What might have been...

Jim would have won the championship in 1968, and could have won in ’69 too as the Lotus 49 was fantastic. He would have been a serious player for several years, but he might have left Lotus. I think he was getting to a point where he was thinking seriously about making a move. I don’t know why, but I know he was getting itchy feet. I don’t know how long he would have gone on, but he would have got into bigger money, and the whole thing would have evolved. But nobody’s king forever. I think he would have wanted to retire at the top, and settled down. Maybe that would have been his reason for stopping.

I think he would have stayed tied to Scotland, but I don’t think he would have only been farmer Jim, with his wee farm in Duns. He would have expanded and done other things. I don’t know what but he was already a sophisticated man beyond racing. He liked herding and going to sheep fairs, but he would have gone beyond that. But I didn’t see him as a team owner. He would have had to trust people, and others would have been using his money. That wasn’t Jimmy…