On this day in 1936, Jim Clark — the 1963 and 1965 Formula One World Champion — was born. He holds the record for the most Grand Slams in the history of the sport and is the only driver to have won multiple championships in a single season alongside the F1 World Drivers’ Championship: the Tasman Series, French Formula Two, and British Formula Two in 1965.

He made his F1 debut in 1960 for Team Lotus, with whom he remained until his death in 1968. In Chapman’s unreliable but fast machinery, he scored his first win at the Belgian Grand Prix in 1962 but eventually lost the championship to Graham Hill due to Lotus’s lack of reliability. Reliability improved in 1963, and Clark won the championship convincingly, taking 7 victories from 10 races.

In 1964, Clark again came within just a few laps of winning the World Championship, but another reliability problem —  an oil leak from the engine — cost him the title. He made amends in 1965, winning the championship again while also winning the Indianapolis 500, becoming the only driver to win both the Indy 500 and the F1 title in the same year.

Difficult years followed as Lotus struggled to adapt to the new 3.0-litre engine regulations. Nevertheless, Clark still managed to win races in every subsequent F1 season he contested. He finished 1967 by winning the last two races, ultimately placing third in the championship as the driver with the most wins (4), but also the most retirements among the top three drivers (5).

The 1968 season began in much the same way, with a win in the opening race. Shortly afterwards, as was common at the time, Clark competed in a Formula Two race held at Hockenheimring. There, driving his Lotus 48, he drifted off the track and crashed into the surrounding trees. The impact proved fatal. Although the exact cause of the crash was never definitively identified, investigators concluded it was most likely due to a deflating rear tire.

At the time of his death at the age of 32, he held the records for the most wins, pole positions, and fastest laps in F1 history. His record was extraordinary: 33 pole positions (45.2%) and 25 wins (34.7% wins-to-races, 73.5% wins-to-finishes) from 72 championship Grand Prix starts. Although many of his records in total numbers were later surpassed — partly due to longer seasons and improved reliability — Clark’s percentage-based statistics remain either unbeaten or among the best in history. Reliability unquestionably cost him additional championships; in the 34 races he finished, Clark led more than 70 percent of the laps.

He still holds the record for most Grand Slams (*Chelem*) — races in which a driver takes pole position, fastest lap, victory, and leads every lap — achieving the feat eight times within a 32-race span over three years. Clark is also remembered for his ability to drive and win in all types of cars and series: he won the British Touring Car Championship, finished on the podium twice at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and also competed in rallying and NASCAR events.

Formula 1 has the uncanny ability to hit where it hurts the most, and that again proved to be true in case of Jim Clark, taking the one of the best ever to hold a steering wheel in his most prosperous years.

On this day in Formula 1 history – Jim Clark was born