Grand Prix Insider

4th of March – Today the late Jim Clark would be commemorating his 73rd birthday. As always, here’s a picture for the occasion. This one shows of one of the greatest race drivers of all times in a Lotus. It’s your guess what model he’s driving here. If like, tell us about this car’s engine. But far more importantly: Where has this shot been taken?

4/3/1974, William Aston dies

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Bill Aston was a motorcycle racer turned racing driver, who’s most remarkable achievement was setting a world speed record in a streamlined 500cc Cooper. Quite a competent driver in Formula 2, Bill joined forces with engine builder Archie Butterworth in 1952 and the two of them built the Aston Butterworth F2 car. Robin Montgomerie-Charrington qualified the first car they built, a self-built, Cooper-inspired chassis featuring Archie’s flat 4 air-cooled engine for the Belgian GP but had to retire due to engine problems. Bill got the second car – model NB42 – ready for the 1952 British Grand Prix and was looking forward to his debut as a driver in the World Championship. But the car presented all sorts of troubles and was withdrawn after qualifying. The following round, German GP at the Nürburgring, didn’t fare much better, dropping oil pressure forced Bill to retire on the second lap. Skipping the Dutch GP to work on the, the Ashton Butterworth team showed up in Monza for the Italian GP, sadly the car failed to make it even through qualifying. It was the end of all aspirations, Bill Aston raced on in touring cars and well into his 60s before retiring.

Born: 29th of March 1900 in Hopton, UK;
Died: 4th of March 1974 in Lingfield, UK, aged 73.

4/3/1936, Jim Clark is born in Kilmany, Scotland

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Jim Clark is considered till present one of the greatest race drivers in history. He had been selected by Aston Martin’s Grand Prix team after he showed great promise in touring cars. But when the project stalled, he signed a deal with Colin Chapman to drive for Lotus in touring cars, sports cars and Formula 2. It was the beginning of one of the most remarkable team owner/driver relationships in history. The Scotsman’s debut in Formula 1 came at the 1960 Dutch Grand Prix, where he stepped in for John Surtees who was still racing motorcycles at the time. Another 71 GP’s would follow, 33 of which he’d start from pole position, led 43 of them and won 25. He lost both the 1962 and 1964 World Championships in the final races through mechanical frailty, but he dominated in 1963, winning an amazing 7 out of 10 races, garnering 7 poles in the process. In 1965 he fought off Graham Hill, John Surtees and a rookie called Jackie Stewart to win his second title and and he included a win at Indianapolis for good measure. Leading the race for 190 laps out of 200 he stunned the American racing scene. After a dire 1966 season, Chapman introduced the Lotus 49, powered by the phenomenal Ford Cosworth DFV in 1967 a little bit too late in the season and Clark had to settle for 3rd place in the World Championship. 1968 began with victory in the South African GP, thus beating Juan-Manuel Fangio’s record in Grand Prix victories. Sadly this was to be his last win for he was killed a month later. A sudden rear tire failure in a Formula Two race at Hockenheim caused his Lotus to slid off the track at high speed and hit a tree. Jim Clark was pronounced dead at the scene.

Born: 4th of March 1936 in Kilmany, Scotland;
Died: 7th of April 1968 at the Motodrom Hockenheim, Germany, aged 32.

4/3/1933, Nino Vaccarella is born in Palermo, Italy

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Nino Vaccarella is a living legend in Sicily after having won the famous Targa Florio sports car race 3 times. Had a shot at Formula 1 but never got the same kind of options he would have in sports car racing. After some promising non-championship outings for Count Giovanni Volpi di Misurata’s Scuderia Serenissima, Nino’s Formula 1 World Championship would have taken place at the Monaco Grand Prix 1962, but with the outdated Lotus 18/21 he failed to qualify. So he had to wait until the Italian GP at Monza, where he finished 9th. His two other participations in World Championship rounds were mere one-offs. He drove Serenissima’s ageing Porsche in the 1962 German GP and Enzo Ferrari allowed him to take part in the 1965 Italian GP as a works driver for the Scuderia as a bonus for winning the 1964 Le Mans 24 Hours race for Ferrari in 1964. Contrary to his struggling F1 career, Nino’s sports car career began to flourish as works Ferrari driver, Vaccarella took many famous wins, besides Le Mans he won the Nürburgring 1000kms Sebring 12 Hours race. A qualified, but not practicing lawyer, he is now retired and can often be seen at historic events.

4/3/1972, Johannes Franciscus Verstappen is born in Montfort, Netherlands

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Jos Verstappen is the most successful Dutch Formula 1 driver to date. Winning the 1993 German Formula 3 championship and the F3 Masters in Zandvoort the same year made him a hot property and Benetton signed him as test and reserve driver. Much earlier than expected the young Dutchman was drafted in to replace the injured JJ Lehto in the 2 opening races of the 1994 season and, after JJ’s performances had been disappointing, from the French GP on. Despite 3rd places in the Hungarian and the Belgian GPs as well as a 5th place at the Portuguese GP, Jos was replaced by the more experienced Johnny Herbert. A stint with the collapsing Simtek team in 1995 and with Footwork and Tyrrell the following years didn’t help his career. Stewart Grand Prix drafted him in for the last 9 races of the 1998 season as a replacement for Jan Magnussen. At the end of 1998 he teamed up with old Tyrrell friends Rupert Manwaring and Dr. Harvey Postlethwaite in the proposed Honda works team, doing testing duties in 1999 and with a promissed race seat for 2000. But the Japanese changed their plans and Verstappen was lucky to land a drive with Arrows. Dumped by the team at the start of 2002 to make way for Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Verstappen was forced to sit out the season but returned in 2003 with Minardi. After 107 Grands Prix he dropped from the F1 scene in 2004. Jos resurfaced a couple of years later in A1 GP as one of drives for Team Netherlands. In 2008 he enjoyed a great season with a private LMP2 Porsche in the Le Mans series taking a class win in the Le Mans 24 hours race and by winning the Nürburgring 1000 km race the drivers’ title in the LMP2 class.