Touching down in Bahrain at 5am on the Monday it was already hot. In more ways than one. Emerging from immigration and customs into the sultry warmth of the early morning I heard a shout. “Hey, Rob, have you seen the News of the World?” Looking up, I see David Tremayne of the Independent, this time clutching print-outs from the News International website. Before long, the paddock at Sakhir would be humming with reactions, opinions and suggestions of how these activities came to the notice of the best-selling newspaper in Britain. Not until the racing cars came out on Friday morning did the sound of speculation finally give way to spectating. Max Mosley himself, unsurprisingly, was nowhere to be seen.

Very much in view, however, was Ron Dennis, chairman of the McLaren Group. Immaculate as ever, despite the heat, Ron made a quite exceptional speech to the Bahrain Motorsport Business Forum last Wednesday, a copy of which I immediately sent to my editor. With permission from Matt Bishop, the new head of communications and public relations at McLaren, of course. The former editor of F1 Racing is doing a fine job by all accounts. Later in the day I spoke to Ron and that interview, along with a full report on the first forum to be held in the Middle East, will apppear in next month’s Motor Sport.

Common sense, and a little cowardice, prevents me from commenting any further on the problems facing Mosley. Everybody will have their opinion. I will be interested to see how the sport’s organising body deals with what is undoubtedly some kind of crisis.

Then, refreshingly, there were the old boys. A fine sprinkling of anciens pilotes, who had come to the Gulf to race in the Dubai-based Speedcar Series. The what, I hear you ask? To be brief, the cars are based on NASCAR but are less sophisticated. Big V8 engine, four-speed manual gearbox, and not much in the way of an ‘aero package’. For those who like a bit of detail, the cars weigh in at 1300 kilograms while the 6-litre V8 produces 620bhp at 7500rpm – so they’re heavy, and only quite powerful. More intriguingly, the Speedcar series was germinated, created and delivered to the circuits of the Middle East in just under a year. Impressive. But, yes, the drivers. In a tent in the paddock I find Jean Alesi, Johnny Herbert, Stefan Johansson, Jacques Villeneuve (above) and Heinz-Harald Frentzen, refugees all from the F1 paddock. And a nicer bunch of blokes you couldn’t expect to meet – well, JV didn’t want to talk much, but what’s new? I do like the man all the same. He’s bright, feisty and he still ambles around in absurdly baggy overalls.

“The racing is fun,” says Johnny, “and it’s good to be with your old mates. The cars are not easy to drive on the limit and the brakes are pretty non-existent. I mean you want to be thinking about braking all the way down the straight. And the prize money isn’t bad either.” German touring car veteran and Le Mans winner Uwe Alzen has done much of the winning, and Alesi has won twice. “Why should I stop racing?”, says Jean. “I still love it – the atmosphere, the friendships, the driving. The races are a good show, the fans love it, and I love my life now – my job is my passion, you know?” More racing drivers should be like Alesi, at least I reckon so.

As I have written in Matters of Moment this month, Jim Clark died before I was born, but that hasn’t lessened the power of his influence over me. He remains an inspiration to racing fans around the world, from his home town of Duns in Scottish border country to the pilgrims who head to the Indianapolis 500 every year.

To mark the 40th anniversary of his passing, Nigel Roebuck offers a personal tribute to the man who was “everyone’s hero”, as Brian Redman puts it. Also, American writer Robin Miller looks back at Clark’s incredible impact on the Indy 500, speaking to Dan Gurney, Mario Andretti, AJ Foyt and Parnelli Jones about how this quiet legend won over the tough Brickyard racers.

David Tremayne recounts that final, fateful day at Hockenheim, while Rob Widdows asks Lotus mechanic Jim Endruweit for the insider’s view of what Clark was like. It was a pleasure to put the pages together and we hope it is just as much a pleasure to read.

Back in the current world, we are enjoying the start of what looks set to be a fascinating Grand Prix season. The first race in Australia got a big thumbs up from everyone at the magazine, as you can read in the issue. The loss of driver aids has been a big gain for the sport.

And if you are a motorsportmagazine.co.uk regular, you will have spotted yet another addition to our coverage during the first couple of GPs. Our web maestro Ed Foster, who is one of Motor Sport’s three ‘bloggers’, has been writing frantically during GP weekends, from Friday through to Sunday, to offer his thoughts on the action. He’s also organised for practice times and race results to be added to these special blogs, so please do take the opportunity to read his words and add your own comments. We’d love to spark some conversations between fans on the site, with Ed’s GP coverage becoming a regular feature.

So enjoy our special Jim Clark issue – and keep logging on to motorsportmagazine.co.uk!

It’s 40 years since the Scottish double World Champion’s death rocked a generation

Clark in the USA

Dan Gurney and Mario Andretti recall how the Lotus star took Indianapolis by storm

The final race

Jim Clark didn’t want to be at Hockenheim on April 7 1968. David Tremayne explains why

A1GP’s growing gains

There are big plans for this expanding series, yet its boss insists it’s not a rival to F1

Lunch with… Jody Scheckter

His rapid rise to F1, world title success at Ferrari, and why he walked away

Aston Martin V12 Vantage RS

As a concept car it impresses; the even better news is it’s going into production

Grand Designs: Mazda 787B

The first rotary-engined car to win at Le Mans, and the first from a Japanese marque too

Nascar’s new breed

In a sport where established drivers struggle to win, how is the single-seater influx fairing?

German GP Alfa mystery solved

Did Nuvolari use a bigger engine to beat German might at the ’Ring? We reveal the truth

Team-mates: Warwick on Cheever

‘Del Boy’ shares his memories of partnering the highly strung American in sports cars and F1

Race Retro

Profile of this year’s running of Britain’s biggest historic show

Phillip Island historics meeting

Celebrating 80 years of racing on the south Australian isle

Jaguar XK120

This car’s lovely enough even to win over irate farmers…