Grand Prix, Grand Chelems and Grand Soirees

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Welcome to another edition of Dino Talks with me Dino, the furry and friendly face of Pablo Clark Racing!

Decades before Max Verstappen or Michael Schumacher, there was a man named Jim Clark. His motorsport legacy has cast a shadow far longer than the life he lived. As we head into a weekend of celebration with the Distinguished Gentleman’s Drive here in Johannesburg, it feels fitting to reflect on what made Clark one of Formula One’s greatest ever and, in doing so, to draw parallels with the highs and lows we’ve just witnessed in recent racing with Max Verstappen in Baku.

A little bit before my time, there was a man named Jim Clark, whose greatness was not just in his tally of wins and championships but instead in how he drove. Born in Scotland in 1936, Clark’s entry to Formula One came at a time when cars were brutal, safety minimal, and drivers needed nerves of steel. From the very beginning, he stood out. His calm demeanour was a hallmark trait in perpetual motorsport adversity.

In the sport, there is perfection. Corner in, apex, corner out, racing lines and the rest of it. Each driver, no matter the driving style, strives for the perfect lap. Most memorably in his Lotus 25 (and later models), Clark was lauded for extracting near-impossible performance from the machinery of his day. But beyond raw pace, he was one of the most adaptable the sport had seen up until that point. He managed domination on the European Grand Prix circuits, winning in muddy, unpredictable conditions, and even conquering America by winning the Indianapolis 500 in 1965.

His championship seasons (1963 and 1965) were marked not only by this dominance but also by consistency, foresight, and a sense of rhythm in racing that few have since matched. He wasn’t flashy for the sake of show. His triumphs instead came from converting opportunity, matching courage with mechanical sympathy, and often making the right call when everything else seemed to be falling apart around him. One of the metrics by which modern drivers are judged is the “Grand Slam” or “Grand Chelem”. Total domination on race day. Pole position, fastest lap, leading every lap, and winning the race. Jim Clark holds the record for the most Grand Slams in F1 history at eight, but that could soon change…

Fast forward to the Azerbaijan GP in 2025, and we saw a modern echo of that Clark brilliance. Max Verstappen was the one to deliver this statement and add fuel to the fire that burns the prophecy that he is the greatest of all time, or at least of the modern generation. Pole position, fastest lap, leading every lap, and taking the win. It was his sixth career Grand Chelem, tying him with Lewis Hamilton and leaving only Jim Clark ahead of him in the record books. The age old debate will never end, and the parallels are stark. Clark achieved his Grand Slams in an age when cars were fragile and danger omnipresent, while Verstappen demonstrates a similar completeness in an era of precision engineering and relentless data analysis.

Quite simply, they both love racing.

It is the general versatility, in light of stronger competition, that has these two a cut above the rest. Max Verstappen, now a father, can’t seem to sate that appetite for racing, nor let off the gas pedal. Weekends off from Formula 1 are filled with other motorsport challenges. To the horror of Marko, the Dutchman swaps his Red Bull RB21 for the Franz Hermann pseudonym and GT racing across the European theatre. The parallels continue with Clark, who in his time took to F2, saloon car racing with the Lotus Cortina and emerged victorious from the Indy of his time. The common thread here is that they can, and because quite simply, they both love racing.

For all the differences between the eras, both men embody that rare combination that will have Clark and Verstappen going down in the history books, not soon to be forgotten.

History aside, a look at the future means that Piastri’s opening lap scurry into the barriers has resulted in a Championship battle with his teammate, and to a lesser extent, Max, closing down by some margin, but we have a week of respite from the top flight of motorsport, and that means an open calendar for something else motoring-related.

The Distinguished Gentleman’s Drive, founded in 2021, and an unmissable event for my Pablo Clark Racing colleagues, will take place once again on the 28th of September. Period correct style and heritage to match the vintage and classic pieces of machinery that take part each year (no car younger than 40 years old), its central mission is to raise funds and awareness for men’s health, particularly prostate cancer and mental health, through the Movember Foundation.

Here in South Africa, the Johannesburg edition has taken on a life of its own. Streets lined with classic European sports cars, American muscle, and meticulously restored vintage icons all moving in unison create a spectacle, leaving bystanders in awe. Owners share stories, compare nuanced details of their rides and have the opportunity to rub shoulders with specialised insurance consultants, from the likes of iTOO. Not only reserved for the City of Gold, other nationwide drives will be taking place on the same date.

Find me, and some of the Pablo Clark Racing team at the start point for this year’s Johannesburg edition, at the Mall of Africa on Sunday. Can’t make it? Round 7 of the BMW Car Club Gauteng Championship, with our burgeoning young talents, will take place between the third and the fourth of October at Red Star Raceway.