IN GLEN WADDINGTON’S excellent article on the René Bonnet Djet, Octane 250, he mentions that Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was given a Djet when he visited the Renault plant near Paris in 1965.
Apparently Gagarin was well aware of what was happening in motor racing, too. Eric Dymock, in his excellent book Jim Clark: Racing Legend, tells the funny story of how, in June 1965, a small Team Lotus party consisting of Jim Clark, Colin Chapman, Mike Spence and Sally Stokes were on their way to the French Grand Prix when they accidentally met Gagarin in the little airport at Clermont-Ferrand – and the Russian turned out to be a keen follower of Jim Clark’s exploits and knew that Clark had just won the Indy 500.
They were enjoying the Champagne, when the astronaut realised he had just met Jim Clark. He leapt from his chair, came
