Sir Jackie Stewart welcomes green light for Jim Clark Museum

Jim Clark celebrates winning the Indianapolis 500 in 1965. He remains the only man to win the Indy 500 and the Formula One world championship in the same season. Picture: Harry Benson/Express/Getty Images

Scottish Borders Council will receive almost £635,000 from the National Lottery to support the redevelopment of the existing Jim Clark Room in Duns. And the Jim Clark Trust confirmed it had reached its target of £300,000 from public donations.

The money will be used to redevelop the small exhibition space in Duns into a £1.6 million modern museum to celebrate the life and achievements of Clark, a double Formula One world champion.

Sir Jackie, honorary president of The Jim Clark Trust, said: “I am thrilled that the dream has come true that sufficient funding is going to permit a great Scottish hero to be honoured by what will be an excellent testimony to his success as one of the world’s greatest racing drivers of all time.

“I am so proud to have been a friend of Jim’s. I learned so much from him and I miss him dearly. This initiative will recognise one of Scotland’s greatest sporting heroes in the very grounds that he so much loved.”

The new museum will feature Clark’s trophy collection, two of his race cars, new image galleries, film footage and interactive displays.

Clark won the Formula One championship in 1963 and 1965 and also won the prestigious Indianapolis 500 in ’65. He remains the only driver to have won both the Formula One and Indy 500 titles in the same year. He died following a crash at Hockenheim in Germany at the age of 32 when his Lotus 48 veered off the track and crashed into the trees furing a Formula Two race.

Clark, born in Fife and raised on a Border farm, was much admired for his modesty and humility alongside his remarkable racing ability.

He is still considered one of the greatest ever racing drivers and remains to this day one of Scotland’s most admired sporting heroes.