Jim Clark had a season like no other in 1965.
He bagged the Tasman Cup, Indianapolis 500, World Drivers Championship, the French – read Eiropean – F2 Championship plus a swag of touring car and sportscar victories.
The shot above is of Clark enroute to victory at Indianapolis on May 31, 1965, Lotus 38 Ford-Indy 4.2-litre V8.
‘Can you give us a hand with the car Jimmy? Yep, no worries Ray (Parsons) I’ll do the fronts.’
Clark and Parsons ready Clark’s Lotus 32B Climax FPF 2.5 for the Warwick Farm 100 during the February weekend. That’s Roy Billington, Jack Brabham’s mechanic on the far left by the pit counter and Lanky Frank Gardner in the white helmet. Meanwhile, Frank Matich blasts past in his Brabham BT7A Climax.
It was a good weekend for Clark and Parsons – the latter an occasional Team Lotus Cortina driver – Jim won (below) from Jack Brabham’s Brabham BT11A and Matich. More on the Lotus 32B here:https://primotipo.com/2017/11/02/levin-international-new-zealand-1965/ and about Ray Parsons here:https://primotipo.com/2022/02/20/ray-parsons-australian-lotus-mechanic-racer-and-development-driver/
Clark romped home in the Tasman, winning four rounds. He won Levin, Wigram, Teretonga and Warwick Farm on-the-trot, then picked up the Lakeside non-championship round at the end of the tour. Bruce McLaren was second and Jack Brabham third.
No way did Jim get home to Scotland on too many occasions in 1965.
By my reckoning – aided by and improving on Peter Windsor’s article of 10 years ago – Clark had 29 winning drives in 1965, ranging from short Tasman Cup heats to the 500 miles at Indianapolis.
Peter’s list of 26 wins missed two Grands Prix, amazingly, and one F2 victory, so for mine, it’s 29 wins in that very big year.
Clark was edged out of pole at Indy by AJ Foyt’s Lotus 34 Ford but Jim took the May 31 win that had been coming for two years, leading 190 of the 200 laps.
Parnelli Jones was second, Lotus 34 Ford, and Mario Andretti aboard a Hawk 1 Ford wad third. Al Miller’s Lotus 29 Ford was fourth; yes it was a great race for the Lotus lads.
The win was well merited to say the least. Fortunate for Colin Chapman too, Ford would have pickled his testicles had there been a fuck-up like the year before!
In Team Lotus’ first year at the Brickyard in 1963 the Indy Establishment simply shafted the interlopers in favour of one of their own…
More on the Lotus Indycar here:https://primotipo.com/2021/11/20/dans-lotus/
Of course Clark’s main programme for the year was Grand Prix racing.
That season he won three non-championship F1 races: the first heat of the Race of Champions at Brands Hatch, the Syracuse GP and the Sunday Mirror Trophy at Goodwood. He also took six of the ten championship events, four from pole: the South African, French, British, German, Italian and Mexican Grands Prix.
In so doing Clark picked up the World Championship of Drivers for his good-self and the F1 Manufacturers Cup for Lotus. More on the Lotus 33 Climax here: https://primotipo.com/2014/09/28/jim-clark-lotus-33-climax-monaco-gp-1967-out-with-the-old/
Team Lotus wasn’t all beer and skittles. Every now and then Chapman built a shit-box, the Lotus 30 Ford 289 V8 was one of them.
While the concept of a backbone-chassis somewhat akin to the Lotus Elan made marketing, and, perhaps, theoretical sense, in practice it had a level of flaccidity the engineering equivalent of a couple of Blue-Bombers was never going to fix.
Clark wrestles with the gorgeous but recalcitrant 350bhp machine above, and with the ‘ten more mistakes’ – as Richie Ginther described it – aboard the Lotus 40 Ford in the LA Times GP at Riverside in October 1965; he was second to Hap Sharp’s Chaparral 2A Chev in a marvellous drive. One of Clark’s many attributes was to get the best out of a car, even a sub-optimal one. A bit more Lotus 30 here:https://primotipo.com/2016/08/30/rac-tourist-trophy-goodwood-1964/
Of course, just when you think The Boss might give you a weekend off he comes up with the notion of doing a hillclimb or two in your Indy winning Lotus 38 Ford in the Swiss Alps.
‘Don’t fret Jimmy, we’ll give you a car with symmetrical suspension – it was chassis 38-4 rather than the Indy winner, chassis 38-1 – and off to St Ursanne-Les Rangiers we go on August 22.
Clark did a demonstration run in 5:20.8 while Jo Siffert did FTD in his Brabham BRM 1.5 V8 F1 car. Charles Vogele was second and Silvio Moser third.
Next was Ollon-Villars also in Switzerland on the following weekend, August 29.
Lou Drozdowski wrote, ‘Clark spun off the course during practice and spent much of the afternoon among the sheep and pastures making his way back. He did however set a time of 4:34 compared to Ludovico Scarfiotti, Ferrari 206P FTD of 4:09.’ Gerhard Mitter was second and Gianpiero Biscaldi third.
Lotus’ relationship with Ford was strong and multi-faceted, one element of which was the Ford Cortina Lotus Mk 1 and 2 and the Escort Twin-Cam, all of which were fitted with the Lotus-Ford twin-cam, two-valve twin-Weber fed engine.
While it could be seen as hit-and-giggle in the context of his other ‘65 race-programmes, moving-metal was a very serious business so Clark approached his Lotus Cortina races that year in the UK and North America just as seriously as he did everything else.
Here he is giving Jack Brabham a run for his money at Oulton Park during the British Saloon Car Championship round on September 18, 1965. Jack’s mount is Alan Mann’s Ford Mustang. More on the Lotus Cortina here: https://primotipo.com/2014/11/16/jim-clark-lotus-cortina-sebring-1964/
Etcetera…
The Lotus 49 first ran in Gold Leaf Team Lotus colors during the Lady Wigram Trophy on January 20, 1968.
The transformation from Team Lotus’ perfect livery to fag-packet occurred during the week between the Levin International on January 13 and Wigram.
With a done deal in London, the Lotus team arranged for a skilled signwriter at Hutchinson Ford in Christchurch to apply the new Gold Leaf livery to Jim’s Lotus 49.
Outside the US and some other countries it was the beginning of big corporate sponsorship in motor racing.
Ever the leader, Chapman’s quick commercial response and applying the new sponsorship colours demonstrates just how rapidly change took place once advertising restrictions in racing were lifted prior to the 1968 season.
Credits…
Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS), Bruce Wells, The Jim Clark Trust (TJCT), Lou Drozdowski in lotuseuropa.org
Tailpiece…
Jim Clark’s first race was at Crimond, aboard Ian- Scott-Watson’s DKW Sonderklasse on June 16, 1956.
That’s JL Fraser Lotus 11 front-and-centre, then from the left #18 AR Millar Saltire, LDA7 Kenny McLennan’s Kit MG, #4 Clark in Scott-Watsons DKW Sonderklasse, and John Campbell, MGA.
The Jim Clark Trust wrote that ‘In the sportscar race there was no handicap, so the DKW was hopelessly outclassed. Clark did pass one car but his joy was short-lived. The tailender was heading for the pits with broken halfshaft and the DKW finished in last place.’
Finito…
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