The 48th running of the annual Targa Florio road race was a notable fixture in this, one of the greatest of all road races, illustrious history. The 1964 edition saw a powerful onslaught from the 4 car strong AC Cobra works team. Led by Dan Gurney in the number 146 car, with a red stripe, the quartet of Cobras had eyes on continuing the Shelby teams stranglehold on the GT category of the international championship for GT & Prototype cars. But the Targa Florio was quite a different proposition, even to the bumpy surface of the previous event at Sebring. 

A rough, arduous and brutal road race of 720 Kilometers the Targa was one of the toughest events of the era. And an event for which the brutal V8 powered Cobra was hardly suited. The four Cobras entered had differing fortunes. Of the cars in this set the 148 car of Masten Gregory and Innes Ireland retired after an accident on the winding Sicilian roads. But the other Cobra of the legendary Dan Gurney, sharing with Jerry Grant had better fortunes, the pair wrestled the brutish Cobra to an impressive 8th place. Behind an assortment of Porsche's, Alfa Romeos and a single Ferrari. 

For this race the mighty Cobra was defeated in the GT category by the beautiful Ferrari 250GTO, the Cobra was victorious in the over 3.0 GT category. For the other Cobras, the 142 car of 1962 Formula One World Champion Phil Hill, sharing with Bob Bondurant retired with suspension issues, while the 150 car driven by the Italian pairing of Vito Coco and Vincenzo Arena also retired, due to a broken oil pipe in their case. While the Cobra was a tough beast to drive around the narrow streets the loud grumble of its V8 and the enthusiastic style of Gurney made it a winner in the eyes of the adoring public. The legend of the Cobra was continuing to build.

The 1967 Daytona 24 Hours saw a fierce battle between the best of the American and European Sports Racing Car hordes. While the Europeans eventually triumphed, filling the top three places, the mighty Ford MKIIs put up a fierce resistance on home soil, with the car of Foyt and Gurney qualifying on pole before retiring with a broken con rod. But the Americans weren’t just relying upon the mighty Fords, the powerful be winged Chaparral was also in contention, second on the grid. Along with the more conventional 2D.

But for the Americans it was not to be, the powerful V12s of the red cars entered by the Europeans proved to be the class of the field with the open Spyder car proving victorious, followed up but two more red V12s. it was a dominant performance, but it was not to be repeated, with the American cars, this time the mighty Ford MKIVs, triumphing at Sebring and LeMans.

The 1978 Swedish Grand Prix saw the debut, and only race, of one of the most outlandish ideas in Formula One history. The Brabham BT 46B ‘Fan Car’ took a standard Alfa Romeo flat 12 powered BT 46 and added a large fan at the rear of the car, this drew air through the engine water radiator before using an even more effective version of ground effect, pioneered by the Lotus 79, to create a partial vacuum under the car. This created an enormous amount of downforce, that saw Niki Lauda able to cruise away at the start of the race. 

The form car for the rest of the season, the Lotus 79, was also a ground-breaking car, its skirts along the side of the bodywork helped generate high levels of downforce, sucking the car to the track and immediately moving the goal posts of performance for the other teams. The Fan car generated tremendous controversy upon its unveiling, with Brabham insisting that it was for cooling the engine, not downforce purposes. While the Brabham’s did not qualify on pole (they deliberately sand bagged to avoid controversy) Lauda lined up second behind Andretti. At the start the two fought for the lead, before a problem removed the Lotus and Lauda cruised to a 34.6 second victory. 

After the race, the car was confirmed as legal, but was removed by Brabham, in order for the owner Bernie Ecclestone to avoid a confrontation with other team owners. The designer, Gordon Murray went on to design numerous race and championship winning cars. The fan car is today an important legacy of one of the most innovative periods of F1 history and makes a perfect pair with the otherwise dominant Lotus 79.

Born in 1936 in fife, Scotland, Jim Clark is today remembered as being one of, if not the, greatest natural talents to ever sit behind the wheel of a Formula One car. Born into a farming family Jimmy began his racing career in local road rally events before graduating to circuit racing in a borrowed DKW. By 1958 he has gained the attention of the local Border Reivers team and was racing a Jaguar D-Type across national events. Winning 18 of the races he entered. 

In 1958 he raced a Lotus Elite at Brands Hatch, finishing second to Colin Chapman, boss of Lotus, and launching his career with the famous Norfolk brand. By 1960 he was racing for Lotus in Formula One, making his debut at the Dutch GP and winning his first Grand Prix at the 1962 Belgian race at the daunting Spa Francochamps. His first World Championship came in 1963 and was followed by another in 1965, both for Lotus. 

His exploits however were not just confined to F1, he won the Indy 500, raced at LeMans and at the wheel of the fantastic Lotus Cortina he won numerous touring car races and a British Saloon Car Championship. Regarded by many to be the most naturally talented driver to ever grace Formula One Jimmy was tragically killed during a Formula 2 race in Germany in 1968. Today he is remembered as a true great of the sport, a natural talent like no other, and a man incomparable on the track.

For more information on Jim Clark or for information on the Jim Clark Museum please visit www.jimclarktrust.com