[agricola]

On another board there has been some suggestion Jim Clark had significant early stage type Rally experience . Although as a young man on a farm he would have experience of rough surfaces
In the last excellent Graham Gauld book it said at the time of the RAC he had not done a rally for 11 years, and Brian Melia's moving and very comprehensive account indicated not much prior rally type experience. Brian Melia describes how green Clarks first drive in a rally spec Lotus Cortina at Snetterton was.
I contacted Graham Gauld as to what actual experience he had and this is his reply

The Berwick club had many farmer members and in order to give variety they were persuaded to open up a couple of gates on unmettaled paths going through the fields. Remember the phrase “Special Stage” was not even invented back then. It was part of the route and whereas on the normal roads we were restricted to a 30 mph average by going on to these farm paths you could open up the car and belt across them at any speed you wanted. However, these were not closed/timed sections, they were just part of the normal route on the plot and bash rallies of the period that were decided more on whether you could find secret controls to see you had not taken short cuts there was no timed speed element to it and so were in no way “special stages”. However, as I said in the book Jim went over those paths at speed and so had an idea of unsurfaced fast driving which helped him on the RAC Rally. I did one Berwick rally with Jim in the Sunbeam and one MG Car Club rally, the Moorfoot of 1956, which was a normal navigation rally on public roads with a 30 mph average. I can tell you, however, that when I had breakfast with Jim and Brian after the first day and overnight of the RAC Jim felt that his driving in the early stages was rubbish and that Brian would have been quicker than him for people overlook the fact that Brian Melia was a very quick rally driver. However, during the second day of the rally he got the hang of it and by the third day even drivers like Bengt Soderstrom and other Swedes were amazed at how quick he was on the stages as the rally progressed. That rock that still sticks out on the stage near Aberfoyle has caught out many people and it bashed in Jim’s drivers door. You have probably seen the photo I took of him on the special stage after the Ford mechanics had made a jury rig repair and it did not cause him to slow. Indeed Jackie Stewart and I went up to Aberfoyle to meet up with Jim at the service area and Jackie was with me when I took the photo and could not believe Jimmy was so quick in what was a bit of a wreck of a car.

So in effect, before the RAC Rally I doubt it Jimmy had done more than about five local Berwick rallies and a couple of other rallies plus sitting and simply navigating with his Cousin Billy Potts in the Austin Healey 100 on the International Scottish Rally in 1955 when he was 19.

I think we can say that Clark would never look down on Rally drivers and indeed when he crashed out he helped the Rally team by driving a service barge and briefed Palm Gunnar on the last stage which Clark had driven as a demo. I also think he encourage Andrew Cowan to have a bash at circuit racing.
All in all A truly exceptional drive by one of the most talented natural drivers