Another of Clark’s friends, Graham Hill, was a media hero before he put himself into the league of those mighty champions. Hill’s antics at the after-race parties, and his exhibitionist lifestyle on many occasions blinded everyone to his other face, which was his fierce attitude that was brought to the limelight when BRM were shown to be off the pace of others. Despite the highly contrasting lifestyles of Clark and Hill, they had massive mutual respect for each other which transformed into a bizarre friendship.
Hill found himself leading a distraught Lotus at a time when both the prime drivers (Clark and Mike Spence) faced their fatal crashes, and that was the very first year of Hill returning back to the Lotus team. The Lotus team lacked morale after these crashes, and if it wasn’t for Hill, things could have been so different in this modern day. But then fate had its own agenda, and Hill was killed in a plane crash a few years after the Clark saga. Millions of people were once again shocked at this accident. Hill, along with few other members of his own team, were dead on the spot when a lightweight plane that they were travelling in crashed into the trees due to dense fog. Hill’s team was left with his deputy and a few other mechanics, and they had to shut down the team’s operations.
To this day, there have been several records of Clark’s peers and others who have publicly stated that Clark’s fatal crash was a catastrophe in their lives.
Jim Clark (L) and Graham Hill
In 1967, Ferrari were in the worst possible shape. Chris Amon, Bandini, Mike Parkes and Scarfiotti were roped in to drive for the team on various rounds. Bandini succumbed to his injuries which he suffered when he was trapped in his burning car. A couple of rounds later at Belgium, Mike Parkes suffered career ending injuries, and Ludovico Scarfiotti, who witnessed the crash, decided to temporarily retire from racing. Ferrari were totally devastated but they just managed to continue racing, before their large overhaul three seasons down the line.
Ludovico Scarfiotti came back to the racing lines a year later, and became the third victim of the 1968 fatalities when he had a malefic crash at a hill-climbing event. The accident was a horrific one, as the Porsche that Scarfiotti was driving in that event was left hanging among the trees, and Scarfiotti’s body was thrown 50 yards away from the spot. Fritz Huschke von Hanstein, who was the team manager, was totally devastated as it was the first fatal accident in his 18-year tenure.
Joseph Schlesser was a French driver who was fighting hard to drive an Formula 1 car. In 1968, Honda was experimenting with an air cooled car, and they were trying to race it earlier than planned. John Surtees was their test driver, and immediately suggested that the car wasn’t ready for racing. Honda paid no heed to the warning of Surtees, and enrolled to take part in the French Grand Prix. With no proper backup to Surtees, Honda hired Schlesser, who was the local entrant, and he crashed the car within two laps into the race.
The air cooled car had a magnesium touch to its make, and also was filled with race fuel. The car crashed into the barriers sideways, and instantly got ignited. Schlesser was dead on the spot. Apparently, Surtees was asked to take part in the Italian Grand Prix later that year, and obviously, Surtees refused to drive that car ever again. Honda’s project was abandoned.
Guy Ligier, who formed a partnership with Schlesser, decided to retire from racing and pursue a career in building Formula 1 cars instead. As a tribute to Schlesser, all of Ligier’s cars had JS as the Chassis initials. The partnership of Ligier and Schlesser started earlier in the year, as Ligier and Schlesser bought McLaren Formula 2 cars to pursue their racing ambitions, and give themselves a chance to fight in Formula 1.
Often considered as the best German in his class, Gerhard Karl Mitter had an impressive record in Formula Junior and was always knocking on the doors of a Formula 1 entry. Mitter was initially racing for motorbikes before making the jump. Driving for an F2 project of BMW, Gerhard Mitter suffered a fatal crash due to a broken suspension, and as a result, the BMW team withdrew from the race. Hans Herrmann, who was Mitter’s teammate and neighbour, retired after winning the Le Mans 24 hours in 1970. Another driving partner of Mitter, Udo Schütz too retired from competitive racing, after witnessing the crash.
