I remember when I heard the news, I was sailing at the Palo Alto Yacht club, I just could not believe it, so very sad
He undoubtedly is the reason I have a GT40. When I was 14 I heard that he and Graham Hill were going to race at Laguna Seca, My dad who was a Scott, took me to my first car race and I fell in love with sports cars. I even loved the Lotus 30's, they were beautiful, but painfully slow.
I heard of his death on the radio on my way home from the BOAC 1000 at Brands Hatch. He was in the programme to drive the Ford F3L. Shame he went to Hockenheim instead.
If cars had been as safe then as they are now, it's sad the number of them that would still be with us... Clark, Senna, Musso, Hansgen... it's a long list and a sobering one, isn't it.....
I had the honor and privilege of revisiting the Jim Clark Room in Duns two weeks ago. Small room, but packed with trophies of his relatively short career. 25 F1 victories might not seem like a lot, but seasons were less than 10 races/ year then. They had a photo of Aryton Senna visiting in 1991. Kind of spooky since we lost him too.
I was racing my Bug Eyed Healey Sprite at Sandown Park Melbourne and Jim was Competing in the Tasman Cup series. I had the good fortune to be introduced, and he was the complete Gentleman spending time with me, a bottom feeder at that time. One of my heroes.