At racing circuits across the world, the name Jim Clark is spoken with regard and reverence. The man himself would probably be mildly embarrassed at the attention, but while millions know the name, comparatively few are aware of the Jim Clark Rooms memorial in his home town of Duns in the Scottish Borders.
While Duns may be a little off the beaten track for those used to easy commutes to Donington or Silverstone, there was no denying the passion of the people attending the Jim Clark Memorial Weekend on 17th of May this year. Celebrating fifty years since Jim Clark won both the Formula One World Championship and the Indy 500, it was also an opportunity to help raise awareness of The Jim Clark Room and the plans of the Jim Clark Trust to create a fitting memorial to the man known as The Quiet Champion.
Jim Clark – Remembering a Quiet Champion-HD from Winward Media on Vimeo.
It’s easy to forget the beautiful countryside of the Scottish Borders, around the Berwick on Tweed area, but you’re reminded just as soon as you turn off the A1M to Duns. That short piece of road is a superb drive in itself, quite apart from the fact that Jimmy probably honed his early skills along that very stretch.
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Classic Team Lotus colours out in force
The Jim Clark Room in Duns is perfectly in keeping with the manner of the man. Built from grey local stone it’s a conservative building, yet inside you’ll find a trophy collection and a wonderful historic photography display. Outside today, the main street in Duns was closed to traffic as a collection of cars all related to Jimmy’s career took turns to bend the traffic laws and noise regulations just a little as the crowd leant over the barriers to catch every single decibel of open race exhausts for just a few hours.
Two Lotus 25’s were on hand, together with the Porsche 356 raced by Jimmy and a collection of Lotus Cortinas. Star of the show for us was Andy Middlehurst’s immaculate Lotus 43. This is the car raced by Jim Clark to take a sole victory at Watkins Glen, before the incredibly complex BRM H16 engine was discarded for the new Cosworth DFV at the end of the season.
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The incredibly complex BRM H16 of the Lotus 43
Discovered by Andy in a barn a few years ago, the car is now correct in every detail, including the custom dashboards made differently for Clark and team mate Graham Hill. The BRM H16 engine has been a labour of love. Start up is a complex process and when it barks into life, the sound can be measured on the Richter Scale, not a noise meter. Despite this, the spectators immediately behind stood their ground for the full effect, with not a single finger inserted into an ear as the revs hit you in the chest.
After lunch, a sole piper struck up a refrain before the speeches and as I stood looking around me, there were several grown men standing with clenched jaws, trying to rub away that annoying dust that must have been making their eyes water. Doug Niven, Allan McNish and Sir Jackie Stewart each made a short and very moving speech about their memories of that time and of Jimmy’s death. It was a year when, as Sir Jackie reminded us, each month, on the same weekend, for four consecutive months, we lost a Formula One driver.
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Andy Middlehurst and Sir Jackie Stewart discussing the Lotus 43
It’s very refreshing to attend a motorsport event that has no ulterior commercial motive. For sure, the Trust needs to raise the remaining funds for the new developments, but unlike many historic motorsport events these days, corporate branding and product placement were absent. The day was for us to remember the man known as the quiet champion, who fifty years ago was both Formula One World Champion and Indy 500 winner in the same season.
His loss was felt globally at the time, but it’s only when you visit his home town that you realise how tragic it must have been for the people of Duns. They didn’t lose an international racing driver, they lost a member of their community who’d left to travel the world driving racing cars, but one day never returned.
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Lotus 25 cockpit
