Border Reivers was a motor racing team from Chirnside,

Berwickshire Berwickshire ( gd, Siorrachd Bhearaig) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area in south-eastern Scotland, on the English border. Berwickshire County Council existed from 1890 until 1975, when the area became part of th ...

in the

Scottish Borders The Scottish Borders ( sco, the Mairches, 'the Marches'; gd, Crìochan na h-Alba) is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the City of Edinburgh, Dumfries and Galloway, East Lothian, Midlothian, South Lanarkshire, West Lothi ...

. The team was named after the raiders along the Anglo-Scottish border. Its most successful achievement was third place at the 1960 24 Hours of Le Mans. It is most notable for its involvement in the early racing career of

Jim Clark James Clark Jr. OBE (4 March 1936 – 7 April 1968) was a British Formula One racing driver from Scotland, who won two World Championships, in 1963 and 1965. A versatile driver, he competed in sports cars, touring cars and in the Indianapol ...

, who was one of the drivers in the 1960 Le Mans entry.

History

Jock McBain owned an engineering business and a car dealership in Chirnside,

. He was a keen amateur racing driver and was instrumental in developing local airfields Winfield and Charterhall as motor-racing circuits. He encouraged friends to take up motor racing, primarily in Cooper 500s, and between them they formed Border Reivers. However, unlike rivals

Ecurie Ecosse Ecurie Ecosse (French: "Scotland Stable") was a motor racing team from Edinburgh, Scotland. The team was founded in November 1951 by Edinburgh businessman and racing driver David Murray and mechanic Wilkie Wilkinson. Its most notable achieveme ...

funding was in short supply and McBain closed down the team in 1956. In late 1957, McBain was comprehensively beaten at Charterhall by

and suggested to Clark's mentor Ian Scott-Watson that he manage a revived Border Reivers with Clark as driver. A

Jaguar D-Type The Jaguar D-Type is a sports racing car that was produced by Jaguar Cars Ltd. between 1954 and 1957. Designed specifically to win the Le Mans 24-hour race, it shared the straight-6 XK engine and many mechanical components with its C-Type ...

was purchased and Clark immediately began winning sports-car races the length and breadth of the UK. A trip to Brands Hatch to evaluate a possible purchase of a

Formula 2 Formula Two (F2 or Formula 2) is a type of open-wheel formula racing category first codified in 1948. It was replaced in 1985 by Formula 3000, but revived by the FIA from 2009–2012 in the form of the FIA Formula Two Championship. The name return ...

Lotus led instead to the purchase of a

Lotus Elite The Lotus Elite name has been used for two production vehicles and one concept vehicle developed and manufactured by British automobile manufacturer Lotus Cars. The first generation Elite Type 14 was produced from 1957 until 1963 and the second ...

. This car was entered in the 1959 24 Hours of Le Mans to be driven by Clark and Sir John Whitmore. They finished tenth overall and second in class. An ex-works

Aston Martin DBR1 The Aston Martin DBR1 was a sports racing car built by Aston Martin starting in 1956, intended for the World Sportscar Championship as well as non-championship sportscar races at the time. It is most famous as the victor of the 1959 24 Hours o ...

was then purchased and this car finished third at the following year's

Le Mans Le Mans (, ) is a city in northwestern France on the Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le Man ...

, driven by Clark and

Roy Salvadori Roy Francesco Salvadori (12 May 1922 – 3 June 2012) was a British racing driver and team manager. He was born in Dovercourt, Essex, to parents of Italian descent. He graduated to Formula One by 1952 and competed regularly until 1962 for a s ...

. In

1961 Events January * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba ( Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015). ** Aero Flight 311 ...

, with Clark now partnered by Ron Flockhart, the Aston failed to finish. Border Reivers never entered a World Championship F1 race but did compete in several non-championship events, their best result being third place in the

1954 Events January * January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from West Germany. * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The fir ...

and 1955 Curtis Trophy with Jimmy Somervail's Cooper T20-

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

. In 1961 Jim Clark moved on to greater things and with the death of Jock McBain in that same year the team was wound up, but not before Flockhart had some success in Australia and New Zealand running a

Cooper T51 The Cooper T51 was a Formula One and Formula Two racing car designed by Owen Maddock and built by the Cooper Car Company for the 1959 Formula One season. The T51 earned a significant place in motor racing history when Jack Brabham drove the car ...

Climax Climax may refer to: Language arts * Climax (narrative), the point of highest tension in a narrative work * Climax (rhetoric), a figure of speech that lists items in order of importance Biology * Climax community, a biological community th ...

under the Reivers' banner. The Border Reivers name has been revived on several occasions since, most recently running cars in

Formula Ford 1600 Formula Ford 1600 is a number of championships which cater to 1600cc, Ford Kent powered Formula Ford racing cars. These are cars that were disbanded when the UK national Formula Ford category adopted the 1800cc Zetec engine in 1993. However, it ...

and sports-car racing.

24 Hours of Le Mans

Bibliography

* Gauld, Graham: ''Scottish Motor Racing and Drivers: One Hundred Years of Scotland's Involvement with Motor Racing'' (Havelock Publishing, 2004, )

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Border Reivers British auto racing teams 1951 establishments in Scotland Auto racing teams established in 1951 24 Hours of Le Mans teams