Exhibition honours Borders rally driver

Published 15 Mar 2010 15:42 0 Comments

AS well as being the greatest racing driver of the 1960s, Jim Clark had a strong interest in photography and became friendly with a number of photographers that followed the motor racing drivers during the season.

Amongst these was Nick Loudon, a chartered surveyor by profession, who in just over ten years developed a reputation as an outstanding photographer of motor racing and the people involved in it.

For the first time ever, Nick Loudon's motor sport photography is being put on public exhibition in the Jim Clark Room in Duns. Amongst motor sport enthusiasts, his work is well known. Doug Nye, the noted motor racing historian is a particular fan of Nick's work.

He said: "In the 1960s, absolutely the finest photographic prints submitted to any motor racing magazine for potential publication were always Nick Loudon's. Just one look as they came out of the envelope, and we'd cry, 'Hey - the Loudon stuff is here!' It was always a joy to behold."

Nick became disillusioned with the commercialism and less 'human' nature of motor racing that began to develop in the 1970s and gradually stopped attending motor racing.

He had been greatly affected by the deaths of Jim Clark in 1968 and by witnessing that of Gerry Birrell at Rouen in 1973. All the greats from the 'Golden Era' of the 1960s were now either dead or in retirement and for Nick there was no longer any desire to continue to photograph motor sport.

From photography he moved to working for the City Corporation of London from which he retired in 1996 and from thence to his real love of caring for big cats when he started to work at Paradise Wildlife Park, Broxbourne. The exhibition includes two photographs which depict this; one of Nick holding Tara, a snow leopard cub and the other of him hugging Turkhana, the adult male lion which he hand-reared from birth.

Councillor Graham Garvie, Executive Member for Culture, Sport and Community Education, said: "This is a unique opportunity, not to be missed, to see the work of a highly esteemed photographer from the 1960s."

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