Clark’s Mechanical Sympathy

[Jim H]

Evening Gentlemen.

7th of April upon us again. I did a bit of a Google today about Jimmy.

Granted it was sourced from wiki.

But a lot of quotes (maybe from Beaky) originally.

Mainly mentioning how Clark’s brake pads would last another race or or two. Gearbox stripped down by Lotus mechanics - they all knew it was Jimmy’s gearbox. There was so little degradation.

I was thinking about this on the way way home from work today.
I commute a fantastic Cumbrian mountain B road everyday. Braking later, gently everything trying to maintain speed.

Essentially, how do you carry that much speed ? Without mechanical degradation.

Or was Clark so much on another level?

All of Jimmy’s peers were racing flat out against him .

He was obviously extremely special.

[Jim H]

Bill,

Thank you so much for sharing the above. Myself, after decades of consuming literature on all things motorsport - I’d never come across that story.

One can only imagine what it must have been, hopping from a Lotus 25 to an ERA of that vintage - and plugging in stunning times. I think it also exemplifies another aspect of Jimmy’s absolute talent. His versatility.

Whatever he drove, he was fast in everything.