How Jim Clark drew Colin Chapman’s attention
Paul Fearnley looks at a how a damp day in Kent shaped a legend
Jim Clark and Colin Chapman became a combination that would change the face of the sport
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Taken from Motor Sport, December 2014, How Clark drew Chapman’s attention
I finally got going after a push and spent a dismal race in the middle of the pack… unable to think much save that Boxing Day was a crazy day to go motor racing.”
Fair to say Jim Clark didn’t enjoy his single-seater debut. No doubt it was coloured by what had happened earlier. Having decided to settle for second behind the sister Lotus Elite of Graham Warner in the Production Sports Car race, he lost concentration – some say a rear hub broke – and spun backwards into a bank. It was his first crash. And his last outing in a car owned by friend and mentor Ian Scott Watson.