The Border Reivers was a motor racing team set up by Scotsman Jock McBain and his farmer friends in Chirnside, Berwickshire, in the early 1950's. The Reivers existed at least a year before the more famous Ecurie Ecosse, also from Scotland!
In 1951, Border racing drivers, Jock McBain and David Swan joined forces, and soon attracted other motor racing enthusiast farmers, so the Border Reivers Team could sport four to five cars at racing events. They were called the "Reivers" in memory of the "Borderers" who used to cross the border from Scotland to England with the expressed desire to steal sheep and cattle!
Enter The Era of Jim Clark, 1957
Ian Scott Watson, a Border racing driver, introduced his farmer friend Jim Clark to the team, and it became immediately clear that Clark had superior talents. This got Jock McBain and Ian Scott Watson thinking, and it was decided to buy a car that would be shared among their new found driving talents. The car they bought was a Jaguar D-type... A test day was held at Charterhall, where now team members Scott Watson, Jimmy Somervail, and young Jim Clark could try out the car. Clark was very quick, and a decision was made for him and Somervail to race the car in 1958. Right after that famous test, Jimmy Somervail, offered that Jim Clark should be the main team driver, and that he would only drive the D-type when the need arose. The rest of the story is now history, as Clark became the sensation of the 1958 season in British Club Racing.
A Very Surprised Jim Clark, 1958
On a Sunday morning, wrapped up in a heavy jacket and a warm scarf, Jim Clark decided to get up early and drive his Jaguar D-type up the A1 Motorway to Chirnside. On that journey back, thinking he must be the only person in the world driving a D-type on public roads, he was suddenly in for a big surprise!... On a dual-carriage way section of the road, he could not believe his eyes when he saw another Jaguar D-type coming down the opposite lane towards him! Both drivers braked hard, and had a chat! The other D-type was owned by Robert Ropner, who was a great friend of Bill Lyons of Jaguar, and who already owned a C-type, but now happened to be "exercising" his road registered D-type!
