Jim Clark to be honoured at Silverstone Classic

Two-times Formula 1 World Driver's Champion Jim Clark will be honoured during a special evening event at this summer’s Silverstone Classic (26-28 July).

Staged in the Silverstone Wing, the inaugural British Racing Drivers' Club (BRDC) Silverstone Classic Dinner will take place on Friday 26 July almost exactly 50 years after Clark won the British Grand Prix at Silverstone on 20 July 1963. Open to members of the BRDC and Silverstone Classic competitors, the commemorative dinner will include special tributes to the Scotsman – a racing legend who is still widely hailed to be Britain’s greatest ever Grand Prix driver.

Born in Fife, Clark won the Formula One World Championship title in 1963 and 1965, and was the first British driver to win the Indianapolis 500, again in 1965. At the time of his death, when racing a Formula 2 car at Hockenheim in Germany in 1968, he had won more Grands Prix (25 from just 72 starts) and pole positions (33) than any other driver.      

Famous F1 cars once raced by Clark feature in two hugely evocative races organised by the Historic Grand Prix Cars Association (HGPCA) for Pre-1966 Rear Engined Grand Prix Cars; they are among an amazing collection of more than 100 of the world’s finest F1 cars still competing at the Classic. In honour of Clark, these two HGPCA races will be renamed the Jim Clark Trophy for Pre-1966 Rear Engined Grand Prix Cars. 

Event Director Nick Wigley said: 'The Silverstone Classic already showcases so much superb motor racing history that it seems entirely appropriate that we should pay homage to some of the champions from the past. And who better to celebrate first than Jim Clark – more so as this is the golden anniversary of his first world championship title,” added Wigley. “Indeed, several of Jimmy’s ex-F1 cars are still racing today at the Classic.'

Tickets for the dinner in the Silverstone Wing are priced at £99, and available from the Silverstone Classic event website.