Trenton 200 September 1963 Jim Clark Drives the Lotus

Incredibly, amazingly, Jim Clark and Dan Gurney arrived at the venerable Trenton State Fairgrounds in New Jersey ready to qualify and to race. They had slept for but a couple of hours at the nearby Trent motel; Both would drive their Indy and Milwaukee Lotus 29-Fords, although on this occasion the exhausts had been angled skywards in physical testimony to the sheer speed of the two rear-engined cars. As it was by now clear that the older cars would inevitably be trailing the 29s, Colin Chapman (and designer Len Terry) agreed to re-angle the exhausts upwards. “The two-lap qualifications proved to be almost as exciting as the race itself,” wrote Hearst. “Knowing voices said that AJ Foyt’s one-lap record of 106.635 mph could not be beaten, for conditions weren’t ‘right’. The day was cold and brisk, and the long grass in the infield was beaten flat by a gusty wind. The wind. That would be the problem.“Dan Gurney’ (whose engine now had the 48mm longitudinal Weber carburettors) “took his turn. Dressed in plain overalls, with black helmet and leather face mask. The little blue-and-white car sang its way around once, and then again. Dan made it all look so easy as he averaged 109.024 mph. AJ Foyt, 28 years old and twice USAC Champion, could manage no more than a shrug as his record fell. “Minutes later, Jim Clark took his turn with a flourish, provided by promoter Sam Nunis. A local bagpipe band huffed and wheezed at ‘Scotland, the Brave’ as Clark, in his green-and-yellow car, was pushed out before the cheering fans on the grandstand straight. “The crowd became silent. The only sounds were the skirling pipes and the wind. Then came the hum of the starter motor, followed by the high-pitched wail of the unmuffled, pushrod Ford V8. The young Scot was given a shove to engage first, and he was away.“The air held one sound: a note that worked itself higher and higher up the scale. The car seemed to float around the track others had made appear so bumpy. Green flag, white flag and then the checker. It was over, and everyone knew – but by how much?

“Clark had just lowered Gurney’s newly-set record by 0.332 mph when he turned the mile over in 33.02 seconds, and was over 3 mph faster than Foyt’s old record.

“A weak smile was all that was offered in return as one roadster owner turned to his driver and cracked, ‘How do you spell ‘For Sale’?’ - peterwindsor.com

Photo credit; Michael A. Scarpati