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31 May 2015
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Jim Clark wins at Indy: photo album/4

JC wins 500Signed picThis copy of The Indianapolis News, published as the chequered flag flew (top) needs no introduction…  Above, I asked Jim to sign this photo (the front cover of Motor Racing magazine, August, 1965) when I met him during the 1966 Tasman in Sydney. It adorned my bedroom wall for many a year thereafter (thus its condition) but for me it says everything about that day: enormous achievement; job done. Here we see Jim in the winner’s circle. Note the bespectacled Allan Moffat on the left and Mike Underwood (right) studying said newspaper headline. And, below, here’s Jim chatting to a radio journalist before his victory lap in the Plymouth Pace Car.
 victory laneVictory lapJim and Colin flew to New York two days after the race, to the Ford stand at the 1964-65 World’s Fair, and there Jim met both Henry Ford II and the company’s President, Lee Iacocca. Jim took the opportunity to ask them if he might swap the Plymouth (one of his prizes) for one of the 1964 Mustangs showcased at the Fair. JC, LI, HFThey agreed (above) – but the story doesn’t end there: the Mustang was destroyed months later on the docks in England while being unloaded from its ship. Ford then gave Jim the big Ford Galaxie with which he lit up the roads of England and Scotland throughout most of 1966. (The Plymouth  meanwhile, is now owned by Dario Franchitti.) From NYC, Jim flew in a Ford company aircraft to Wabash, Indiana, there to choose a new ($1000) wardrobe of clothing from Dick’s Menswear (a local store owned by Dick Miller and part of the Indy prize fund!). After signing hundreds of autographs and chatting to Fort Wayne TV networks with Rookie of the Year, Mario Andretti, Jim then flew to Toronto to race the Lotus 30 Mk2 in the Player’s 200 at Mosport; Sally Swart (nee Stokes) recently sent me this photo of the two of them “shortly after the chequered flag” at Indy;With Sally  below, AJ Foyt, the 1964 winner, “passes the baton” to an immaculately-suited Jim at the 1965 victory dinner on the night of the race; victory dinnerbelow (right) is how the Speedway Holiday Inn – where Jim and Team Lotus stayed for the race – marked his victory the morning afterwards;Holiday InnMichael Turner’s Xmas card interpretation of Jim’s celebrated win (below – also from my wall!); by nominating “Duns” as his home town for the detail-crazy US audience, Jim forever changed the public’s perception of Berwickshire and the Borders (below right); and (below) Jim made it to the front cover of Time magazine, elevating his sport to heights previously unimaginedMichael Turner  Berwick newsS1420011

Now make sure y’all come back again for next year’s race! Here’s the rain check:rain check

 

Posted in Jim Clark's 1965 season
29 May 2015
4 Comments

1965 Indy 500 race programme

They always do a nice job with the Indy 500 race programmes – and the 1965 edition, that of Jim Clark’s epic year, was no exception. I particularly liked the way they remembered Eddie Sachs, Dave MacDonald and Bobby Marshman. Here’s a sample of some of the contents:S3090005S3090011 S3090006 S3090010 S3090017 S3090018 S3090024 S3090023 S3090022 S3090021 S3090020 S3090019 S3090025 S3090026 S3090027 S3090028 S3090029 S3090030

Posted in Jim Clark's 1965 season and tagged , , , , , ,
29 May 2015
3 Comments

The month of May (1965): photo album/3

In shirtsleeves
And so it was time for qualifying. Saturday, May 15. Over 200,000 fans streamed into the Speedway. The sun was warm, the atmosphere electric. Jim wore a short-sleeved shirt to the track, then changed into his Hinchmans.  It was a media frenzy; the qualifying line was a mass of people, cars and equipment.  Jim found shelter under the Lotus pit wall gantry.Shelter2 Qual readyHe was due on track shortly after Mario, who took the temporary pole with a four-lap average of 158.849mph in his Clint Brawner/Jim McGee Brabham copy.

Jim and Mike fired up the Ford V8. The first engine had covered an amazing 1500 miles over the opening week, with a new boost-venturi fuel injection system providing improved consumption with no loss of power.  Jim had revved the engine to 9,300 in this period but would restrict the race engine to 9,100 for qualifying and then 8,800 for the 500 miles. No-one believed that Firestone could take the pole – and so it proved.Qual out  Having said that, Jim’s second lap broke the 160mph barrier (160.973mph) for the first time and paved the way to a four-lap average of 159.405mph. Amazingly, as Colin and the media swarmed around him, Jim apologised for “making a mess of it” on laps three and four due to the sudden gusts of wind. Qualifying P2

AJ Foyt (below) stalled his Ford engine just prior to his run but eventually took to the track in calmer conditions. Maximising his softer Goodyears, he won the pole at a stunning average of 161.233mph. Foyt on poleJim would start from the middle of the front row, with Dan to his right.

Then, for Jim, came a welcome break: he headed for the airport and a flight back to London. He would spend a few days in Scotland and then return, with Sally Stokes, to Indy for the race. Jim’s team-mate, Bobby Johns, would “sit in” for him during the traditional front-row photographs on the Monday.

Images: The Henry Ford Collection, The Peter Windsor Collection

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Posted in Jim Clark's 1965 season and tagged , , , , , , ,
29 May 2015
4 Comments

The month of May (1965): photo album/2

Action - no peakUnfamiliar in peakless helmet in the early testing days at Indy, Jim quickly established the race-winning potential of the Lotus 38.  With DanAs intense as the programme quickly became, there was also a feeling of isolation in the vast Speedway and within the town of Indy itself. Jim’s season until that point had been a blur of different cars, circuits, airports, aircraft, hotels and restaurants. Now he was at The Speedway and the rest of his European racing friends were preparing first for the non-championship F1 race at Silverstone and then for Monaco. Everyone, that is, except the driver closest to Jim’s heart – Dan Gurney. Dan had initially run as Jim’s Indy team-mate but was now managing his own, Yamaha-sponsored Lotus 38 on Goodyears as a precursor to his AAR F1 programme in 1966. Both drivers were going to miss the International Trophy at Silverstone (where Pedro Rodriguez would deputise for Jim, finishing fourth behind team-mate Mike Spence) and the Monaco GP; both had so much in common – including, while Jim tested them,  Goodyear tyres (below and below right). The Goodyears proved to be a little quicker than the Firestones but, as Jim Smith remembers in the adjoining video, Team Lotus eventually opted for Firestones after the Goodyears began to show signs of chunking. Tyres were always a concern for Jim Clark (using a new white peak from the second week onwards), particularly after the problems with the Dunlops at Indy in 1964

Indianapolis 500, Indianapolis, IN, 1965. Jim Clark prepares for practice in his Lotus-Ford 38. CD#0777-3292-0895-29.Tyre temps

Also at the back of everyone’s minds was the loss of Bobby Marshman, Bobby Marshmanthe ultra-quick US-based Lotus development driver (left) who had crashed heavily when the throttle stuck open while engine testing at Phoenix late in 1964; he had subsequently succumbed to his second- and third-degree burns

And so the month swept on. Colin Chapman couldn’t resist a bit of aircraft-spotting; 

Eyes up Flat out Flat out 2 Boys at rest Window sign Rubbing eyes

 

 

 

 

Jim often sat it out on the track; the boys took impromptu naps after the frequent all-nighters; and, while the inevitable joke-signs appeared on garage windows in Gasoline Alley, Jim worked hard, thinking of every possible angle.

Jim also befriended a young Italian-American named Mario Andretti (below).  Mario was in his rookie year but was already highly-rated by such drivers as Rodger Ward, Parnelli Jones and AJ Foyt.  With Mario

Images: The Henry Ford, The Peter Windsor Collection

 

Posted in Jim Clark's 1965 season and tagged , , , , , , , , ,
28 May 2015

The Month of May (1965): photo album/1

First things first: Andrew Ferguson, Team Manager, was corralled by Colin Chapman at the beginning of May to paint the number “82” on the nose of Lotus 38/1.  This was the result:Andrew's numberVery quickly, Colin employed the services of an Indy professional signwriter (George Gruber).  The result, complete with serifs, was artistic magic. Andrew (pictured below right in the background, in dark polo shirt) later recalled the incident in his excellent autobiography.Andrew Ferguson

In terms of performance, the month of May began well…and grew better by the day.  First time out on the famous Speedway, Jim loved the feel of the Lotus 38.  Very quickly, the month became a systematic box-ticking exercise punctuated by frequent breaks: fuel consumption runs, tyre choice, transmission tests…engine change. Here, Jim’s climbing into the 38 at the still-empty Speedway.  At this stage of the month he was wearing his Bell Magnum minus peak (as he had done since Easter Monday Goodwood) but was already using a new design of Firestone/Hinchman overalls. Later in the month he would add a Team Lotus badge to the top-right chest space. As Jim wore seat belts (shoulder and waist) as per the Indy regulations, he required the assistance of Chief Mechanic Dave Lazenby, Jim Smith (left) and Mike Underwood to climb into the cockpit. This was a far cry from F1, where, on the same weekend as Indy, Graham Hill would win a classic victory at Monaco after spinning his BRM in avoidance of a slower car, climbing out, pushing it back into position with the assistance of the marshals and then rejoining the race

Climbing in 1Climbing 1AAClimbing 1AClimbing 3Climbing 4

Jim walkingJim Smith, Mike Underwood and Colin Chapman wheel Jim’s Lotus 38-Ford out of Gasoline Alley on or about May 3:  the car has yet to be fitted with its cooling duct over the pedal area

Images: The Henry Ford, The Peter Windsor Collection

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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25 May 2015
2 Comments

Postcard from Monaco/2

This was the view as we walked from the GP2 garage (and media car park) to the F1 paddock each morning.  The Med really is this shade of blue…most days…azure sea

Believe it or not, there was a bulldog sitting with the couple on this scooter in front.  He – the bulldog, that is – was cool and calm, wedged in by the rider’s feet  dog on bike

If the F1 pit lane was tight at Monaco, take a look at how the GP2 teams were obliged to operate. Not only did they have to run the cars from equipment temporarily placed on the road but there were also 13 teams…Congested pit lane

 

Good to see Jean Ragnotti – that very fast French ex-F3 and rally driver – again in the pit lane.  We won’t mention his other claim to fame (shunting the Safety Car during the 1995 Monaco GP)…
Jean Ragnotti

 

You may wonder what this is all about but I was taken by the attention to detail in the Monaco paddock: I like the serious fire hose there and the “port-a-loo” toilets that fit perfectly within the arch.  Paddock detail

 

Olivier Panis and family looked a bit tense as they watched young Aurelien Panis qualify mid-field for the Renault 3.5 raceOlivier sad

 

The happy scene after Richie Stanaway’s victory for Status Grand Prix in the GP2 sprint race.  That’s Dave Stubbs – former Williams team manager – on the right

Status team shot

 

 

 

 

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