In Honour Of A Legend
Since 2006, each year in april there is a meeting for historic racing cars in Hockenheim (D) – formerly called the „Jim Clark Revival“,
nowadays the „BOSCH Hockenheim Historic, das Jim Clark Revival“.
Of course the name has it`s origins from this fateful day in april 1968, when two time F1 world champion Jim Clark lost his life in a Formula Two race
on one of the long straights of Hockenheims old circuit. The following year already, the traditional F2 race in spring was called
the „Jim Clark Gedächtnis Rennen“ and it soon became a highlight in the circuits race calender well into the 1980`s. From
2006 on, with no more F2 race series of any significance existing, the name Jim Clark was used for a newly created event
for historic race cars – the „Jim Clark Revival“.Although through the years, the link to the great scottish driver got a bit lost,
as there were no more races for historic F2 cars in the event. But for 2018, the organizers were well aware of the 50th
anniversary of the accident and scheduled a number of highlights in memory of Clark:
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There was a nice field of F2 cars from period
contesting the first two races of the HSCC F2
championship. Both races provided proper sport with ongoing
battles through the whole field – just like it was back in the good
old days.
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In the paddock, there was a display of four cars related to Clark –
a Goggomobil, a Ford Cortina, a Lotus 23 and a Lotus 59 (which
of course was only supposed to be driven by him later in 1968)
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A real gem though was the Clark exhibition of swiss Jürg Mallepell
in the „Kongress Pavillon“: Hundreds of precious artefacts and
memorabilia were on display: race suits, letters, trophies, brilliant
photos and even the Lotus 49 chassis no R10 were to be seen.
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If you wanted, you could also join for a „Jim Clark Tour“ which,
amongst other places, took you to the accident location outside
of the new circuits area where a memorial was built. Very moving
was the wreath ceremony which was attended by Clive
Chapman, head of Classic Team Lotus and son of Lotus founder
Colin Chapman.
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The icing on the cake was a round table with close relatives of
Clark and contemporary witnesses on Sunday morning and a
minute of silence right before the start of the F2 race on Sunday.
One has to say that the organizers did a good job commemorating
this tragic anniversary.
On-track activities also were much better again than in recent
years:
Big touring car fields were the crowd favourites – the ever popular
Deutsche Rennsportmeisterschaft and the old DTM cars from the
70`s – 90`s put on a fantastic show in various races and the public
was reminded of glory days when the grandstands of the
Motodrom were packed with people. Peter Mückes Zakspeed
Capri turbo, a wonderful Schnitzer BMW 3.0CSL and some M1`s,
Ford Escorts, more modern Alfa 1555ti V6, a Mercedes C-class
and many more fantastic cars were simply breathtaking!
A Big improvement also could be seen in the field of the BOSS GP cars. The Big
open Single Seaters showed a healthy 15 starters, amongst them F1 cars from
Toro Rosso, Benetton and Super Aguri. (Watch out for the Boss GP cars in july:
they start their V10 and V8 engines as a support act of this years F1 Grand Prix in
Hockenheim as well)
Add the field of the „Race Club Germany“ (`84 Williams Honda, 1986 Minardi,
1991 and 1985 Minardi, 2005 Toyota, 1987 Arrows…) the powerful GT and Touring
Cars of the STTP and the ever popular field of the Lurani trophy and you have a
wonderful motorsport experience. And if you kept your eyes open, you could even
get an autograph of some of germanys heroes of the past: Jochen Mass, Ellen
Lohr, Roland Asch, Christian Danner, Marco Werner, Michael Bartels and many
others payed a visit.
Although the organizers raised the ticket prices by €10.- to €45.- for the weekend,
the public showed up in big numbers (25.000 over the weekend) to get close to
the 500 historic race cars. Paddock and pits were open to the public and you could
see happy fans everywhere, enoying the event which was blessed with three days
of sunshine.
So, if you happen to be in germany in april next year, a trip to Hockenheim to see the „Jim Clark revival“ is
highly recommended!
What: BOSCH Hockenheim Historic, Das Jim Clark Revival
Where: Hockenheim
When: each year in april
Website: www.hockenheim-historic.de
Contact: +49 (0) 6205 950-0
How much: €45 / weekend