The Quiet Champion

I watched an excellent hour-long documentary about Jim Clark on BBC4 recently. Its well worth finding on iplayer if you can.

Jim was a childhood hero of mine, and as a seven year old I slaved over an early Tamiya model of his Lotus in green with its distinctive yellow stripe. Even today I can remember my father gently breaking the news to me of his death in a minor F2 race. It was Easter 1968.

I watched the TV documentary with SS7 Jnr. He was touched to see footage of the man he was named after (don’t tell the current Mrs SS7, right?), and also moved by the difference in attitudes to disaster in F1 in those days. The programme included footage of the aftermath of von Trip's accident at Monza in ‘61 which involved Clark.

Von Trips' body was clearly visibly lying by the track, while the the race continued….

SS7