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Post by charleselan on May 10, 2018 10:11:03 GMT
Well finally got to look at my copy of the book last evening. Very well packaged by Amazon with no corner damage as I have experienced with some of their deliveries, the book also wrapped in clear cellophane. Goodness what a weight the tome is, certainly a book of immense quality.
Having only just skipped through the first 50% of the book to looks superb and amazing to see so many pictures that are on the internet or Pinterest are printed in this book. Certainly a great work from David Tremayne, although I did notice a one or two captioning errors even though it was a quick skip through e.g. the picture of a Lotus 18 during the Brussels GP in 1960 is in fact Alan Stacey and not Jim, the helmet colour should give that away. Also the Lotus 23 that Jim drove in America was not the Arciero Bros car it was purloined from a local dealership after the Bros Lotus 19 broke down.
But I am probably knit picking, and it is a wonderful book and a very fitting tribute to the greatest driver of all time.
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Post by chrisb on May 10, 2018 20:02:50 GMT
John, your 'nit-picking' is always a joy - thank you
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Post by Jamie on Jul 8, 2018 7:14:20 GMT
Has anyone finished the book and what do you think?
I only managed to finish it last weekend due to too many other demands on my time (thankfully easing off now) and must say that I thoroughly enjoyed it overall. If I’m hypercritical, I felt that the chapters dealing with the actual racing seasons and results etc became a little formulaic....and then he raced here and won and then he raced there and won etc etc....but I really enjoyed the later chapters dealing with Indy and more of the human interest stuff. David Tremayne really came in to his own in this area and I was at several points left prickly eyed and bristling with emotion (not difficult for me when dealing with Clark), actually having to walk away and give myself a proper talking to a few times 😌
Favourite part of the whole book was the section containing Linda Vaughn’s memories of Jim......absolutely brilliant and worth the price of the book for this alone.
I’d love to hear what you think.......
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Post by chrisb on Jul 9, 2018 5:11:46 GMT
Hi Jamie, good to hear that the demands on your time are lessening, always look forward to your comments,
unfortunately I finished it some time ago, I would concur that I also did the same, and had to walk away several times - "with something in my eye.." if memory serves it just felt like it sort of petered out, and the last part was a bit rushed, to meet deadlines? not sure Jamie will have to go back over it, but totally agree with you that when it came to the more personall perspective David was more into his zone and you could read his reverence and one thing it did do, was question why is Jim Clark 50 years on still hailed and veted as he is? why is this quiet self-effacing genius worshipped as he is?
what it did reinforce was how we put I think 3 post-war drivers into perspective, Fangio, Senna and Jimmy - so revered, that's not to say others like Gilles or Ronnie aren't just difefrent - not sure what I mean here,
i will have to have another look, I did love the photos and it was just a bit more about the person which was great and the more poignant that he isn't here
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Post by charleselan on Jul 9, 2018 16:23:07 GMT
I have got about half way through, although my reading has not been in detail. At present too busy during the day and evenings are not good in this house of mine for reading as the lighting is bloody awful. I have liked what i have seen but some of the captioning errors really do irritate me; another is the large full page picture of Jim in civvies but with helmet on climbing either in or out of a sports prototype. It is captioned as him in the Alan Mann Ford F3L, well it ain't, it is Jim having a bit of fun driving a privately owned Ferrari 330P3/4 belonging to a wealthy friend of Jabby Crombac. This same photo is on the internet, and was before the book came out, and is incorrectly titled there too.
Boy that would have been something seeing Jim drive that car, probably the only Ferrari race car he ever drove. As an aside I wonder if it is the same one that Didier Pironi drove many years later, a situation that Nigel Roebuck referred to at one time.
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Post by Jamie on Jul 9, 2018 16:51:56 GMT
I noticed that one to John......I’m pretty sure it’s captioned as a Ferrari in Eric Dymock’s book (I’ll check) but it’s always shown as a F3L.....bit lazy that.
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Post by chrisb on Jul 10, 2018 20:48:09 GMT
having just re-read some of it, i do feel i got to know a bit more about the person, his likes and dislikes,his loyal following, I love AJ's comments about Jimmy but was very unhappy with Jack and John's - and everytime i read Senna's comments I choke up - but then you realise he really was the 'best of the best' and the little interesting snippets - like I never knew he raced a Healey, and about how he felt about Innes and their sharing an Aston after Innes's sacking, about Taffy, Alan Stacey, Stirling, Trevor amongst others, they are fascinating but gosh doesn't it reinforce what a person he was, and how 50 years on he is still tragically missed, especially when you realise Hockenheim installed barriers the following year
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Post by Jamie on Jul 10, 2018 21:17:19 GMT
I felt the same about Jack’s comments Chris, I was quite shocked by them actually, a bit of green eye possibly??
John’s comments I could quite imagine him saying, l’ve never warmed to his character, though he is a man to be much admired for his achievements and great talent. Always struck me as having far too high an opinion of himself. I do realise that sounds a terrible thing to say of a great man now passed but, in my defence, it was an opinion formed long ago...
I think I mentioned before that I really enjoyed Linda Vaughn’s memories of Jim as the great affection she felt for the man lept off the page.......wonderful. Also the parts that dealt with Scott-Brown and why he stopped being so involved in Jim’s career were enlightening.
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Post by charleselan on Jul 10, 2018 21:18:40 GMT
Chris,
What you have to remember is the fact that Jack & John got pasted by Jim on a regular basis. Neither were in the same class in my opinion. There was a short window of time when Big John with a very good car could get close, but he couldn't do what Jim often did in inferior equipment. The only time Jack got close in relative equal cars was the Aintree 200 in '64 where they had quite a duel until Jim tangled with an errant backmarker.
Jim knew this himself, and as was said to the great Dan Gurney, "you were the only one he feared".
Jack & John were greta drivers in their own right but not in the same league as Mr Clark, or for that matter Dan Gurney, and then along came JYS!
JC
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Post by Jamie on Jul 10, 2018 21:24:35 GMT
Reading the book and some of the quotes from Dan really reinforced what a genuinely lovely man Dan Gurney was......reading of Dan’s utterly distraught nature at Jim’s funeral was very moving, one of the points where I had to put the book down and compose myself 😌
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Post by charleselan on Jul 10, 2018 21:39:42 GMT
Dan Gurney was a truly wonderful man Jamie, and when he talked of Jim's death in that beautiful film on Jim Clark made by Mark Stewart his emotions really choked me up.
Jim and Dan were my car racing icons in the 1960's, with the young guns JYS; Jochen Rindt; Chris Amon and Enfant Terribe Jacky Ickx joining them later on. One must never forget Graham Hill of course, on his day a great driver especially considering how late he came into the sport.
I think John Surtees' last good season in F1 was 1966 in the Cooper Maserati; after he left Ferrari. He ended up a bit like Alonso in the end. I always remember when he "rejoined' the Ferrari works sports prototype team for Spa in the 512S for the Spa 1000Kms and he was paired with Ickx. Even Jenks commented on the fact that he was something 5 seconds a lap slower, can't ever imagine anyone doing that to Jim!
I didn't dislike John or Jack but they just didn't appeal to me as a teenager back then, and I have never liked some of John's comments about Jim over the years, like the crap about Jim not being able to dice, or that he cracked under pressure, total rubbish!
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Post by Carl on Jul 11, 2018 0:26:56 GMT
John, your 'nit-picking' is always a joy - thank you John Charles does invaluable service to our knowledge, finding nits where we had suspected none were harbored. I had heard of Linda Vaughn's rhapsodic opinion of Jim Clark, apparently because, unlike other star drivers, he treated her with kindness.
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Post by chrisb on Mar 19, 2020 20:30:00 GMT
there appears to be another Jim book being released, I don't know much about it - and don't know if anyone else does, but - another book?
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Post by Jamie on Mar 21, 2020 7:40:18 GMT
there appears to be another Jim book being released, I don't know much about it - and don't know if anyone else does, but - another book? You'd think its all been said Chris wouldn't you........however, you know we'll all buy it
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Post by chrisb on Mar 21, 2020 9:39:03 GMT
so true Jamie, I really don't know what else can be said and overkill may be a worry, I am planning to do the new JC trail when we get over this dreadful and tragic situation - for me what would be excellent if we could find more videos of the 60's racing, such a bloody shame so much was wiped -
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