BBC4 Sat: drivers Stewart, Clark, Hill + Cobra

Robin Reliant    on 21 June 2009

The Jim Clark programme brought back some memories. His winning Indianapolis car had the track offset to take advantage of the left hand oval and the bankings. You could just about notice from some of the shots, but the offside wheels were further out from the chassis than the nearside.

I've never seen that before or since.

Lud    on 21 June 2009

I've never seen that before or since.

Indianapolis cars were like that for ages and probably still are. Those Nascar silhouette jobs are also skewed permanently to the left. If you look closely you can sometimes see that they ride a bit higher on the right, but the steering geometry is skewed too I think.

Those aren't cars in my opinion. They are specialist devices little better than slot cars, apart from their ability to crash (and then continue running apparently undamaged). But a car should be able to go round right handers as well as left.

perro    on 21 June 2009

I was watching the great man (James Clark) last night with the sound orf, as I was listening to that other great man (James Hendrix) ...
The idea entered my mind that Jim Clark was destined to die young - like so many other great people have.
In his early career, he was involved in one of the worst accidents in the history of Formula 1 racing, which led to the death of 15 spectators, and according to Mr's perro - he wouldn't marry his long time girlfriend because he had a premonition that he wasn't going to make old bones!

Robin Reliant    on 21 June 2009

Can you imagine what would happen today if a racing accident resulted in the death of 15 spectators? The safety experts would be screaming for cars to be preceeded by a man with a red flag.

Not trying to make light of a terrible event, but everyone of adult age at that time had lived through a period when it was common to wake up and find the next street to your own had disappeared and three or four hundred lives had gone with it. The risk of fatal accidents was much more acceptable than would be the case now.

madux    on 22 June 2009

I thoroughly enjoyed all four programmes - amazing how much you forget over time...
I thought the Cobra story might have been a bit factually inaccurate when they mentioned Ferrari winning for the last seven years and dominating for three decades; Surely the fifties was all Aston-Martin and Jaguar? Then I realised they were probably talking class-wins, not overall wins.