655 replies to this topic

[ensign14]

[Roger Clark]

60 years ago this weekend he won in a Lotus 23 at a small Oulton Park meeting.  Within a few weeks he would make his first assault on Indianapolis and begin one of the greatest formula 1 seasons of all time.  Is it any wonder that we remember him?

[amerikalei]

I recently listened to the Derek Bell podcast episode on Dinner with Racers.  He talks about that day at Hockenheim. He said Clark told him he was having trouble with a misfire in qualifying, and didn't think he'd be catching Bell (who qualified 3rd I think).  Bell suggested that a misfire at top speed in the wet may have altered the balance of the car forward, lightening the load on the rear and initiating the accident.  He thought that was more plausible than someone of Jimmy's skill not feeling a softening rear tire through the stadium complex before heading back onto the high speed loop.  I'd never heard this perspective before.  Thought this might be of interest here.

[B Squared]

The misfire has been known since that day. I'm quite certain Bell's line of thought had been discussed prior to this podcast.

[Nemo1965]

I recently listened to the Derek Bell podcast episode on Dinner with Racers.  He talks about that day at Hockenheim. He said Clark told him he was having trouble with a misfire in qualifying, and didn't think he'd be catching Bell (who qualified 3rd I think).  Bell suggested that a misfire at top speed in the wet may have altered the balance of the car forward, lightening the load on the rear and initiating the accident.  He thought that was more plausible than someone of Jimmy's skill not feeling a softening rear tire through the stadium complex before heading back onto the high speed loop.  I'd never heard this perspective before.  Thought this might be of interest here.

 

Two remarks.

 

1. There were indications that Jim DID feel something before he went off. In Doug Nye's book Great Racing Drivers it is stated: 'He seemed to be in some engine trouble and had waved two cars past on the previous laps when the Lotus slid off the right-handed Shrimp Curve...'

 

2. Two: the misfire-thesis has indeed been around for a long time. Jim's mechanic at Hockenheim '68, David 'Beaky' Sims in Grand Prix: The Killer Years, by John L. Matthews: 'Yes, we had misfires - but that wasn't the cause of the accident like a lot of people think it was, because it wasn't that cold at the start of the start of the race (...). Jimmy said - on the grid: 'I don't like these tyres in these wet conditions. (...) He didn't like the tyres all weekend, hoping there was going to be a dry race - but it wasn't, and he wasn't happy with it at all.' 

[Collombin]

Without wishing to start a new thread to ask a simple question, I was wondering when Jim last set foot in Scotland?

He was there on the RAC Rally in November 1966, but did he get chance in 1967? In theory there might have been opportunity in March after Tasman and before Pau in early April, with his tax exile beginning on the first day of the new tax year, 6th April 1967. Another possibility is a quick visit during the British GP trip in July 1967, almost certainly his last visit to the UK.

Anybody know for sure?

Edited by Collombin, 23 September 2023 - 10:06.