In June 1956, Ian Scott-Watson took his DKW Sonderklasse to a meeting at Crimond in Aberdeenshire, with Jim as his mechanic. It was neither sports car or competitive saloon, but Scott-Watson thought the car was bound to win Scottish Rallies. As the runway at Crimond was an agreeable little circuit, he secretly entered Jim in the sports car race. jim was so much quicker, there didn’t seem much point in Scott-Watson racing again.
Despite this, Jim worried about his aptitude for racing and his parents reaction to an accident. Only later did he worry about drivers getting hurt.
Jim’s first D-type race, on the airfield circuit at Full Sutton, Yorkshire, was historic. He was the first sports car driver to lap a British circuit at over 100mph. Jim raced for the Borders Reivers team formed by Jock McBain who had a garage in Chirnside.
The Reivers lacked a trailer then and as Edington’s farm lorry was broken down, Jim drove the D-type 150 miles in three hours to the circuit. It was a frosty night, the car without a heater or hood “I wrapped myself up in sweaters and coats, set off through the slush of Berwick into a snow storm and drove to York that night. I went through Newcastle at 11.00pm making a whale of a din” – Jim did love showing off in a car!