F1’S 70 GREATEST INFLUENCERS:THE 1960S
62 GP RACING JULY 2020
cigarette packet; others wouldenthusiasticallyfollow suit.
Chapman’s partnership withJimClark,formed in 1960 and
lasting until the driver’s death in 1968, became legendary, producing
25 grand prix wins from72 starts. Until Clark perished in an
unexplained crash during an F2 race at Hockenheim in 1968, it had
seemed the perfect combination. The driver, born in Fifeshire in 1936,
was a farmer from the Scottishborders who took up motor racing
for fun, competing in trials, rallies, autocross and hillclimbs before
taking to circuit racing. Invited to join the Border Reivers team, he
began winning with its sports cars: a Jaguar D-Type, a Lister-Jaguar,
an Aston Martin DBR1 and a LotusElite. When he beat established
drivers in theElite, Chapman took notice and it was in his new
Lotus 18 that, in 1960, Clark became a professional racing driver.
After several promisingearly performances, hisfi rst wins came
in 1962, at Spa, Aintree and Watkins Glen. Already it was generally
recognised that, followingthe retirement of Stirling Moss, here was
the sport’s newpresiding genius: a shy man, famously indecisive out
of the cockpit,to whom the clean sweep of pole position, afl ag-to-flag
victory and lap record seemed the most natural way tospend a grand
prix weekend. The titlesof 1963 and 1965 would surely have been
followed by more but for the trage dy at Hockenheim, where Clark’sJIM CLARK
Doubleworldchampion
andshy geniusinaLotusdeath at the age of 32 snuffed out a sublime talent.
One of Clark’sfi ve British GP wins cameat Silverstone in 1965,
but anyone in possessionof a paddock passfor that meetingwould
also have b een gripped bythe si ght of a white car with ared roun del
on its nose emerging from a transp orter whose inne r panels were
covered withmechanics’ no tes written in Japanese ideograms. In
a sport whose soulhad always been European, this representeda
intriguingly alien experience. The Honda RA272 was a step further
from the previous year’sRA271,Japan’s fi rst F1 car, whichhad made
three tentative and unp romisingappearances withits d evelopment
driver, Ronnie Bucknum, inthe cockpit; Honda’s latestF1 car was in
the handsofa moreexperienced andgifted American, Richie Ginther.
The man in charge ofthe car’s design and construction was
YoshioNakamura, a native of Osaka and graduate of the
University of Tokyo who had spent the Second World War designing
military aircraft. The neat little car’s most striking feature was its
engine, a 1.5-litre V12 designedby Ta dashi Kume. With 14,000rpm
available tothe drivers, it resembled the high-revving multi-cylinder
engines with which Honda haddominated motorcycle racing, and its
230bhp made itthe most powerful engine in the F1fi eld.
Starting the project from scratch in 1962, with no real experienceYOSHIO NAKAMURA
GuidedHondatofi rstworld
championshipracewinYoshio Nakamura ensured that Honda’sfi rst
foray intoFormula 1 was a successful one, with
a win at the end of 1965, in only its 11th raceOnly 32 when he died in 1968, who knows how many more championships Jim Clark would
have won had the variousLotus machines he drove been just a little more reliableF1’S 70 GREATEST INFLUENCERS:THE 1960S
62 GP RACING JULY 2020
cigarette packet; others wouldenthusiasticallyfollow suit.
Chapman’s partnership withJimClark,formed in 1960 and
lasting until the driver’s death in 1968, became legendary, producing
25 grand prix wins from72 start. Until Clark perished in an
unexplained crash during an F2 race at Hockenheim in 1968, it had
seemed the perfect combinatio. The driver, born in Fifeshire in 1936,
was a farmer from the Scottish orders who took up motor racing
for fun, competing in trials, ralies, autocross and hillclimbs before
taking to circuit racing. Invite to join the Border Reivers team, he
began winning with its sports cars: a Jaguar D-Type, a Lister-Jaguar,
an Aston Martin DBR1 and a LotusElite. When he beat established
drivers in theElite, Chapma took notice and it was in his new
Lotus 18 that, in 1960, Clar became a professional racing driver.
After several promisinge rly performances, hisfi rst wins came
in 1962, at Spa, Aintree an Watkins Glen. Already it was generally
recognised that, following he retirement of Stirling Moss, here was
the sport’s newpresiding enius: a shy man, famously indecisive out
of the cockpit,to whom t e clean sweep of pole position, afl ag-to-flag
victory and lap record semed the most natural way tospend a grand
prix weekend. The titles f 1963 and 1965 would surely have been
followed by more but fo the trage dy at Hockenheim, where Clark’sJIM CLARK
Doubleworldchampion
andshy geniusinaLotusdeath at the age of 32 snuffed out a sublime talent.
One of Clark’sfi ve British GP wins cameat Silverstone in 1965,
but anyone in possessionof a paddock passfor that meetingwould
also have b een gripped bythe si ght of a white car with ared roun del
on its nose emerging from a transp orter whose inne r panels were
covered withmechanics’ no tes written in Japanese ideograms. In
a sport whose soulhad always been European, this representeda
intriguingly alien experience. The Honda RA272 was a step further
from the previous year’sRA271,Japan’s fi rst F1 car, whichhad made
three tentative and unp romisingappearances withits d evelopment
driver, Ronnie Bucknum, inthe cockpit; Honda’s latestF1 car was in
the handsofa moreexperienced andgifted American, Richie Ginther.
The man in charge ofthe car’s design and construction was
YoshioNakamura, a native of Osaka and graduate of the
University of Tokyo who had spent the Second World War designing
military aircraft. The neat little car’s most striking feature was its
engine, a 1.5-litre V12 designedby Ta dashi Kume. With 14,000rpm
available tothe drivers, it resembled the high-revving multi-cylinder
engines with which Honda haddominated motorcycle racing, and its
230bhp made itthe most powerful engine in the F1fi eld.
Starting the project from scratch in 1962, with no real experienceYOSHIO NAKAMURA
GuidedHondatofi rstworld
championshipracewinYoshio Nakamura ensured that Honda’sfi rst
foray intoFormula 1 was a successful one, with
a win at the end of 1965, in only its 11th raceOnly 32 when he died in 1968, who knows how many more championships Jim Clark would
have won had the variousLotus machines he drove been just a little more reliable