What it’s like to race Jim Clark’s F1 title-winning car

Fennell was getting some pre-event miles under the wheels when we caught up with him at Revival testing. He has now owned the car for 18 years. “I was in the right place at the right time I suppose,” he said, recalling taking ownership of this piece of motorsport history. As a Clark fan, he was always going to be drawn the car.

“He is my hero,” Fennell continued. “He was a fantastic, versatile driver and he took the Lotus 25 to victory. It came out at the end of 1962 and Clark raced in South Africa in the East London Grand Prix. Unfortunately, the engine had a problem, and so Clark [did not finish], which allowed Graham Hill to win the 1962 World Championship. They had been nip and tuck the whole season.”

The following season, Clark drove this chassis to victory at Pau, Imola and Silverstone. Thereafter, it was handed to team-mate Trevor Taylor in 1963 and he practiced with it at Spa.

Fennell says the car remains very original, including having an original block and heads. The engine is a 1.5-litre Coventry Climax V8, which requires careful maintenance. “The engine is like a precision Swiss watch and it goes off the boil very easily, so it does need looking after. We try to get it out two or three times, and always in the Glover Trophy of the Revival, but this year we haven't raced it at all.”

Even after close to two decades, Fennell still gets a real thrill from owning the 25. “I still have the same feeling when I look at the car now as I did when I first bought it,” he confessed. “For me, it's the grandmother of all modern day racing cars. It’s the first monocoque racing car, it's got a rear engine. Lotus in that period was really innovative.”

He appreciates its beauty, too. “I have to be able to look at a car and like the lines, and I feel that the Lotus 25 is iconic in its line. It’s a beautiful art form as well as a purposeful machine.”

Fennell has also noticed Clark’s profile has been raised in recent years. “I really feel that [places] like the Jim Clark Trust are doing a lot of really good work, and Goodwood is doing a lot of really good work to increase understanding.”

Recalling his time at the 2025 Festival of Speed presented by Mastercard with the 25, Fennell shared his experience of the recognition the car received as part of the Ultimate Grid batch: “Some young lads were exclaiming, ‘Oh, that’s a Jim Clark car!’ I think five years ago there wouldn't have been that amount of interest, so I really feel the knowledge of the public is getting much higher.

“There's nothing better than everybody appreciating it and Goodwood provides a platform for that.”

Can we expect a repeat of that 2016 victory in this year’s Glover Trophy? Fennell was keen to play down expectations. “That was a long time ago now and the competition has intensified substantially. I'm not a professional so just participating is great for me.”

You can see Fennell and this historic Lotus 25 go up against fellow 1.5-litre Grand Prix cars from 1961-65 when the flag drops for the Glover Trophy at 15:55 on Sunday at the Revival. In this Jim Clark anniversary year, what could be better than steering his first F1 title-winning car around Goodwood?

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Photography by Joe Harding.