ACCIDENT OR ERROR? The Story of the Death of Jim Clark
Вставка
- Опубліковано 2 лис 2021
- In 1968, the motorsport world got a wake up call. Jim Clark was killed.
Up until now, the attitude was 'it'll happen to someone else', then it became 'if it can happen to Jim, it can happen to me'. And even with Ascari being killed, it took Jim Clark to die for attitudes to change.
But was it a cause of car failure or tyre failure or did Jim make a super rare error?
Enjoy! And remember to like and subscribe for more!
------
Photo Credits:
All Pictures from Jim Clark Wikipedia page.
Business enquiries: amsimracing@gmail.com
Patreon: www.patreon.com/aidanmillward
Discord: / discord
Instagram: amillward01
Steam: AdmiralLaWind
----
CPU: Ryzen 5 2600 @3.9gHz
Motherboard: MSI B450 Mortar Micro ATX
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 2x 8gb @ 3000mHz
GPU: MSI GTX1660 w/ slight OC
Editing Software: Sony Vegas 14 Steam Edition
Wheel: Thrustmaster T300RS
Pedals: Thrustmaster T3PA Pro pedals w/ Ricmotech Load Cell Mod - Спорт
“Jim Clark - Farmer”
The most heroic understatement of all time.
It's also on his headstone
Reminds me of Harry Gant’s line: "I was a good race-car driver but a great carpenter."
He was a farmer of trophies ;)
@@PorscheRacer14 YESSSSS
Farming is more important and it's where Jim's heart was.
Versatility like nobody else, he'll always be in my top 3 to ever do it.
I know. Aiden can do it all.
Tommo commenting on an Aiden video? Goat recognises a goat 🤝
@@Algiz1044 There is always a bigger fish
As a Scotsman I totally agree but unfortunately most outside the UK either don't know or don't respect him as much
@@harbushy You're gonna need a bigger boat
In The Grand Tour feature on Clark, they said both Fangio and Senna regarded him as the greatest ever. I'd say those 2 are fairly well placed to comment :)
They would know being in the same conversation
I remember Jackie Stewart remarked early in his career Jackie said he was following Clark as closely as he could to see how he went so fast. Clark was the smoothest driver and that was his secret to speed.
There’s a lady who lives in a bungalow on the otherside of the wall beside his grave in Chirnside. Whenever she sees visitors at the grave she will come over with her collection of photo albums and will tell you story after story about Jim. She was Jim’s 1st girlfriend and got to know him really well. She probably knows him better than anyone else (I know she’s also good friends with Sir Jackie). She always helped maintain the graves of Jim and his mother, who are buried beside each other.
I was through there a few weeks ago and she wasn’t there this time, and the grave was a bit of a mess with the wind having blown the vases over, so decided to do my bit and tidy it up a bit. I actually felt really privileged to be able to say I did my bit for a World Champion & Indy 500 winner.
I just went looking about on Google Earth and couldn't find it. Is it the cemetery at the Church in Chirnside, Scotland?
British Touring Car Champ, 3 or 4x Tasman Series champ, World F2 champ etc
Nice work Rob. You did it for the very best.
She's probably dead
heart melting ❤
The only live witness to Jim Clark crashing ,a trackside safety worker,said Jim Clark's car was weaving side to side and Jim Clark was fighting it all the way into the woods.
This would support a rear tire going flat at the worst time.
It is clear that Clark did not ....just... 'make a mistake'.
For just how fast Jim Clark truly was,he won races by MINUTES ..not seconds..numerous times.
He often won races by lapping the entire field too.
Fangio and Senna called him the greatest race car driver of all time.
That's an amazing recommendation right there.
Despite being a massive Hamilton fan, i think Jim Clark is the greatest driver in f1 history. Just listen to the way drivers of the day described him.
Better than Hill, better than Stewart, and quick in everything he competed in... it's hard to see past Clark.
Just look at the years Clarke didn't win, it was down to the car fragility, always a Lotus bete noir, given just an average performance in the races his car died in he'd have won more championships...of course, he was usually at the front when his car let him down so he'd have 3-4 from the years he competed + the years he missed out after he died (He was in with a shout in 62,64, maybe 66, 67).
@laborliberal . . . your support of Clark is most appreciated, as I followed F1 during Clark's racing career.
What separated Clark from other noteworthy drivers of the modern era was the primitive nature of the grand prix cars in the 1960s that Clark drove; as it really put a premium on a driver's skill. Whereas with the highly technically advanced F1 cars in the modern era, just a slight adjustment or two on the car can make it uncompetitive; where the talent of the driver cannot "will it" to the checker flag for the win.
As former Indy 500 winner Parnelli Jones told me years ago: The success of modern race cars are more in the hands of the design engineer than that of the driver's talents.
Hamilton like Schumacher with team build for them....not too much competition from teammate...phony champions...Clark was really better than anybody on any kind of car....any kind of competition....he was killed by a Lotus car like Jochen Rindt..suspension failure. Chapman was careless with all things related to security...
Cars were much more difficult to drive at this time, tracks were just dangerous. You can admire people like Fangio not Hamilton...
Indeed. When both Fangio and Senna regard him as the greatest, well ....
One of my earliest memories of television was a newsflash announcing Jim Clark's death. I was barely five and had to have the news explained. My mum, no motor racing fan, spoke of Clark with such reverence that I understood how deeply he was respected. That is my introduction to motor racing and is burned deep to this day.
You're 57
@@adamdickinson2894 this is a really funny reply to this serious and sad comment
@@mazdaroadster-mx5 And mathematically wrong. I'm 58
@@catmando7262 somehow that just adds to the comedy
@@catmando7262mans 6 decades old now
Jim Clark (and Ayrton Senna) is always my answer to the GOAT discussion. And for me his statistics really reflects Jimmy's humble personality. He was never flamboyant, as a driver, as a person. So it's just a given that when he left F1 (and this world), he didn't left behind a fantastic numbers as his legacy. Instead you have to see him in action and hearing testimony from people who have watched him live to be able to fully appreciate Jim Clark.
Once converted into percentage terms, his numbers are up there with Fangio, Hamilton, Schumacher etc.
that’s an amazing way to put it. He was too humble to leave behind amazing numbers. Well said
@@corlettw It wasn't Jim Clark's way, to be the flamboyant braggart. He let his admirers proclaim his skills and his talent. That unfortunately, isn't common these days; it was expected when I was a child, way back in another century...
@@shanestanton8 Yes. Clark has had the winningest percentage {had for many years} (compared to entries) which given the fragility of Lotuses is an extraordinary tribute. When we see film of Clark racing with others, he is so smooth, deceptively fast, and in so many clips able to be faster, as well as smoother, than anyone else there, usually following him. And all the time the race cars of the time are flexing up and down over bumps in the track, drivers drifting to get the fastest line, leaping as in the Nurburgring...
I just want to say that the fact that there are so many who knew him so well that cannot fathom that he could have made a mistake says so much about his quality as a driver. The fact that the likes of Jackie Stewart see it as impossible that he would have made the mistake says far more to me than any performance I have heard (and there are some mind meltingly good performances) definitely in the running for greatest ever even if I don't personally think there is an actual GOAT
I'm old enough to remember when it happened. Everyone was like "how could this happen to him, he's the best ever?" The sane when Senna died.
And just to think we almost lost Hamilton this year. If not for the Halo, he was a goner. Instead, it was merely an awkward fender bender and a sore neck.
We came nowhere close to losing Hamilton, stop overplaying it
@@PanzerFalcon2232 if people stop acting like Verstappen was almost killed at Silverstone. 🤫
@@PanzerFalcon2232 we came no where close to losing hamilton because of the halo. Would he have died without it? who tf knows but that tire would have hit his head with the weight of a redbull on it without the halo and thats not good. Button kubica and barrichello had harder crashes than verstappen in less safe cars and came out fine. Senna had a tire hit his head not attached to a car and died. Even though one looks way worse than the other doesn't mean the other was any less dangerous
@@PanzerFalcon2232 I truly believe that without the halo, we most likely would have lost Hamilton, or Atleast had a much more severe injury. Anything, and I mean literally anything involving a humans head is so dangerous. Doesn’t matter if it’s Motorsport, boxing, rugby, etc etc. large head impacts are almost always life changing or death. People don’t quite understand just how fragile and delicate our brains really are.
One event in my life I will never forget was arriving at school in Rio de Janeiro, on the morning of April 8, 1968 and a friend telling me Jim Clark had died the day before. I was seven years old. I have been following F1 since 1966, and Clark is still the most important racer for me by a large margin.
Here's a thought that has niggled at the back of my mind since the day the accident happened.
The previous year at Monza Clark was in the leading group as they slipstreamed their way round. A few laps in, Jack Brabham noticed that one of the rear tyres on the Lotus was growing in diameter as they accelerated down the back straight, indicating that it must have been losing pressure. Clark did not seem to have noticed this, as he was not slowing down. In the braking zone for the last corner Brabham came alongside Clark and pointed at the rear of the Lotus. Clark caught on and went into the pits to have the wheel changed.
At Hockenheim it's believed that a deflating tyre was probably the cause of the accident. This time Clark was on his own. Is it possible that he just didn't notice the tyre was deflating, just as he hadn't noticed it at Monza? Remember that the track was wet at Hockenheim and he had been complaining of handling problems during practice so perhaps he was just caught out by what he may have assumed was more of the same problems.
Like most people I would like to think it was not Clark's fault, but it makes you think.
By the way, Chapman was not at Hockenheim, he was said to have been on holiday.
Hi, I've researched his death for years, and I now think that what you've written is the most likely explanation.
Brabham thought Clark had a problem with slow punctures. What he meant by this - that Clark didn't spot them or that Clark thought, too riskily, that he could drive round them - I don't know.
Of course I'm far from certain, nobody can be, but that makes most sense I think. Jimmy almost left the track on the previous bend, but caught it and carried on - no stopping and no decelerating either.
The next most likely is I think a failure connected with his being hit the previous week by Ickx. There's film of that crash here on UA-cam - look for 'Montjuich 1968' - it's a hell of an impact. I find it amazing that his car was patched up without being returned to the Lotus factory in England. And, whether this caused the crash or not, it was horrendous negligence by Chapman not to order the car's return, even if it meant Jimmy missed Hockenheim.
This is mentioned in the Brabham biography published a few years ago. Brabham's opinion was that Clark was such a consumate driver that he was capable of coping with a slowly deflating tyre and this is what caught him out. As a side note I saw Clark take what was probably his last open wheel win. It was the last race of the Tasman Series in 1968 at Longford but not the feature race. That was won in pouring rain by Piers Courage. There were two shorter races held on the Saturday and Clark won both. I believe that these were his last open wheel wins.
@@peterlovett5841 Thank you - wow, what a great memory to treasure and share.
I'm going to Duns soon to the museum and pay my respects at his grave - he really was so so special wasn't he.
@@ysgol3 I think that you're reading this as a 2022 racing team, in 1968 you didn't go back to base unless you needed to. The state of a chassis is relatively easy to check, you don't need any special tools, all you need is a tape measure and a pair of eyes. You check the wheelbase both sides, you check the track, tracking and geometry. If all of those are right you really don't have any cause to add the cost (and especially the time, at a time when border crossings were not that simple) to a team that was habitually on the economic knife-edge. Even then, why? there was little that could be done at the factory that couldn't be done at the circuit, unless you are talking about a full chassis swap.
@@davidcolin6519 Hi, great point, thank you!
Could a 1968 suspension be checked in the way you describe as well do you know? The theory that the fatal crash was related to the previous week appears to be that the suspension was weakened in Spain and failed at Hockenheim.
Jim Clark was obviously a once-in-a-lifetime talent, and arguably one of the most versatile racing drivers ever. Who knows how his career would've been like if he had lived...
Perfect timing, Aidan.
Coffee is pipping hot. :)
I thinks it says a lot about the esteem Clark is held in that his peers disregard driver error as a cause of the crash
Even with senna drivers considered it possible that he just made a mistake
Thats coz senna was a muppet with no brains.
Clark was a master
As an 11 yr old petrol head, growing up Scot fam in Los Angeles, I def knew the name Jim Clark. His death was quite crushing. Watching Clark & Lotus win Indy 500 was a stellar moment. I remember gloating, around my motorhead friends.
My personal crushing motorsport death, was Bruce McLaren. We were big fans, as we had lots of fam on both Kiwi Islands. I was at the L.A. Grand Prix (CanAm) at Riverside 1969; first attendance. I was hoping to see Bruce repeat his '68 win. Pretty sure he had car problems & didn't race; Denny Hulme, McLaren's teammate, won the race.
Bruce died, in testing at Goodwood, before the nx L.A. Grand Prix. The irony of his death, is that he struck an old observation tower; one that was behind schedule for demolition...
There was an old F1 Racing (now GP Racing) magazine article a decade ago about an ex- marshall that a journalist by chance met at Clark's memorial.
Turns out they witnessed the crash and did say it was a problem with the car. I think it was the tyre having a puncture.
There was also a full length spread in...I want to say 2008 or 2018, it was laid out in the museum in Duns as well.
Hopefully that article you mentioned is scanned/saved somewhere though.
Jim Clark was the best driver to motor race. His 1965 stat's are unbelievable. My late father, a Battle of Britain pilot saw Clark in 1968 at the Sandown raceway battling with Chris Amon over a distance of +200 miles, never a car apart. He was totally in awe with Clark skills.
Tim White Melbourne, Australia
The first race I ever saw was the 1965 Indianapolis 500 - with better luck, Clark could have won Indy three times. Now 56 years later what I remember most was how well liked and respected he was, despite being an outsider. His modest and friendly manner was extremely well received. His loss was deeply felt and he is well remembered by all who saw him. Thank you for this video - very well done.
I remember hearing this story for the first time in a documentary called Grand Prix - The Killer Years. Made me view racing drivers in a completely different way. It was crazy what those people were doing in cars that were pretty near deathtraps!
It was a great documentary and I’ll probably watch it again at some point today.
I was at Brands Hatch that day when the news came through. We didn't care who won the BOAC 500 that day, everyone was upset the the 'invincible' Jimmy Clark would never grace the racetrack again.
As for the accident that took his life we can only go with what the tyre manufacturers say that a slow puncture had caused it but surely someone of Jim's skill would have felt something wrong and reduce his speed. I have a feeling that Chapman may have had a small part to play in his relentless attempt to reduce weight and that the puncture may have overstressed the suspension components leading to a catastrophic failure that no driver could have come back from.
try this one . a slow puncture on the RR . have a look at a hockenheim map . hes heading into the stadium section from the forest section , a really long sweeping rh curve , the RR tyre isnt really loaded up . thats followed by a tighter RH corner . then a short straight , then a LH hairpin corner , the RR would be loaded up , but it was only a slow corner in the wet . then a short straight , then a RH hairpin , no load there . if the RR was losing air , you wouldnt feel it on a RH corner . then another straight , and another RH corner . then off into the forest . if the RR tyre was losing air , the high speed would cause centrifical force to stand up the middle of the tyre , masking the fact it was losing air . then when he turns the car into the very long , sweeping LH corner , the RR tyre takes the load , probably for around ten seconds , more , it was a long , flat out sweep of the road . the tyre gets loaded sideways , the outer bead pops , they tyre deflates instantly......
@@chopperking1122 The accident happened on a flat out sweeping RIGHT hand corner.
I remember Moss lost a front wheel at Spa, you can only make a double wishbone 'just' strong enough.
RIP Jimmy. By some margin, quite simply the best racing driver behind any wheel the world has ever seen. The rest are admirers.
I looked up to Clark when I was a little kid, and I still think he's the GOAT. I think there was some sort of mechanical failure in the car. I saw a documentary about Clark, and one of the drivers said that the relationship between Chapman and Clark was starting to fail. You did a great job, Aidan!
Very Good video Aidan Keep up the good work
The fact he was so good considering all the drivers he was up against and made those crazy unreliable cars last and barely wear down the parts makes him the greatest ever in my opinion. I only wish I could see some of his races
Chapman was on a Skiing holiday at St Moritz when he received the call from Hill. Drove through the night to get there the next day. For the record it was lap 5, not 7 when Jimmy Crashed. Firestone tyre failure caused the crash. Slow puncture that popped off the bead at 150mph.
It’s interesting to read what bell’s view of it is in his autobiography
Apparently clark had talked to him over breakfast and told him to be careful when he passed him as the lotus’ engine was misfiring and cutting out , bell was convinced that’s what happened and that a sudden change in power caused Clark to go off
Hi, I reckon the great Bell was right, this was possibly combined with an undetected suspension problem after being hit from behind in his previous race in Spain the previous week. The car wasn't returned to England for a full assessment.
Hello Aidan: In addition to the long flying times from Australia and New Zealand to the U.K. and Europe, in the 1960's jet travel was hideously expensive and well beyond the range of ordinary people. When Australian popular music groups went to the U.K. in the hope of making it "big", they went by ship and it took six weeks.
Please keep up the wonderful work.
Our family emigrated from the UK to Perth in the mid 60s on a Greek ship that stopped in Athens (where we had a trip to see the Acropolis and also saw the eff zones soldiers). The trip went through the Suez Canal. The trip back to the UK in 1989 only took 24 hours on a Jumbo stopping in Singapore and Bahrain for refueling.
@@simonkevnorris Hello Simon: Yes, exactly. Stay well and safe.
Senna idolised Jim Clark. That’s enough for me to put him in my top 2, with Ayrton.
Neither are first. Neither are second. Greatests is now a word 🤣
I think the tyre deflated, Jimmy fought to right it at 160 mph but unfortunately ran on the grass and with no barriers he went into the woods and the rest is history. Jimmy was quoted to have said a few days earlier "If some bugger goes into those trees he's a goner"!
I was just a boy but I still remember it with great sadness, the day my hero died!
Jim Clark IS the greatest F1 driver in history. Early history, modern history, ALL history. Between the terrible conditions at the Hockenheim Ring and either tyre failure or suspension breakage The Great Jim Clark died due to "equipment failure", NOT driver error. Excellent narration Aiden!
Just to add to the chapman presence: according to one book, it says at the weekend of the race he was skiing with his family in St. Moritz and got the news from the receptionist at his Hotel. He then left from there to Hockenheim
I think it was a combination of factors. Tire puncture, and the rain masking the symptoms, his focus shifting towards keeping the car going, probably thinking that the shifting was aquaplaning, until it became brutally evident in one move and possible overcorrection.
Hey Aidan, with the Mexican GP coming, could you make a video on Ricardo or Pedro Rodriguez? Or maybe both brothers? They were out pride in Motorsports for more than 40 years
I feel for Sims. All these years later he can't get through an interview without being overcome with emotion. Can't imagine how many sleepless nights he's had over the decades.
The first F1 race my dad took me to was the 1968 SAGP at Kyalami. I wish I had paid more attention.
Thanks, I've never bothered to investigate the aftermath of the accident. Learned something new!
Great channel!
I would place the odds of "driver error" at no better than 10,000:1. The car went straight in, which tells me that there was a mechanical failure in the front half of the car, no questions asked. Jim Clark was and will always be a legend, and one can only guess how far his star would have continued to rise had this incident not happened.
I remember clearly the day after he died. I was just getting passionate about racing. My dad was not particularly a fan but made the point of telling me as I left the house for school Jim Clark was killed. A non fan in America was aware, that's how big Jim Clark was.
Over the years I myself became more aware of how great he was and the importance of that day. Over many years I gathered more info about the crash. I actually visited the spot when I was stationed in Germany when I was in the Air Force.
Every human makes mistakes, including Clark.
My opinion. Nobody crashes at that point on the circuit unless something goes wrong. At that speed on a curve with no barriers the consequences are almost certain to be deadly.
Since everything was carefully investigated and supposedly no evidence of failure was found, I believe as the mechanic did, the rear tire failed. The tire pressure was slowly lost leading to a collapse of the tire and subsequent loss of control and motor racing was changed forever.
By the way, I see a hauntingly close parallel to Senna's crash.
It was an accident in my opinion but it prevented any similar incidents in the future
I'm only 17 but i've been knowing him for 2 years now, and i can proudly say that i consider him my favourite driver of all time, an amazing driver but first of all an amazing person
When a tyre gives way when flat out in a straight line, what happens next is a total lottery. Max Verstappen at Baku this year is one example, he's a passenger. Only very occasionally can a driver react quick enough that control of any kind is kept. I still wonder to this day how Nigel Mansell managed to keep his Williams in a straight line at Australia. Add the rain as a factor for making it impossible to scrub enough speed from the car, and all the components are there for a major disaster. R.I.P Jim Clark, death comes to us all, we just wish it could be as a legend, no matter the circumstances. F1 then was like going to outer space. Nobody could be sure of return, and many went out as the intrepid explorers they were. Instead of looking for the edge of space, they were looking for the edge of performance. They only got to cross that line once.
it wasnt a straight line , it was a long sweeping left hand curve , have a look at a map of hockenheim and where he went off
@@chopperking1122 That only makes it more probable, not less, as cars then would no doubt still be flat out in a curve. I could be pedantic and say it was not a fault on the car, tyre or track that killed him. It was the tree. Just like all the conspitacy surrounding Senna. Inertia wants to spit you to the side with any excuse on the edge, and speed never kills any driver. It's how you suddenly stop that does it. Senna was so unlucky with the part that hit him. Nothing about luck with Clark in a forest. Lose control there and you are dead versus a tree
I was 6 when he died and it's very hard to get across how huge he was at the time. You had the Beatles George Best and Jim Clark .The dis belief when he died was incredible .My heroes didn't die .they looked like they might but the script always made sure they came through at the last minute ......but not this time.
I want to think it was a bit of both, at the end of the day Jim Clark was still only human.
I have been to Hockehiem twice. On my first visit, my friends and I when and paid respects to Jim Clark, who without a doubt was the best driver at the time. In my opinion, it was a tyre failure that caused the accident and the car would have been travelling at almost top speed, there would have been nothing he could have done to stop what happened. RIP Jim Clark. (A legend) Martin. (Thailand)
While always streets ahead at the time Lotus ,were also very fragile .Bad luck and unreliability had cost Clark very dearly in 62,64 and 67.In 1968 it took him away.Still my favorite after all these years.
With a little more reliability from those fragile Lotuses (Loti?) Clark would have been world champ in 1962, 1964, and 1967 in addition to 1963 and 1965. And in the mid-1960s he would often skip the Monaco Grand Prix to compete at the Indy 500, which of course he won in 1965. Unlike some modern F1 drivers such as Ricciardo and Vettel, when Clark got into a new car, he would be quick from the get-go. At the 1967 Dutch Grand Prix, Clark won the race in the Lotus 49, which he had never even seen until the Friday of the race weekend. Graham Hill's Lotus 49 croaked after 10 laps because of some car/gearbox failure - after Clark won the race and the mechanics checked out his Lotus 49, they found that Clark's Lotus was starting to develop the same issues as G Hill's car had, but Clark's car lasted some 40 laps further because of Clark's gentle touch with the car. Ah well, what might have been ...
The great thing about racing in the 1960s was that due to the dawn of the jet age in the late 1950s, grand Prix drivers would race in other events all over the world, so they would be competing in e.g. the Tasman Series, Can Am, Indianapolis, Le Mans, etc., - allowing fans at events other than F1 to see them in action. Sadly, those days are gone.
Without any direct evidence, I think something (suspension probably) broke. After all, Lotus's were known to be fragile, due to CC's obsession with light weight. In any case, what a tragedy.
Clark was not just a great driver he was a true gentleman. We could use some more of that right now.
His recovery at Monza made Jim Clark the GOAT as far as I'm concerned.
Speaking as an engineer, a tyre that's deflated in service will have some obvious telltale damage internally of quite a different pattern to any damage caused by the subsequent accident. Engine and gearbox issues should also be relatively easy to separate a failure in service from accident damage. Suspension and chassis issues can prove more difficult to be absolutely certain of, even with today's analytical tools.
There were some rumuers that Jim Clark had in previous races been taking a few liberties by continuing to race with punctured tyres.
Obviously there is a lot of assumptions that have to be made, including the integrity of the investigation. I would suggest that lotuses willingness to have the car inspected independently probably indicated they wanted to understand the issue correctly to.
My opinion remains that he is the best to ever sit in a Grand Prix car - in an era with so many greats, all of them regarded him as better than themselves, and even Ayrton Senna made the trip to pay his respects.
To me, Clark's mythical aura is absolutely up there with Senna's, some of the stories passed down from those who worked with him sound like something straight out of a mythical text rather than reality - and yet I fully believe them.
Now, off to re-watch your "what if Jim Clark survived" video, absolutely loved that short mini-series.
Rain that lingers in the wooded section of the ring, a wet track, the car having issues in said conditions...
I think the chance of pure driver error is small but not out of the question, given the conditions. In perfect dry conditions, there would not be any crash -- Clark (and Hill) wouldn't be as miserable and the cars would be more stable.
We're missing a variable... we're missing the trees.
I think more likely a rain-soaked branch fell down on the track right onto Clark's Lotus, blinding him and causing him to go off course. With the wet track, it would be easy for such a limb to distract Clark's concentration. Any tire deflating would be secondary... Clark would of handled that (or already be handling it).
Just how close were the trees to the track? If there were any that hung over the track... well, you got a more possible explanation.
Listening to the Dinner With Racer podcast episode w/ Derek Bell gave some interesting insights into what might have been the cause. Derek was chatting with Jim and Graham during breakfast before they went to the track. Said they were having misfire or fuel pick up issues. It’s towards the end of the episode I believe. Great chat.
It sucks that we don't have quality footage from that era, I would really like to se Mr. Clark and many others do their magic in HD..
I do think the era Jim Clark raced in, is still being discovered by fans getting into the sport just now. The same for Schumi, Senna and many more. It's a rich history of amazing moments, powerful human stories. The sport is always changing, unlike a basketball game etc. So many tech rules, tracks etc.
I fitted a kitchen for the daughter of a house cleaner who worked for the Clark family at the borders farm throughout the 1960's.
Re Jim Clark's death....
The story her mother told was that a young girl appeared from the onlookers at the airport when the body was being loaded to fly home, she gave one of the attending coffin bearers a bunch of flowers and said sorry for running out after her dog.
With that she turned and ran back to her parents .
The following year some of the Lotus personel who were present then and had returned to the GP 1 year later saw the same family lay more flowers at the trackside where the accident had been.
They were identified as a local people with a house not far from the track.
Speculation that Jimmy swerved to avoid this child on the track would fit in as there was no sign of mechanical failure in the wreaked car.
Also she showed me a small " stress monkey" that J C kept as a mascot to ward of bad feelings on sketchy race/test days .
I have no idea if its been donated to the museum or if its still with the cleaners family.
A nice story....but there are no houses closeby. Hockenheim is surrounded on three sides by deep commercial forest 2-3 km's deep & a busy autobahn on the remaining paddock/pit straight circuit side.
@@_Ben4810 there's no reason for the house keeper to lie . Did you know that Jimmy would buy the steak mince from the butchers and have them label it as the cheaper more fatty option to keep his parents happy . ?
Even after he was world champion ....
@@_Ben4810 also this was 50 or more years ago , the man might have had a tied house as a local security guard or something. Who knows . But I suppose the internet is awash with detractors like yourself.
Mega mythic and other worldly. Talented before he even saw a racing car. A gentleman and spotlessly clean competitor, I rate him higher than Senna or Schumi who could be dirty and ruthless when needed. Him did it all with poise and quiet humility, almost seeming effortless. Greatest ever? He must always be in that debate, but thats above my pay grade and thats enough.
Thanks for another great video.
Jim Clark died April 7th 1968 the day of my 13 teenth birthday , I had already developed a keen interest in motorsports racing and remember learning about that horrific event vividly. I had a front cover of Time magazine with the picture of Jim Clark on it pasted on my wall above my bed. I'll never forget that day. RIP J. CLARK
One of the greatest taken too early
I was there when he won his last Grand Prix (at Kyalami) and have never seen any driver who was as smooth as he was behind the wheel. Even to this day. He was, and still is, my favourite driver and, in my view, the best ever.
I was 5 when Clark died. I had a green (I think) Matchbox model of his Lotus which won every race around my Lego and paper track(s). I didn't really understand the concept of death back then but I remember being sad. Hard to say if he was the greatest of his era with Stewart and Hill both being contemporaries. Three great British drivers who all proved themselves to be top class in their own way. We could discuss the ifs and buts until the 12th of never and not reach a conclusion. All I can say is that we lost someone who might have been the G.O.A.T. that day in 1968.
You're correct Chapman wasn't in Hockenheim at that time, he was in fact at business meeting when the call came through. The only eye witness' to the crash were two marshals one of them said, "...that the car had lost grip at the rear and Clark had tried to correct the slides a number of times before hitting the trees." Which probably explains the puncture theory. Colin Chapman always stated that Clark had run over debris from an accident on the previous lap in which Walter Habegger hit an earth bank that broke bits of the chassis off and onto the track, that would explain the slow puncture and the reason for the sudden loss of grip.
I'm of the opinion that it was a puncture that caused the crash, since Firestone had verified there was one. And it's established that Chapman wasn't there, as he'd put Beaky Sims in charge because he didn't want to travel.
Clark is one of a handful of drivers who could drive anything and win. You can argue that Schumacher, Senna and Hamilton are the best ever in F1 based on their records. But Clark's F1 record over the time he raced puts him into that same category.
But what makes him the greatest driver is his versatility. Few drivers have the kind of variety of wins Clark does. Only Stirling Moss, Dan Gurney, Mario Andretti and A. J. Foyt belong in this discussion, because each could drive anything-from open wheel to prototypes to production cars, on any kind of circuit-and win.
Forgotten Jacky Ickx ? who did the same + 2 x Paris/Dakar wins
Recently been to the Jim Clark museum in duns only small but well worth a trip loads of stuff there from old cars to all his trophies.
A source that I have " The Great Encyclopedia of Formula One Volume 1" ( 2004 by Chronosports) says the accident was caused by a right rear tire that punctured before the slight right hand full throttle kink on the straight between turn 1 and the Ostkurve.. The deflation of the tire caused an oversteer( the back end went loose) in the kink which Clark tried to correct but could not and the car went out of control to the right, going over grass into a forest (there were no Armco or crash barriers in that era) and striking a tree head on.
A week later, Lotus and Colin Chapman were hit by another tragedy when Mike Spence was killed in a Lotus Indy Car testing in the US. A couple of months later, Jo Schlesser died in crash at the French Grand Prix and all of this started giving legs to Jackie Stewart's campaign for more tack and driver safety.
Jimmy was the greatest F1 driver for me. I was marshaling on Coram Curve at Snetterton the day he died. I'd watched him three wheeling the Lotus Cortina there the year before while he was chasing John Whitmore, from whom he'd learned the trick of hanging the inside front wheel off the ground, and well over the grass, to shorten the lap distance a bit we thought. Brilliant.
Suddenly, during a break between races, the track went quite. Every engine stopped and people went silent as they heard the terrible news. People just couldn't believe Jim was dead. People were crying openly all around us. The racing went on but it was a very subdued event after that and driving home to Hertfordshire was a long and sad drive.
It's my opinion that Firsestone were responsible for Jim's death. First, they insisted he and Graham Hill race at Hockenheim as they wanted to promote their tires in Germany, a new market for them. And then the best evidence suggests Jim's car lost a deflating rear tire at 170 mph, pitching him in the car into the trees. I've never bought a Firestone product and I never will.
Greatest for me too. And I don't believe I've ever bought a Firestone product either and never will.
Thanks or sharing this! I read somewhere that during testing the car before a race, Clark would drive the car, adapting to its quirks, returning to the pits, getting out and telling the mechanics to leave everything exactly as it is! Also Clark's car would finish a race with more fuel left in the tank than anyone else's car! 😉
The greatest ever. Period
Talented and genious in one was J.Clrak. RIP legend!
Clark’s 8 grand slams is along with Fangio’s 42% win percentage are the unbreakable records of F1. Clark and Fangio are one and one A on the list of greatest of all time.
My dad had seen Clark race the Tasman Series at Wigram. He was 8 years old when he heard about Clark's death, and apparently broke down in tears.
The dehavilland comet...just as eerie knowing it's history of that BOAC shot
Anyone can make a mistake, who knows at this point. He stays in the top for the one and only GOAT without a doubt.
Damn the guy has one amazing résumé he would probably have been the next 5+ time world champ in F1. But I guess fate had other plans, its a shame because it seems like he was really talented!!
the day before, I saw Jim for the first and last time at the TV Studio nearby Hockenheim. Less than 24h later he was dead 😥😥
Probably a combination of factors, the tire would have been the main culprit.
He was good enough to compensate for tire wear and treated it as such, he'd been caught with bad tires before and other drivers had to remark it (go alongside him and point at the rear end).
This time there was nobody to remark it because it was in the wet, where he truly shined, nobody to catch up to him, much less get up alongside him, so... 170mph in a bend, anyone who's had issues with grip past the tires limit can attest that Newton just won't cooperate in such conditions, if you're lucky you're just AT the limit and can save it, Clark, true to himself, was way above it.
Add to that the tire failed, which is why he went off (despite best efforts).
Jim Clark didn't crash, I share Stewart's opinion on this. He never went over what the car was able to do, never overdriving. The fact that so many drivers, champions even, described him as scary fast and well mannered on and off track makes it hard for me to believe he spun out on his own even though it is entirely possible.
Someone once said to me that Jim is F1s Jesus, in a way. He had to go to save the lifes of many a racing driver in the future. He ignited the vigorous push for safety with his passing.
Just as an aside Chris Amon says in Eion Young's Forza! Amon that he had been following Clark for the whole race and would catch glimpses of his car occaisionally through the rain. On the lap that Clark crashed he saw the skid marks leading off into the forest , so he knew there had been a bad accident there but he had no idea who it was . As he completed the lap he saw a Lotus ahead of him and assumed it was Clark . In fact it was Graham Hill who had just returned to the track after a pit stop. It wasn't until he arrived back at the pits that he learned the truth . He said later that if this could happen to Jimmie , what chance do the rest of us have...? He was convinced the rear suspension was the culprit and mentioned that he believed the car had been rear ended in it's previous outing.
Obviously he was just voicing an opinion ,a hunch , but they are interesting comments from someone who was there.
Edit: Jimmie will always be the best in my book.
Allan Moffat was Clark's water boy at Indianapolis in '65. Two decades later, while at Hockenheim to co-drive Peter Brock's HDT Commodore in the '86 ETCC, he says he made a quiet pilgrimmage to Clark's memorial.
I am not allways agree with you, but still your its great to listen to you.
I am not a driver fan guy, drivers comes and go's. Some times they go faster then they come, some are sadly ripped from us way too soon.
Just enjoy what your seeing. You never know if some one end up like schumi senna, greg moore stefan bellof etc.
I noticed the Hockenheim memorial said 1962 - 1967. His last GP win in South Africa was 1968.
I was a huge fan at the time and had seen him racing. I believe it was tyre failure not driver error.
I was 8 y.o. and it was an overcast Sunday morning as we headed home from the park. Suddenly the radio announced his death and I went into total shock, and the DJ put on Paul Mauriat.
when i was younger i watched a video and they claimed that there was a public footpath that crossed the circuit and that clark had lost control avoiding a couple of children who were running across trying to avoid the cars.
is it possible, i believe there was a footpath in that area and who knows its all guess's and what ifs very much like Senna's crash.
Clark is up there with Mario Andretti in the versatility and adaptability realm. The could and would race and win in anything with wheels. Surtees comes to mind.. these guys are racer's racers, and maybe not having the over all stats, you have to think that if somebody who could jump into anything and win was taken early, what would have been? I think he would have adapted to any change that came over the years and could have won much much more.
Car or tyre failure no question. A man whom the greats respected the most. That says it all.
I went to the Hockenheimring in 1993 for the F1 race and looked for the Jim Clark memorial but no one knew where it was. I sat down on the small hill at the exit of the first chicane and drank some water. I turned around and saw a very small cross and it was the memorial as it was then.
Jim Clark.
Motor Racing Legend.
Then and Now. 🇬🇧
The feeling at the time was, even among racers, was that it just HAD to be some sort of mechanical failure because the idea of someone like Jimmy being able to make a fatal mistake was just too scary to contemplate.
Thanks. Jim Clark and Joey Dunlop. Humble, smooth, fast af and honourable to a fault. Legends both and my motorsport heroes.
I think that both Clark and Senna died due to mechanical failures.
Describes tragic and devastating crash
Piano: upbeat and happy
Surely car failure, puncture at that speed, wet hock. RIP Jim. Greatest British driver of all time.
Jimmy Clark has to rank as one of the best, of that there is no doubt. Regardless of whether it was a car failure or a driver error, the cars of that era were flimsy in crashes and offered no protection to their driver. Hockenheim was a bloody fast circuit in 1968 and Clark's crash was violent as the car disintegrated on impact. I guess it was one of those moments where the law of averages went against Clark and the good lord required him to race in heaven
'Bring it back' made me chuckle. Its all relative I guess!
I wish they would do that today. Have a formula 2 race and invite all the top runners from all different disciplines of motor racing, such as Nascar, indy, scca, Can AM, LM Prototypes, British touring, aussie touring, F1 and Indy of course and have an international race with attractive prize pool every year like they used to
Seems unbelievable that 3 to 4 drivers would die on average per season in the 60/70s.
The sport would be shut down thesedays.
i think it was some sort of failure, or contact with another car. I mean, who would own up to that.
Jim was known to be extremely aware of any issues on a car and would highlight things other would not even be aware of and mechanics often had to dismantle parts even after they had said they were fine and would find the tiniest of faults. So i am unsure an underinflated tyre would go unnoticed. However it was also a time when drivers continued to race even with issues so who knows.
Oh and i think he has been the greatest driver in F1 history. - but as with all successful drivers its difficult to compare as you have to be a great driver but also suit the cars of the time. It certainly would have been interesting to see how downforce would have impacted his speed as he was smooth, looked after the cars and 'drifted' and maintained momentum. Not necessarily something that would prove as effective in later decades.
But given his all round ability and success not just in F1 but being able to drive ANYTHING and be at the front means i think he has been the greatest driver of all time.
There were some suggestions that both Clark and Hill were getting sick of all the breakages with the cars. But when they tried to take it up with Chapman he was less than sympathetic and this resulted in some tension between Chapman and his drivers. Could that have fed into the accident? Don't know.
All you can say is that it was a terrible shame that such a fast, consistent, genuinely humble driver didn't get the chance to race a few more years and really show what he was capable of.
There's scan of a letter from Rindt to Chapman available on this very topic. Paraphrasing it " our cars are so dominant, we can afford to add a few pounds to improve reliability" Saw it some where on the web.