Jim Clark

Born on March 4, 1936 in the Scottish town of Fife, he was the youngest child of five, and the only boy. In 1942 the family moved to Edington Mains Farm near the town of Duns in Berwickshire. Clark went on to primary schools, first in Kilmany and then in Chirnside, and then following three years of preparatory schooling at Clifton Hall near Edinburgh he was sent to Loretto School in Musselburgh, near Edinburgh.Although his parents were opposed to the idea, Clark started his racing career driving in local road rallies and hill climb events driving his own Sunbeam-Talbot, and proved to be a fearsome competitor right from the start. By 1958 Clark was racing for the local Border Reivers team, racing Jaguar D-Types and Porsches in national events, winning 18 races.Then in 1958, Clark met the Colin Chapman, who at the time raced in his own team. Chapman was sufficiently impressed to give Clark a run in one of his Formula Junior cars.

After Aston Martin's F1 program fell through, Clark was a free agent. Colin Chapman snapped him up for his F1 team, and Clark made his debut in the 1960 Dutch Grand Prix. Throughout his F1 career from 1960 to 1968 Clark drove only for the Lotus team. He developed a near telepathic relationship with Chapman, which contributed to their outstanding success together. Chapman's innovative and nimble designs combined with Clark's skills at the wheel made for a nearly unbeatable force. 1962 saw Clark battling Graham Hill who drove with Brabham for the world championship in Chapman's brilliant Lotus 25, but in the final race an oil leak caused him to drop out just as victory seemed a formality.

His first World Championship title came in 1963, winning seven out of the ten races, which also gave Lotus its first Constructors’ World Championship. The same year, he competed in the popular Indianapolis 500 for the first time, and only the oil on the track from winner Parnelli Jones' car prevented him from winning. In 1964 Clark came within just a few laps of retaining his F1 crown, but just as in 1962, an oil leak from the engine robbed him of the title, this time conceding to John Surtees.  

In 1965, Clark once again became world champion and also won the Indianapolis 500 in the Lotus 38. He had to miss the prestigious Monaco Grand Prix in order to compete at Indianapolis, but made history by driving the first mid-engine car to win at the fabled "Brickyard," as well as becoming the only driver to date to win both that race and the F1 title in the same year.At the same time, Clark was competing in the Australasia based Tasman series, run for older F1 cars, and was series champion in 1965, 1967 and 1968 driving for Lotus. He won 14 races in all, a record for the series.The FIA decreed from 1966 that new 3-litre engine regulations would come into force. Starting and hence struggling with a 2-litre Coventry-Climax engine in the Lotus 33, Clark did not score points until the British Grand Prix and a third-place at the following Dutch Grand Prix. From the Italian Grand Prix onward Lotus used the more complex BRM H16 engine in the Lotus-BRM 43 car, with which Clark won the United States Grand Prix.During 1967 Lotus and Clark used three completely different cars and engines. The Lotus-BRM 43 performed poorly at the opening South African Grand Prix, so Clark used an old Lotus 33 at the following Monaco Grand Prix, retiring with suspension failure. Lotus then began its fruitful association with Ford-Cosworth. Their first car, the Lotus 49 featuring the most successful F1 engine in history, the Ford-Cosworth DFV, won its first race at the Dutch Grand Prix, driven by Clark. He won with it again at the British, United States and Mexican Grand Prix respectively and, in 1968, at the South African Grand Prix.