Scottish Borders museum unveils two stunning Lotus cars driven by ex-Formula 1 world champion Jim Clark

Were he alive and competing today there is little doubt that Borderer Jim Clark would find himself featured alongside his latest successor Lando Norris, and star drivers Max Verstappen, Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton.

That is certainly the view of Andrew Tulloch, assistant curator of the Jim Clark Motorsport Museum in Duns, which re-opened on March 1 with two surprise Clark cars making their first appearance since his death in 1968.

“Jim wasn't noted for having an excessive or playboy sort of lifestyle,” he said, “although his great friend Sir Jackie Stewart will tell you that he had an eye for the girls and the girls found him very attractive, particularly when he was living in London.

“When he was older he lived in Paris, and enjoyed a much more sophisticated lifestyle, going out to nice restaurants and clubs and things, and by all accounts had a really good time. So, I suppose, had Netflix been around then he would have been the centre of attention for them.”

There is something a little strange about the way that Clark - who would be 90 if still alive - remains little known to many in his own country.

As well as winning the F1 Championships in 1963 and 1965 with Team Lotus, he won the prestigious Indianapolis 500 in the USA, the British F2 series and the Tasman touring car series.

The incredible museum in Duns tells his story with stunning racing cars, more than 100 gleaming trophies from around the world, Clark’s original racing gear and amazing film footage.

The Netflix ‘Drive to Survive’ show has been credited with reducing the average TV viewing age from 44 to 32, and Shona Sinclair, Curator with Live Borders Museums, Galleries and Archives, hopes that could help a new Borders generation discover their own F1 star.

“We have some great museums and galleries in the Borders,” she said, “but the ‘Jim Clark’ is our newest, shiniest museum with all the bells and whistles in terms of interactivity, the live footage, the F1 racing simulator, which the kids – and many adults! - love, and incredible artefacts from his racing gear to trophies and gold and silver helmets.

“Jim Clark is a local hero and an international hero, and the people associated with the Jim Clark Trust, his family in the main of course, who have protected his legacy, and all the friends and staff here who have built this up are to be commended on the work they have put into this.

“And it would be great to think that the Netflix documentary can help us turn a new generation onto the incredible sportsman that Jim was, and inspire them.”

Polls of F1 drivers and experts often rank the Borderer as the greatest racing driver of all time. Indeed, the late Ayrton Senna once visited the Borders to learn more about Clark and pay his respects, while Scots legends Sir Jackie Stewart, David Clouthard and Dario Franchitti are patrons of the Jim Clark Trust.

He tragically died when he took time out of the 1968 F1 Championship, which he was leading, to take part in an F2 race in Hockenheim, Germany, for sponsors Firestone, and spun off the track and into trees in his Lotus 48, suffering a broken neck.

The Jim Clark Memorial Room was opened in Duns in 1969 and 50 years later it grew into the modern-day Jim Clark Motorsport Museum, an impressive 'Tardis' that looks small on the outside but houses an incredible collection inside.

And new visitors will have the first exclusive access to two stunning cars that no-one outside Team Lotus and the owner have seen since Clark raced.

The 1965 Type 35 Formula 2 with a Cosworth engine was designed as the new car for 1965 and it proved far superior to what had gone before. Clark was its most successful driver, winning five events and taking two thirds and a sixth place, to win both The Autocar Championship (British F2 championship) and the Grands Prix de France series (European F2 championship).

Only 22 Type 35s were built and this one, raced exclusively by Clark, would remain the single most successful chassis in its era. It was kept untouched in secure storage since being purchased direct from Ron Harris Team Lotus in 1970, but its owner now believes it should be more widely appreciated and it has been brought north to go on display to the public for the first time - preserved as it came off the track in 1966, as probably the most original unrestored Jim Clark car in existence.

But it was the 1965 Lotus Type 33, chassis R11, which is also in Duns, which Clark steered to the 1965 World F1 Championship. It has been restored by Team Lotus to its original status.