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IT HAPPENED SINCE LAST ISSUE
Motorcycling loses legendary grand prix mechanic
LEGENDARY MECHANIC
NOBBY Clark passed away on
Saturday 16 December, aged
81, after a long illness. The
former factory spannerman
for a string of champions
from Gary Hocking to Kenny
Roberts died at a clinic in
New York, the city he had
made his home after a
peripatetic existence fettling
factory bikes for MV Agusta,
Honda, Yamaha and others.
Clark hailed from
Zimbabwe, then called
Southern Rhodesia, where
he became involved with
future international racing
legends including multi-
champion Jim Redman. But
his closest relationship was
with the enigmatic genius
Gary Hocking, who came
from Rhodesia at full speed toearn a slot in the MV factory
team. Clark joined him in
1960, and in 1961 Gary swept
to both 350cc and 500cc
championships. Hocking
retired abruptly midway
through 1962 – only to die in a
Formula 1 car in South Africa
later that year.
Redman promptly recruited
Clark to the burgeoning
Honda team, where his skills
and personality won such
favour that the factory took
him on directly in 1964.
Clark moved to Japan, taught
himself Japanese and earned
the respect of the team as
an English teacher. He also
became fluent in several
languages, with a working
knowledge of others, to a
total of seven. “That’s one
of the things the Japaneseliked – they didn’t need an
interpreter. They’d just call
me ... and I could explain it
back to them in Japanese,”
he said late last year, in what
would be his final interview.
Clark worked on a
generation of legendarily
complex Honda racers,
including the five-cylinder- “You had to use
tweezers on a lot of parts like
the valve collets, because
while the parts kept getting
smaller, your fingers stayed
the same size.”
After Honda withdrew in
1968, Clark stayed in racing
until the 1990s. The list of
champions with whom he
worked included legends
like Bill Ivy, Jarno Saarinen,
Kel Carruthers, Barry
Sheene, Giacomo Agostini
and Kenny Roberts, as well
as Marco Lucchinelli when
he rode for Cagiva.
After quitting the GP
scene, Clark played a crucial
role in rebuilding the Honda
6, among other bikes, for
US racing revivalists Team
Obsolete.
Clark felt his strong suit
was finesse. “You should have
feeling when you work on
the engine. For instance, if
you are torquing something,
eventually you can feel one
kilo more or less of torque, so
you don’t really need a gauge.
But just to be sure that it is
exactly one kilo, I’d always
put a torque wrench on it.”
Derek “Nobby” Clark was
inducted into the AMA Hall of
Fame in 2012.
MICHAEL SCOTTNobby Clark 1936-