My hero

By Peter Gethin

“When I was young I looked up to Mike Hawthorn and Stirling Moss. But when I got involved in the sport in the early 1960s, Jim Clark became my all-time hero. I’ve seen them all and he was the best. He had the ability to make it look so simple.

“I raced against him in sportscars and I was also in the Formula Two race in which he died. Something broke, because no-one would crash where he went off; it was an utter waste. I had breakfast with him that morning. I remember having bacon and eggs with the greatest driver ever, thinking, ‘What do I talk to him about?’ But he was so modest and funny. Not only was he the best, he was one of the nicest guys I ever met.”