#108 1962 German Grand Prix

The German Grand Prix, which will take place on the Nürburgring circuit, coincides with a technical event of great interest, which directly impacts the possibility of Ferrari's recovery against the unstoppable superiority shown by the English Formula One cars so far, which won all the Grand Prix held in the first half of the season; that is Zandvoort (B.R.M.), Monaco (Cooper), Francorchamps and Aintree (Lotus), with the only exception of Porsche in Rouen. But in Germany there should be at least one new Ferrari, which has been considerably modified in its chassis, bodywork (thinner and more penetrating) and engine. The engine is still the six-cylinder V, but with four valves per cylinder and no less than twelve carburettors (or rather, six double-bodies), capable of reaching 200 horsepower. With this car, the manufacturer from Modena is perhaps playing its last card of the year (something new is in the pipeline for 1963) to try and regain the supremacy that slipped from its grasp. And the seriousness of Ferrari's intentions was confirmed by the presence at Nürburgring of the complete official team, Phil Hill, Baghetti, Bandini and Ricardo Rodríguez, except for Mairesse’s absence, still healing from the injuries he had suffered a month and a half earlier in the dreadful accident at the Belgian Grand Prix. However, beating the British cars seems to be very difficult, considering the characteristics of the Nürburgring circuit, where agility and handling are determining factors for success. And these are precisely the most striking characteristics of the Lotus, B.R.M and Cooper. Finally, there is the variable of the Porsche, that are racing in front of their fans, and on a track that has greatly contributed to the development of the new 8-cylinder cars from Stuttgart. With these premises, the German Grand Prix is of exceptional technical interest, which seems to overtake the battle for the title of World Champion, which has in Jim Clark - the great revelation of this year - in Graham Hill, Phil Hill, Surtees and McLaren the men with the best chance of succeeding. However, this is naturally linked to the efficiency of their cars, and this is especially true for the title holder Phil Hill, to whom Ferrari should assign their new car. The race will take place on Sunday 5^th August 1962 on fifteen laps of the circuit (of 22.810 metres), for a total of 342.150 kilometres. The sixth race of the 1962 World Championship is held at the Nürburgring, considered by many drivers to be one of the most prestigious tracks. The track is difficult and full of corners and few drivers really know it, but winning at the Nürburgring is a big dream for all the drivers. 

Another factor that makes the German Grand Prix uncertain is the unpredictable weather, so much so that it often rains only on part of the track. This year, the attention and expectations for this Grand Prix are greater than in the past years, as three new cars will be lined up on the grid: Ferrari, back on track after skipping two Grands Prix because of the Italian workers' strikes, will present a lower and lighter car; Brabham will finally be able to race with Jan’s car and, finally, for the first time the Gibly-B.R.M., designed by Len Terry and produced by Gibly Engineering, will compete. This year the German Grand Prix gathered a large entry including all factory teams and almost all private-owners, except for UDT-Laystall. It seems that the AvD doesn’t want to know about Mr Ken Gregory and his green cars, but would like his drivers: Ireland and Masten Gregory. The Grand Prix scene is certainly still full of interest, because three newly designed Grand Prix cars are present at this event: the Ferrari, lighter and lower, the Brabham, designed by Ron Tauranac and Jack Brabham, the new Gilby-BRM, designed by Len Terry and built by Gilby Engineering. Scuderia Ferrari turned up in full force, having partially recovered from strikes, journalists and storytellers, or perhaps because Enzo Ferrari liked the Nürburgring and could talk business with the Germans. The leader, Phil Hill, has the car he used in Aintree, with the 6-speed gearbox in front of the rear axle and the clutch in the back. Baghetti, on the other hand, has a very normal car with a 120 degree engine, like the one used in previous races this year, while Rodríguez drives an even older model with a 65 degree V6 engine, which is a 1961 car. When he learned that he would have to drive this older model, he wasn’t very happy, which may explain his subsequent brilliant performances that completely ruined any technical statistic. The fourth driver was Bandini and he was entrusted with a brand new car. Next up there are the two Lotus, Clark with the Lotus 25 and Taylor with the Lotus 24. Gurney and Bonnier were driving Porsches, Gurney having the newest one despite also having a spare car. Cooper, consisting of McLaren and Maggs, have the two Cooper Climax V8 and CT Atkins' 4-cylinder car as a spare. B.R.M. for their drivers, Graham Hill and Ginther, have the three cars that have been used in Aintree, of which the spare was only used for practice.

Apparently, he is not the only one that has problems, because Lewis also broke a half-shaft on his first lap and was stuck in an isolated area of the circuit. Shelly doesn’t go on track because his car has broken the ignition magneto and, without Lucas' help, the Bosch racing service is fitting a coil ignition system on his car. Seidel has not been practicing, since he broke the gearbox of his Lotus-B.R.M. in the morning, but Ecurie Filipinetti bring out all three cars, with Heini Walter running a Grand Prix race for the first time. The two factory Porsche seem to be strong, which should come as no surprise given the long testing period at the Nürburgring.  Surtees meanwhile runs with the Lola. It seems almost impossible for Clark to do a complete lap, and when he stands still for half a lap, he thinks there’s something wrong with the steering so he retires, although briefly, and as everything is ok he can resume racing after a few kilometers. Despite this, his lap time was 8'51"2 but this wasn’t enough, Gurney really felt in tune with his car and lapped in 8'47"2. Meanwhile Graham Hill has warmed his B.R.M. well and laps in 8’50"2. Surtees drops to 8'57"5. These are the times that were expected thanks to the progress in engines and chassis, compared to last year. McLaren is almost under Bogey's time in the Cooper V8, having set  a time of 9'00"7, so it is only a matter of time before he joins the  group of drivers. At the climax of the activity, a completely unnecessary incident occurred. Porsche, in fact, allowed a German television company to fix a large camera on the back of de Beaufort's car to carry out 'speed filming' on the circuit. They had already done this last year with Moss's Lotus and the results were so bad that the permission to do this during practice wasn’t justified. Graham Hill is on the track with the B.R.M. and he is not far behind de Beaufort, while behind the B.R.M. there are also McLaren and Maggs with Cooper, but they are out of sight. On the steep descent towards Fuchsrohre, the camera mounting breaks and the big camera falls off the back of de Beaufort's Porsche, who doesn’t notice it immediately. Shortly afterwards Graham Hill comes down the hill at 140 mph and finds this large object lying on the road. Unfortunately, he can’t avoid it and, as the B.R.M. goes over it, the oil radiator and pipes break, spilling oil on the track and on the car's rear tyres. Inevitably, Hill finds himself spinning into the bushes and trees. 

Miraculously, the car remains intact although the right rear wheel and suspension blow off stopping the car, with Graham shaken and bruised. While all this is going on, McLaren is at the top of the hill, but seeing the dust and general disorder in the forest he slows down, crosses the spot of oil and stops as he sees the B.R.M. in the bushes. At this point, Graham Hill comes down signalling that he is ok, letting McLaren start again, without realizing what caused the accident. Before the marshals or flagmen appear, Maggs approaches the top of the hill; at this point all the dust has settled and everything seems to be normal, so he dives down the hill, unaware of what had happened. At full speed he then hits the spot of oil and a moment later he finds himself spinning wildly, bouncing off hedges and trees but luckily ending up against the security fence and some thick bushes. Just like Hill, he is shaken but unharmed, while the Cooper is bent, although nothing is broken. To get some shoddy footage, the lives of two drivers were endangered and two cars demolished, but the almighty TV racket seems to get away with it. When everyone went back to the pits and the different stories were pieced together, there was a real shamble and practice ended rather abruptly. On Saturday, the practice session starts 15 minutes late and it begins to rain, disrupting completely an interesting plan created by Colin Chapman and Jim Clark. Usually, practice starts with all the drivers lined up in the pits and ready to go; then it's off in a group to the South Bend, back through the gate and off for a timed lap, so that the first few laps are quite crowded until the field spreads out. While everyone does the “starting” lap, Jim Clark does a full lap, which means that his first lap isn’t going to be timed by the official timekeepers, but by Chapman from the pits. In this way, the entire circuit was completely clear and Clark can do a proper lap, knowing that he wouldn't have to overtake anyone and that he wouldn't find spots of oil anywhere. Unfortunately, however, the organization stops the practice session and when Clark starts it already began to rain.  Nevertheless, he carries out his plan and laps in 9 minutes 13 seconds according to Lotus times on the wet track. They were more than satisfied with this result because it means that Clark and the Lotus 25 can work well on the wet track, but it’s a pity that practice did not start at 11:30 a.m., as planned, because then Clark could have lapped on a dry track. Everyone else goes on track, but with the light drizzle there is no hope of going fast and, as a session to define the starting grid on Saturday morning, it’s a complete waste of time.

Each driver has to complete five laps to qualify. Taylor's car has been fitted with a spare engine, while Brabham's has one built overnight from the remains of the engines he and Taylor destroyed. Taylor completes his laps not in the best of ways as the engine is running badly, as it hasn’t been checked since he won at Aintree. Instead, Brabham finishes his five laps very cautiously as the engine has been sealed with Mr Holt's Wondarweld. He does five slow laps and then starts for the sixth a little faster, only to run out of gas halfway through the lap. Phil Hill makes a slightly faster time in the wet than the previous day in the dry, but all Ferrari seem to be hopelessly out of shape as Rodríguez sets the fastest lap the previous afternoon in 9'14"2, which is very fast considering the car and the general set-up, but not as fast as de Beaufort, who has set a splendid 9’12"9. Maggs uses the spare Cooper with a four-cylinder engine, so his time in the wet is what counts for the starting grid. B.R.M., on the other hand, go back to two cars, as it seems impossible to maintain three cars. On the other hand, there is some movement among the private owners: Walter tries the Lotus-B.R.M., Lewis completes his five laps safely, while Seidel tries to hold his gearbox together with just glue without success. Keith Greene is quite satisfied with his Gilby-B.R.M. for the first time in a race, although there are still some things that need to be fixed. The sun comes out at the end of practice drying the track, so after lunch Hermann Lang does a lap in a 1939 Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix with a 3-litre engine with two-stage supercharging, running on a mixture of nitro and benzene. At the end of the lap, it speeds passing the grandstands and the pits amazing everyone. Of course, such a car has nothing in terms of brakes, tyres or roadholding compared to modern Grand Prix cars, but it certainly has a good engine and that V12 in a Colin Chapman-designed chassis would have made a great racing car. Although testing is over, the work hasn’t stopped as the mechanics and team leaders prepare for the race, while the drivers attend a meeting of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association to discuss their problems and the cameras. Brabham remove the old engine to fit a new one that is due to arrive on Saturday evening, while Ferrari look at their new lightweight car and realise that not everything is perfect, there’s still a lot that needs to be done. The rain falls intensely again during the night and doesn’t seem to stop even as the sun rises. 

Sunday's activities start at noon with a 6-lap GT race, when a large crowd arrives, despite the weather, because with Gurney and the Porsche in pole position on the grid there’s every chance of a German victory. The race is supposed to start at 2 p.m., on a distance of 342 kilometers or 15 laps, but as the cars go out of the pits, it rains heavily on the circuit preventing the cars from starting. The start has to be officially delayed, close to 3:00 p.m. before there’s any hope of a start. Most cars drive around the 'starting circuit' to become familiar with the situation, and then they are allowed to do a complete lap of the circuit to see the conditions, as many parts of the circuit were flooded and banks of earth ended up on the road. Although the track crew tried to clean up, the track is still terribly slippery, so the sighting lap is a wise precaution. Back in the pits, the tanks are filled again, although some marshals try to prevent this for some strange reason, and eventually a wet starting grid is formed. Chamberlain, Shelly and Seidel are excluded because they haven’t done enough practice and, for a while, Trevor Taylor is excluded as well, as the timekeepers have recorded him for only four laps, but Chapman convinces them that he has done five laps, so he is allowed to start, but from the back of the grid. Meanwhile, Brabham complete the installation of the new Climax V8 engine and Surtees chooses to drive the old Lola-Climax V8, while Ferrari keep the same cars used in practice. The following day, the session starts fifteen minutes later due to heavy rain. In such situations, the rules require the cars to line up outside the pits, ready for the start, and then drive the first lap as a group to dry out the main track and leave a little grip on the tarmac. As the drivers race around the starting circuit, Jim Clark heads out onto the actual track to set a qualifying time. However, the timekeepers don't keep track of the lap time, as the rest of the drivers aren’t on the track; Chapman does, however, timing the entire lap from the pit lane. Lotus’ idea is to set a time unattainable for their rivals, as there’s no traffic to slow Clark down or debris that could damage the car, but during the lap the organization delays the start of practice by fifteen minutes due to heavy rain. Despite this, Clark follows the plan created with Chapman and finishes the tricky lap in 9'13"0. 

The session starts at 11:45 a.m., but it turns out to be a waste of time, as the rain prevents them from setting good times and just a few drivers dry to improve their performance; therefore, it’s Gurney who starts from the first position, followed by Graham Hill, Clark and Surtees. At the end of the practice, the rain stops falling and the track dries quickly, just in time for Hermann Lang to do a lap in a Mercedes-Benz dated 1939, leaving the audience amazed. Porsche's excellent performance brings 360.000 German spectators to the Nürburgring, hoping to see the team from Stuttgart succeed on their home track. The departure of the Grand Prix is scheduled for 2:00 p.m., but just as the cars are arranged on the starting grid, it starts to rain heavily and the race is postponed for an hour. At 3:15 p.m. the situation seems to have improved, and the race can start. The drivers try to keep themselves and their equipment dry for as long as possible and Clark is so busy trying to prevent his glasses from fogging up that he forgets to turn on the carburetor and start the engine, and just as the start flag is waved, he’s his box, waiting for the carburetors to start working. In the meantime, Gurney ably defends his first position over Graham Hill, with Surtees in third and Phil Hill in fourth. Clark isn’t the only one to experience a difficult moment as Taylor, in fact, finds himself in a difficult situation too, with his engine not running properly and often not on all eight cylinders, until halfway through the lap, when suddenly the engine gains full power again and catches the driver by surprise, so much so that he loses control of the single-seater, which crashes into a tree. The general conditions of the track, after only one lap, are very bad, with the track partially wet and heavy banks of fog disturbing some turns and making the race very dangerous. Due to the adverse weather the drivers are forced to pay maximum attention while driving, and slows their lap times. At 3:15 p.m. the German Grand Prix starts. The rain continues to fall and the drivers try to keep themselves and their equipment dry for as long as possible. Clark is so busy trying to keep his glasses from fogging up that he forgets to turn on the fuel pumps after starting the engine, and just as the flag drops his engine shuts down with the carburetors running dry, leaving him waiting for the floatation chambers to fill up again, while everyone else quickly starts. 

Starting last, Gurney precedes Graham Hill and Surtees on the back straight, although Phil Hill is well placed, having made a splendid start from the fourth row, overtake many on the outside as they pulled away. The entire field of 26 starters crosses the circuit, with Gurney and the Porsche always in the lead, which must have gladdened the hearts of the 360.000 spectators who have come to watch the race. Meanwhile, Taylor continues to have problems, his engine not running well at all and often unable to use of all eight cylinders, and it was only a little more than halfway through the first lap with the engine sputtering, when it suddenly switches off, ending up off the road and in the bushes, bending the front end against a tree. However, he isn’t the only one in trouble, because a little further on Trintignant breaks the gear selector, which had been fitted that morning on a brand-new fork due to the wear of the old ones. It’s an exact repetition of Ireland's problem at the start at Aintree. An idea of the conditions on this first lap can be given by the leader's time of 10’42”9. Gurney is closely followed by Graham Hill (B.R.M.), Phil Hill (Ferrari), Surtees (Lola), Bonnier (Porsche), McLaren (Cooper) and Rodríguez (Ferrari). Ginther (B.R.M.) sets the pace with Brabham (Brabham) ahead of all the racers, except Taylor and Trintignant, while Collomb is at the end of the grid. Throughout the second lap Graham Hill chases Gurney, but can’t get past, the road being so slippery and unpredictable so much so that it’s a problem to attempt any pushing tactics. After missing the start, Clark passes 17 cars on the first lap which he finishes behind Brabham, passing him and closing in on Ginther on the second lap. Gurney and Graham Hill stand side by side as they come relatively slowly to the finish line from the uphill trns of the Tiergarten.  Hill's time is 10'21"8, which gives an idea of how difficult the conditions are. The two cars come down the South Bend very close together and, when they arrive behind the pits, the B.R.M. is in the lead, to the delight of the British but not the Germans, who are very quiet at the moment. Behind them the situation has changed considerably, because Surtees now has the Lola behind him, while there is a small gap before McLaren arrives with Bonnier, Phil Hill and Rodríguez by his side. Trintignant arrives to the pits and Walker’s mechanics remove the broken selector that jammed the gearbox in 3rd gear; the unhappy Frenchman goes on track again to try to complete the minimum number of laps to qualify for the start.

After overtaking Gurney, it looks like Graham Hill might get away, but Gurney is thinking otherwise along with Surtees who’s right behind them. Graham Hill is tormented by his fire extinguisher, which has fallen off the clip and is rolling around on the cockpit floor, hitting his heel every time he brakes, but there is no time to duck and put it back. By lap three, the three leaders have pulled away from the others and McLaren, in fourth position, left the others too so that Bonnier is engaged in a duel with Phil Hill and RodrIguez, while Clark is closing in on them, having quickly overtaken Ginther. After the bad start, the Lotus 25 is in eighth place and has a fantastic pace, considering the very wet track. While it rains constantly on the plateau of the start area, in other parts of the circuit it stops raining or rains even harder. It’s these erratic conditions that make the track so difficult, especially in the wooded parts. At the end of lap four, the pits become surprisingly crowded after the leaders passed, with Graham Hill, Gurney and Suttees still in a tight group. McLaren is now alone, but Clark was between the two Ferrari of Rodríguez and Phil Hill, and passing between them he pulled away from Bonnier, who had fallen behind. Bandini, with the new Ferrari, doesn’t go well at all and finds himself in the middle of the group, pursued by Maggs and Baghetti; on the fourth lap he goes off track at the Karussel bending the nose and damaging the radiator so much so that, while restarting, he manages to reach the pits, where he retires. Salvadori also pits, from 21^st position, to retire with a gearbox issue, just as Schiller retires in the Swiss-owned Lotus-B.R.M. due to a drop in oil pressure; after a while Trintignant completes his fourth lap and gives up. Graham Hill completes his third lap in 10'12"2, marking the fastest lap of the race, although the leaders are still struggling, lapping 1 minute and 20 seconds slower than they would have done in the dry. On lap five, Gurney has a loose battery in his bracket and, as he lowers himself to put it back, he went wide in a corner, allowing Surtees to move into second place and, seeing Gurney slowing down, thought the Porsche had exploded. Clark is now well clear of the Ferrari and at the end of the lap Phil Hill stops to change his visor, dropping back behind Bonnier. Towards the end of the now reduced field, Burgess is battling with de Beaufort, but Brabham is leading the privates with Maggs first among those with 4-cylinders, driving very well to stay ahead of Baghetti, and at the same time closing in on Brabham. 

By the end of lap six everyone seems to have settled down, as Graham Hill is 3 seconds ahead of Surtees, who is 7 seconds ahead of Gurney, and 17 seconds go by before McLaren passes, with another 7 seconds between him and Clark, as the Lotus 25 continues to push furiously and gains on everyone, Graham Hill included. This apparent slowdown is only temporary, because over the course of the next lap the top three get back on track and find themselves neck and neck again, though Graham Hill didn’t want that, Surtees and Gurney don't give up and settle for second and third place. It's still raining while Graham Hill is having some difficulties concentrating since the other two drivers behind him are trying to pressure him. Clark is now close to take McLaren while further back Maggs has overtaken Brabham and is about to pass Phil Hill. With this wet track the drivers of the 4-cylinder cars, due to the lack of power, have a lot less issues than those with the 8-cylinder engines. The Gilby-B.R.M. V8 is going quite well too until a bracket on the chassis locating the gear-change rod between lever and box breaks. Greene pits and his mechanics temporarily repair his car but he doesn’t go far before the right front lower wishbone mounting breaks. Anyway, the car is still drivable, so he wisely stays out until the race is over. On lap 8 Clark overtakes McLaren, the Cooper driver thinks that if the Scotsman wants to drive that fast in the wet he has to let him go and just wish him good luck. Clark is still gaining about five seconds per lap on the leaders and, with seven laps still to go, he is surely going to reach them. Meanwhile Maggs passes Phil Hill so, at this time, the Ferrari has used up its rear shock-absorbers, so it is handling appallingly, after being perfect fo the first few laps. After nine laps the B.R.M. and the Lola are still close while the Porsche has the third place in sight; Clark is now only 14 seconds behind them and he is dangerously driving in the wet but manages to master the situation, he almost loses the car on lap eleven but nothing happens and he is lucky to continue the race. Until now it seems he drove in an inspired way but, after almost crashing, he has decided to settle in a well deserved fourth place. After challenging so hard his luck, the driver is aware that it is time to settle down and let the top three go even though he is near Jim Clark. Meanwhile Baghetti pits without Burgess on his tail, de Beaufort is close as the Cooper spins. After 10 laps Lewis gives up with ineffective front shock-absorbers.