'The standard by which all others in F1 must be judged'
Fifty years ago, Jim Clark was killed in a Formula 2 race at Hockenheim. Peerless in his prime, for some he remains the greatest Formula 1 driver ever to have lived. PETER WINDSOR and NIGEL ROEBUCK share their memories of Clark with ANTHONY ROWLINSON and explain why he remains an inspiration to this day
Nigel Roebuck: I was at Brands Hatch that day [when Clark lost his life in a Formula 2 race]. It was the BRDC 1000km sportscar race. It was cold and I was in the Clearways grandstand. After a couple of hours the race had settled down, so I went off to a buy a couple of books. I went to pay for them and the guy behind the till said to me: "Have you heard about Clark?" And I said: "No, what about Clark?" He said he'd been killed at Hockenheim that morning.
They talk about the world suddenly swimming before you and it was a little like that. It was a complete shock. He was the one guy it was never going to happen to, whatever else. It took a few minutes for me to kind of compose myself and get used to this idea. And then I knew I had to go back to the grandstand and tell my pal. That was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do.
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