He was unable to compete in Monaco because he had entered into the Indianapolis There he would make history, being the first and only driver to win the Indianapolis and the Formula One World Championship in the same year.
When he returned to Formula One for the Belgian Grand Prix , he began a winning streak that would allow him to win this and four other events. Of his wins, France and Germany gave him two more Grand Chelems. These would be the last of his career, but would allow him to surpass Alberto Ascari 's Grand Chelem record by three.
Because of his massive winning streak, Clark was able to take home the Championship by 14 points. This was the second World Championship win of his career, but would also be the last. At the beginning of the season, the FIA 's new regulations made Lotus less competitive than in other seasons. This meant that Clark would not be as successful as he had been in previous seasons.
It wasn't until Lotus switched from using Climax engines to the new BRM engines that Clark began to regain his success. However, he was only able to finish three out of the nine races that season. He only win in the United States we a drop in the bucket compared to his past seasons. This left him out of the running for the championship title, with a sixth place finish.
Although unsuccessful in Formula One that season, Clark had managed to earn a second place finish in the Indianapolis that year.
Despite issues the season before, Clark agreed to return to Lotus once again. He began the season racing a BRM engine, but opted to use an old Climax engine after an engine failure in South Africa. He would only stay with a Climax engine for one race however, as Lotus signed a deal with Ford to use the Ford Cosworth.
This engine proved to be treating Clark better, as he chalked up his first win of the season in the Netherlands. He then earned the pole position in Belgium , but was forced to pit early in the race to get a spark plug changed. This cost him two minutes and he eventually finished a lap behind the leaders. Three more wins and another podium finish brought Clark to third place in the World Championship.
There he claimed his second Tasman series championship. This was his third championship in the series. He began the Formula One season with a bang, getting the pole position and victory at the first race of the season in South Africa. However a tragedy would prevent him from completing the season.
He was teamed with Graham Hill. He had previously chosen to race in a sportscar race at Brands Hatch , but changed his mind. While racing in the event, Clark's car left the track and struck a tree on the fifth lap. He died of a fatal head and neck injury enroute to the hospital.
His death showed drivers that bad things happen, no matter how good you are. In , Clark and Lotus became a dominant force, winning an incredible 7 out of the 10 Grand Prix to take the championship with 3 races remaining in the revolutionary Lotus Chapman had found the perfect driver to compliment his skills as a designer and Jim became the youngest ever World Champion aged The seasons success included a 2 nd in the famous Indianapolis , on 30 th May, when Jim narrowly missed out to Parnelli Jones in a controversial race.
He was admired not just for his natural ability as a racing driver, but also his sportsmanship, good humour and humility. He won 3 races but had a string of 3 consecutive retirements to add to an earlier one in France, significantly hampering his chances of retaining The World Championship.
His luck was out in America as well. That puts Jimmy comfortably ahead of Senna and Jackie Stewart. Clark's Lotus 25 heads to victory at Spa in It was the second of four F1 wins for Clark at this venue, despite it being one he loathed.
Examine those stats a little deeper to see the number of times a driver took pole, fastest lap and win, however, and Clark suddenly moves into third, having achieved that special hat-trick on 11 occasions behind Schumacher and Hamilton. Refine the stats still further to those who have achieved the four-pronged slam of pole, fastest lap, led every lap and victory, and here everyone cedes best to Clark in absolute terms, for on eight occasions he was simply in a league of his own from qualifying all the way through to the dropping of the checkered flag on race day.
The only current drivers in the same ballpark are Hamilton six and Vettel four , while in percentage terms, only Ascari is ahead, having had his career cut tragically short after just 33 World Championship Grands Prix yet still finding time to grand-slam five of them.
For both Ascari and Clark, one is left pondering how their careers might have played out had fortune allowed. Ascari was 36 at the time of his fatal crash in and his great rival Fangio admittedly, 39 when the World Championship started in would go on to prove it was possible to still win GPs aged 46, if you were one of the true greats.
That mantle can unhesitatingly be bestowed on Ascari who, Fate allowing, may have beaten Fangio to the five-title mark. Long before he reached his 32nd birthday on March 4, , Clark had proven time and again that he was the Grand Prix master of the era, even before one considers his fantastic versatility in Indy cars, touring cars, sports cars, Tasman cars a three-time champion with 15 wins from 32 races.
Yet in the 10 F1 championship races they ran as teammates with the same equipment, he was rarely a threat. When Formula 1 switched from 1. Then in Round 3 came the Lotus Yet from the drop of the green flag, he was on the move and by lap 16 he had the lead and held it to the checkered flag. But then fate decreed that was the last chance he had at the title.
However, heading down the avenue of conjecture still further presents us with several options. Jimmy still shied away from the hype and glory that inevitably and increasingly followed his triumphs, and he was too wise not to have acknowledged the perils of the sport, and the reputation of Lotus to build fast but fragile cars.
But he was not yet plagued by thoughts of his own mortality as Jochen Rindt would come to be, and by all accounts Clark still derived a lot of satisfaction from racing in general.
It was the car in which his replacement, Mike Spence would crash with fatal consequences, and in which Joe Leonard so nearly won the race. But had he done so, would he have remained a Lotus driver? That depressing tally could persuade any ace to shop around. Clark achieved another second place finish at Indianapolis in in a much more difficult race. Clark actually drove to Victory Lane, only to find Graham Hill already there…. But that was not his final appearance at IMS.
In early , just weeks prior to his death, Clark tested the new STP-Lotus turbine car at the Speedway, and he was reportedly very excited at the prospect of racing the radical, wedge-shaped car.
He was this quiet, simple humble guy. Get Your Tickets! Get IMS Gear!
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