I have been a huge motorsport fan since I was a boy and my personal, favourite driver and racing hero is the late, great Jim Clark.
I think this interest ( Alison says 'obsession' !) started one Christmas when I was perhaps 4 or 5 years old and I received as a present a Revell F1 Slot Car Set with Graham Hill BRM and Jim Clark Lotus cars. I also think the fact that he was recently deceased must have contributed to the romance and 'legend' of Jim Clark in my young mind. The seed was sown.
As a result I have always loved that era of cars and competition in the 50's and 60's, the characters and personalities, the chivalry and sporting camaraderie. So, for many years now I have wanted to go to his hometown of Duns in the Scottish Borders and visit The Jim Clark Room, pay my respects at his grave in nearby Chirnside and take a look at Edington Mains, his family sheep farm.
A couple of weeks ago on the 7th of April it was the 49th anniversary of his death and fittingly as Alison and I were driving up to Scotland last Saturday to join the Galloway/Dumfries Run on Sunday, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to take a 'slight' diversion and to at long last make my homage.
We left the M6 at Carlisle and journeyed on up the A7 through Hawick and Kelso, and finally to Duns.
The roads are wonderful in the rolling Border countryside and it was obviously on these that the young Jim Clark must have honed his skills
As it was approaching 1pm and The Jim Clark Room closes for lunch between 1pm and 2pm we decided to park up outside and then take a short walk into the town square for some lunch.
Suitably refreshed we walked back and spent an hour or so looking at the displays of trophies, photographs and memorabilia on display and the short documentary film of his life which plays on rotation. If your not a fan you may possibly be a little underwhelmed but if you are and if like me your a middle-aged, sentimental old fart then you may find it a humbling and quite emotional experience.
Next we drove a few minutes east to Chirnside, a small village a couple of miles or so from his family farm. On the corner of the lane that leads down to the village church is a memorial clock erected in his honor.
As well as the clock and a memorial plaque it bears on top a silhouette of his 1963 Championship winning Lotus 25 and on its side a Border Reivers logo, a local team he raced for from 1957 until he joined Team Lotus in 1960.
And so down to the church and his final resting place. He lies alongside his parents in a modest grave and apart from the inscription you would never know. A beautiful spot on a south facing hillside looking to the distant Cheviot Hills.
Respects made we drove a couple of miles to his farm, Edington Mains. In 1942 when he was 6 years old the family moved from a farm in Kilmany, Fife to this farm in Berwickshire.
As we headed off on the coastal A1 bound for Edinburgh, Glasgow and eventually our overnight stay at Kilmarnock, I had some wonderful imagery and memories of the great man going round in my mind. So glad to have finally made the trip and to have fulfilled a long held ambition.
This is quite a famous photo of Jim Clark, and also my favourite. In his Lotus 49 at the British G.P, Silverstone 1967.
Full tilt, four wheel drift, an armful of opposite lock, on Firestone treads, with no seat belts, no aerodynamics, with steel brakes, a manual gearbox, and a Cosworth DFV V8 hanging out the back....just poetry in motion !
For me, he is simply the best racing driver of all time. Saloon cars, rally cars, GT cars, Sports cars, and single seaters including F1....he won in them all.
Some facts and figures : Jim Clark, OBE 1936-1968
72 F1 Starts, 25 Wins, 32 Podiums, 33 Pole Positions, 28 Fastest Laps, F1 World Champion 1963 and 1965,
Indianapolis 500 Winner 1965.
A man cut down at the peak of his powers....I wonder what might have been ?
North West Surrey