Jim Clark's race stats are incredible - putting him alongside Fangio and Schumacher in terms of race to win ratio. Not bad for a farm boy from Fife.
Clark raced everywhere - he missed the 1958 Monaco Grand prix to beat the Americans in the Indy 500...and still had enough points to take the F1 title.
His rivals were awed by his speed and supernatural control, whatever the car, whatever the conditions.
At the 1967 Italian Grand Prix Clark set pole and was in the lead when a puncture cost him a whole lap.
He rejoined in sixteenth place, then charged through the pack like a man possessed to re-take the lead.
On the last lap his car ran out of fuel, dropping him to third at the flag, but the point was well and truly made.
Races 73
Championships 2 (1963, 1965)
Wins 25
Podiums 32
Career points 255
Pole positions 33
Jim Clark was by far, in my humble opinion the greatest of the great. Like previous comments, it was the driver not the car and he proved his skills were supreme. Stewart was also a great driver and even after his near fatal crash and constant battle to make the sport safer shows the calibre of the man. Hamilton has had a dream start and probably can be described as the Tiger Woods of motor racing but remember the comparisons of the technology of now and bygone days when the legends had to make do with what skill they had.
Schumacher was a dangerous cheat, and I doubt if even he could drive without launch control, traction control etc. Things will now be up to the skill of the driver not the programmer of control systems.
Clark was the best British driver and the only British driver who could contest this is Moss, not Stewart. Possibly the best ever in the world. In my opinion, the competition for a world-wide award would be Nuvolari, Fangio, Moss, Clark, Senna and possibly Rosemeyer and Schumacher. The '67 Italian GP was simply amazing, but, hey, look at what Clark did in '66 with a truely crap car - that is the true mark of the man for me.
Agree with Franks comments-grew up idolising Stewart but, in retrospect,Jim is "the greatest" deserving a full resume of his career and sad death.
For me the best driver of them all is Jim Clark. He was also very successful in different formulae including F2 and saloon car racing there is that classic picture of him taking a corner in a Lotus Cortina with only only three wheels touching the ground. Modern day F1 drivers seldom drive in other events and the technology on today's cars is often more important than the natural skill of the driver.
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