Miniature cameras capable of filming in high resolution didn’t really exist when Jim Clark was at the peak of his career, meaning precious little footage exists of the Scottish superstar behind the wheel. Now, thanks to the efforts of newsreel archive British Pathe to digitize its entire newsreel collection, footage of Clark wheeling his Lotus-Climax at the 1964 British Grand Prix does exist on the Internet, and quite frankly, it’s spectacular.
Turning grainy and out-of-focus newsreel footage into digital files is one thing, but British Pathe didn’t stop there. All of its 85,000 films have been converted to high- (or high-ish) resolution video, available for all to see on YouTube. While only a small fraction of the archive is dedicated to automobiles and racing, what’s there is quite often impressive and worth digging through.
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It’s not likely that Clark agreed to carry a heavy and cumbersome camera rig during the 1964 British Grand Prix at Brands Hatch, meaning that the in-car parts of the video were filmed on practice laps, and then spliced into the newsreel footage of the race itself. Technicalities aside, it’s amazing to see Jim Clark demonstrating, in the words of the newscaster, “What grand prix racing means at Brands Hatch.” Clark would go on to take the win that day, and he was joined on the podium by Graham Hill and John Surtees. Despite his early lead in the 1964 championship points (with three wins in the first five races), Clark would finish third in the championship, behind (ironically) Hill and Surtees.
The video is also worth watching for its brief glimpses of Surtees, Clark, Bruce McLaren and Jack Brabham in their prime, along with reasonably good footage of Surtees’s Ferrari 158 and Clark’s Lotus 25. If we can find a single fault with the video, it’s this: at just under three minutes in length, the video is a few hours short for our liking.
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Thanks Hemmings. ::)