Page 1 of 1

7th April 1968

Posted: Sat Apr 07, 2018 12:49 pm
by Martin Evans
I didn't think that a classic, such as Jim Clark, should be put off topic. It's 50 years since this tremendous driver (Who didn't resort to dirty tricks) died and I thought the sad occasion should be remembered.

https://vimeo.com/177930924

Re: 7th April 1968

Posted: Sat Apr 07, 2018 1:26 pm
by JPB
As one who stays only a short drive from Duns, I must have spent enough time visiting the Jim Clark room to have worn my own groove in the floor!
He remains an absolute legend, was an all round driving genius and was, as anyone who had met him would say, a real gent. Dad used to watch the racing at Clark's local venue in the days when Charterhall was one of the country's best circuits and the old chap often entertains with his memories of the drivers of the time: Stirling Moss, Roy Salvadori, Guiseppe Farina, Jack Walton and of course the young Jim Clark.

Would that the modern game were as interesting as Grands Prix, classic style! :(

Re: 7th April 1968

Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2018 10:51 am
by Martin Evans
Does your father recall a very wet race, in which Jim Clark drove a Porsche 356 and battled for the lead with someone in an AC Ace (I think the driver was named Ian Smith)? I don't know the venue; it looked like an old airfield. It was a race with all sorts of cars; someone went off in a Mk 7 Jaguar (As the commentary says "Went straight on when everyone else turned a corner").

I have it on a VHS film made about sports cars, not Jim Clark. He just happens to feature in it, from a race before he was famous. I think it shows his genius and my father used to work for AFN, who imported Porsche into the UK (Still do). The then boss, of AFN, was no mean driver and warned my father that 356s weren't the best handling of cars and that they could be lethal in the wet. The AC Ace was known to be a good handling car (My father drove those too, as sometimes AFN took them in part exchange) and the fact that Jim Clark could mix it with an AC Ace (Finishing second by a coat of paint), in the wet, driving a 356, really impressed my father!!!

Re: 7th April 1968

Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2018 5:22 pm
by JPB
I shall ask the old chap about this. In his younger days, he'd have thought nothing of riding all the way down from Aberdeenshire to see racing at Charterhall. I'm not sure how far that would have been in these far off days before the M9/A9 and other modern, metalled roads had been built, but it's probably fair to say that the old man spent as much time fixing punctures as he did refuelling.

Charterhall, when it was still something to be proud of, is seen in this 1960 clip: https://youtu.be/OqxjUN6ODNQ

Re: 7th April 1968

Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2018 11:13 am
by Martin Evans
It looks like it could be an ex airfield. I can tell you that the last corner was a left hander on to the finishing straight. I will dig out the video.

I've not been to Scotland a lot but I've been up the A9 and over the Forth Road Bridge. I know that the firths take a lot of driving. The last time I was in Scotland, I drove to John O Groats (Took a day trip around Orkney - superb), where I had also been in 1975. I know, that in '75, we passed through Dingwall (Had food there) but in 1998, I didn't, as a new bridge has been built across the firth.