He won two F1 world titles in 1963 and 1965. Considered one of the best drivers of all time, he won 25 of his 72 starts in F1 while finishing on the podium another 32 times.
James Clark Jr. was born on March 4, 1936, to a farming family in Scotland. Although his family was against the idea, he began participating in several motorsport championships. In addition to achieving great success in Formula 1, the British driver also showed himself to be a formidable driver in Formula 2, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and the Indianapolis 500.
Elegant and posh as only certain Britons can boast of being, Scotsman Jim Clark would transform once he got into the cockpit of a car equipped with an engine. A fury inside his beautiful and innovative 1960s Lotus signed Colin Chapman. He would grind out pole positions and win. He didn't use to win the race: he dominated it. Clark was killing the races, leaving nothing to his opponents but a huge gap to look at with fright and admiration at the end of the Grand Prix.
Jim Clark was the only driver in history to win the Indianapolis 500 and the Formula 1 world championship in the same year, a feat never repeated by other drivers.
The Clark-Lotus duo is iconic, with two Formula 1 world titles won, those of 1963 and 1965, the latter also crowned by the splendid success at the Indianapolis 500. But the numbers are even more impressive: out of 72 races held, the Scot won 25, with 33 pole positions and 28 fastest laps. True undominance for what was, for all intents and purposes, one of the best drivers of all time. Who knows how many other feats Jim Clark would have given us if he had not left so early, at the age of 32?
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