The finest driver ever? How often is that question raised, and never solved. Yet of a handful of names in the frame, one is always that modest Scotsman Jim Clark. Lauded by contemporaries and by successors, Clark merits his acclaim not just because of two World Championships and 25 grand prix victories, but also due to the seeming effortlessness of his domination. Clark found incremental gains in whatever vehicle was offered and within a lap or two was extracting unheard-of speed from it, glancing in his mirrors to wonder where everyone else was. It mystified rivals, all the more because Clark himself was unable to explain his innate speed, or his gentle touch. Didn’t everyone drive like this?

In the following pages we offer fresh assessments of this quiet man’s talent combined with Motor Sport’s opinions at the time and through succeeding years, illustrated with outstanding images of Clark at work. We are grateful to the Jim Clark Trust for its help with this project to chart a career which but for one tragic race had so much more yet to show us.