Michael SatterfieldA very special Lotus Evora was unveiled at the Bo’ness Revival Hillclimb paying homage to one of the greatest racing drivers of all time, Jim Clark. In 1959, Clark piloted the same Lotus Elite that he had raced at the 24 Hours of Le Mans earlier that year, to stunning time of 37.4 seconds, a time that is still competitive today at Bo’ness.
To celebrate the 60th Anniversary of the event Lotus recreated the run using a Lotus Exige Sport 350 that featured Clark’s registration and racing number. Clark’s resume of racing victories includes 1963 and 1965 Formula 1 World Championships, winning the 1965 Indianapolis 500, and two podiums at Le Mans. His brilliant career was cut short in a crash at Hockenheimring in 1968.
As part of the celebration, a special ‘honor run’ up the course was held for the makes of cars driven by Jim Clark, as well as a selection of cars actually driven by the racing legend. Afterward, a road tour left the event headed to tour the newly renovated Jim Clark Motorsports Museum in Duns, Scotland.
The Museum recently completed a major renovation and is the largest collection of Jim Clark memorabilia including many of his trophies, racing suits, helmets and more.
Jim’s long and successful association with Lotus is one of motorsport’s great partnerships. So it’s great that this has been honored at the Bo’ness Revival in the same week as we opened the new museum. We were delighted that Sir Jackie Stewart was able to come to Duns for the official opening. Jim and Jackie have together helped inspire a generation of success for Scottish motorsport and we hope the new museum can inspire future generations for many years to come.
The special Jim Clark Lotus Evora GT410 Sport has been signed by all 20 current F1 drivers, including champions Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Räikkönen, it is the 100,000th Lotus road car ever built. The supercharged, 3.5-liter, six-cylinder homage model was auctioned to raise funds for the new museum.
