he did it. He did
it with such reserves, that it was almost incredible
to believe that it was possible to find such
reserves in one man. "I feel that although he was
pre-eminent as a racing driver, I do not feel this
is the biggest credit to Jim Clark. I think that his
most profound influence, certainly on me and all his
close associates, was not his ability as a racing
driver, but his success as a man. He was so
thoroughly adjusted to life and its problems, he had
such a thorough integrity of his own that it is very
difficult for others to compare themselves in the
same street. He was fit, he was honest - `integrity'
is the best single word to describe his qualities.
This is the man I shall always remember, not simply
a man who won a record number of races. He was a man
who set an example to others."
|
Article
written by Colin Chapman
Every
effort has been made to trace the owners of
copyright and we apologise to any we have been
unable to contact |
|
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)