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#135 1965 French Grand Prix

2022-05-12 16:35

Osservatore Sportivo

#1965, Fulvio Conti, Translated by Livia Alegi, Translated by Alessia Andreoli,

#135 1965 French Grand Prix

Saturday, June 19, 1965, the spotlight is on the new edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which counts towards the Prototype and Grand Touring Champion

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On Saturday, June 19, 1965, the spotlight is on the new edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which counts for Prototype and Gran Turismo Championships. 53 cars and 106 drivers will take part in the race, taking it in turns at the wheel. This is edition number 33, and it will certainly show all the technical, human and spectacular aspects of motor racing. It is a psychological and physical endurance test for the drivers and an equally difficult test for the mechanics, everyone undergoing a day and night of non-stop work, at a speed of almost 200 km/h. The regulations of the 24 Hours of Le Mans are very thorough and tend to ensure not only the most complete regularity of results, but also that the winning car (and those finishing first in their respective classes) are really at the top in terms of technical value. The popularity of the race is mostly due to the Ferrari-Ford rivalry, but also to the fact that it is a great show for hundreds of thousands of people, all of them (more or less) interested in the racing events. This weekend is for a half about sport and for a half about entertainment. The sports part will be a fight between drivers racing at over 200 km/h and competing in a race that will seem endless. The winner of the race should be the most efficient and complete sports car of the year, and the result is almost never questionable. The definition of "sports car" has been replaced by Prototype Gran Turismo, but it is essentially the same. There is a great deal of organisation behind the event, resulting in good business: around 150.000 to 200.000 people come to the glamorous Le Mans each year, and the circuit venue becomes a loud fun park full of bars, restaurants, shops and bands. One may wonder how many of the people who attend will actually watch the race and how many will take the opportunity for a traditional, revitalising walk. It is the most vernacular side of the festival which brings the crowds to Le Mans, and it remains the same. It is hard to believe that all these people are exclusively motorsport enthusiasts; perhaps it is more accurate to say that many of them come to Le Mans for a traditional, yet a little uncomfortable, trip. The lucky ones manage to get a few hours' sleep in a caravan or a tent, but most people in Le Mans just stay on the lawns or, at best, on an uncomfortable chair of an outdoor café. But there is also entertainment of all kinds to spend the night and day without getting bored. 

 

Every year, in mid-June, an immense ephemeral fair is held around and within the circuit. Here one is spoilt for choice among the dozens of restaurants, drink stands, and shops, with so many loud sounds coming from there that they overpower the noise of the racing car engines. Ferrari has won the 24 Hours of Le Mans eight times, the last five in a row; it also holds the record for the overall distance. They are the tipped to win this year. Their twelve-cylinder, rear-engined model - which earlier this year won the Targa Florio, the 1000 kilometres of Monza and on the Nürburgring - is very powerful and has been created to endure long distances. For all these reasons Ferrari is quite confident. Ford is racing with two 7000-cc engines and 475hp cars. The American car manufacturer could be quite a fearsome contender, at least as far as pure speed and efficient mechanical balance are concerned. On the other hand, Ford does not have the technical and organisational experience of Ferrari, and there is uncertainty about how the Fords will cope with the large distance. These two factors favour the Maranello team, and a very close fight is to be expected. At least in the first part of the race during which, judging by the times set during practice, an incredible average speed of 200 km/h could be achieved in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, (unless it starts raining). The Americans are betting on the huge power delivered by the new Ford engines to try bothering Ferrari, although power is not everything in Le Mans: here the overall capacity of the vehicle counts just as much. Sometimes, however, there have been some tragic incidents. No one has forgotten, even ten years later, the tragedy that saw more than 100 people killed by Levegh's Mercedes. In the Prototype and Grand Turismo categories, in addition to the absolute and cylinder capacity rankings, which are based on the distance covered by each team, there are two more. The first is called the Index of Performance and is the ratio between covered distance and engine capacity; the second is the Index of Thermal Efficiency, in which fuel usage is also taken into account. These rankings are aimed at establishing a sort of balance between vehicles of different displacements, but it is clear that the real interest is in the overall ranking.

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The focus is on the duel between Ferrari and Ford, between the skill and experience of a small manufacturer and the power of the US automotive giant. The Italian cars, equipped with 12-cylinder engines, have always won so far, except for the 12 Hours of Sebring. Ford is continuing its programme of gradual reinforcement of racing activity. They are bringing to the race two cars equipped with the new 7-litre engines, 475 hp, about 70 hp more than Ferrari. The drivers of the Modenese manufacturer have a difficult task ahead. However, Ford’s lack of technical and organisational expertise benefits the Italian Scuderia. Ferrari is currently leading the Prototype championship. They will be racing with six cars, two of them registered respectively by the American NART team and the British Maranello LTD team. Both the new Maserati, 430-hp V8-engine, driven by Maglioli and Neerpasch, and the turbine-powered Rover-B.R.M., driven by Graham Hill and Jackie Stewart, which has been upgraded and now benefits from better fuel economy, should not be underestimated. B.R.M. has already participated in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1963 and achieved a promising result. The British car has been further improved, especially in fuel efficiency, thanks to a specific type of heat exchanger. Surtees-Scarfiotti and Parkes-Guichet are driving the 4-litre Ferrari, Rodriguez-Vaccarella will be driving the 4400 and Bandini-Biscaldi the 3300. Regarding Ford, Miles-McLaren and Phil Hill-Ginther will be driving the seven-litre; Muller-Bucknum and Bondurant-Amon will be driving the 5300. During practice, Phil Hill (Ford) sets the fastest time (3'33"0), at an average speed of around 283 km/h. Next come Surtees (Ferrari, 3'38"1), Bondurant (Ford 5300, 3'38"7), Bucknum (Ford 5800, 3'39"2) and Parkes (Ferrari, 3'41"7). The 24 Hours of Le Mans will start at 4 p.m. on Saturday, June 19, 1965.  51 cars are lined up on the right-hand side of the main straight, sorted in descending order of displacement. At the start of the race, McLaren, Amon and Bondurant (all of them driving Ford 7000s) are the fastest drivers, sprinting out of the start line and outdistancing all the other participants. The drivers are all lined up at the beginning, but toward the first corner a group of cars manages to create a significant gap, with Colin Davis (Porsche) bringing up the rear. In the first laps, the powerful American cars start setting a furious pace, gaining 4-5 seconds per lap over the Ferraris of Surtees, Guichet and Bandini. After just two laps, Baghetti's Ferrari Dino withdraws due to a broken mechanical valve, and Siffert's five-litre Maserati hits the hay bales in one of the turns, damaging the radiator. Half an hour into the race, Surtees already has over a minute's lead. 

 

In the meantime, British driver Bolton is involved in an accident, his Triumph catches fire; the driver fortunately manages to stop the car and come out unharmed. An hour into the race, McLaren is in the lead, followed by Amon and Surtees. Shortly after, McLaren and Amon are far behind and Surtees, the British Ferrari driver, takes the lead. The Fords had started well, but now have some engine troubles. They surprisingly manage to recover after a couple of laps, and try to catch up with the other drivers. There are now 300.000 fans who have come to Le Mans to watch the show. Amon's car remains in the box for more than half an hour; before the second hour of the race starts, McLaren manages to take the lead again, ahead of Surtees-Scarfiotti, Bonnier-Piper, Parkes-Guichet and Bandini-Biscaldi. Ford is also leading the Gran Turismo category, Grant and Gurney's Cobra are currently in P1 leading an excellent race. Among the lower-powered cars, Porsche, Alfa Romeo SZ, British Austin-Healey and Alpine achieved good results. The turbocharged Rover-B.R.M. driven by Graham Hill and Stewart, on the other hand, is rather disappointing in its performance. Zeccoli (Alfa Romeo) goes off the track at the Mulsanne turn; the driver is fortunately unhurt, but is forced to withdraw from the race. Also Bondurant (Ford) and McLaren-Miles (Ford), who all made a long pit stop, were forced to withdraw. Around midnight, approximately eight hours into the race, the pit stops become longer and fatigue is setting in, and also the average speed drops. The pair formed by Bandini-Biscardi takes the lead, followed by Parkes-Guichet, one lap behind. It is one o'clock in the morning and only 32 cars are still in the race, less than a third of those that started the race. At this stage of the race the Ford Cobras begin their progressive comeback and get closer to the Ferraris, taking advantage of their rivals' pit stops to fix their brakes. Dumay-Gosselin (Ferrari) are firmly in the lead since hour 10 of the race, after the fall of the Fords. The official Ferrari is expected to make a comeback, but it seems to be suffering repeated mechanical problems. 

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The Ferraris are currently in the first four positions and a great victory is expected for the Maranello team. Instead, during a pit-stop, the mechanics, led by engineer Mauro Forghieri, see that the brake pads are broken on Surtees and Scarfiotti's car and the newly designed discs are cracked. But Mauro Forghieri tells his drivers to carry on, using the gearbox and the engine braking to slow the car down: in the meantime, he'll come up with something. As he has no other spare parts available, Forghieri remembers that the solid brakes of the 275 GTB berlinetta road car could fit in the prototype car too. He assumes that some Ferrari owner might have this model among the cars parked in the circuit. Thus, a team of mechanics starts looking for 275 GTB cars. Once they have found them, the mechanics lift them off the ground and remove their discs, leaving a note under the windscreen wiper that reads:

 

"You will have your discs back at the end of the race. Scuderia Ferrari".

 

The borrowed discs are brought to the box and fitted to the 330 P2s as they stop for refuelling. The drivers can continue the race, but the braking power is reduced, so they still have to use gear shifting and engine braking. Later, despite the efforts, the mechanical stress will force the official Ferraris to withdraw. Bandini-Biscaldi's Ferrari withdraws at 7:00 a.m., an hour after Surtees-Scarfiotti's 4000, and Parkes-Guichet's car is also forced to withdraw with an hour to go due to a gearbox failure. Rodriguez-Vaccarella, driving a Scuderia NART Ferrari, have persistent clutch problems slowing them down. Although it seemed that during the night the Ford-Cobras could catch up with the Ferraris, which are currently leading, three out of four cars brake down. With three hours to go, Dumay-Gosselin give up to Gregory-Rindt, and the latter pair will maintain the lead until the end of the race. The final hours of the race are of little interest, the cars moving slowly forward, worn out by the long race. Regular cars achieved best results than racing car in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Ferrari triumphs for the sixth time in a row.  Gregory-Rindt have won after covering 4667 kilometres at an average speed of 194 km/h, followed by Dumay-Gosselin and Mairesse-Beurlys. The podium is composed exclusively of Ferrari prototype cars, emphasizing even more the defeat of the American manufacturer: only one of the eleven Ford cars crossed the finish line. Gosselin and Dumay could have won, but their left rear tire suffered from dechappasse, causing damage to the bodywork. This is fixed by stapling the tyre with a drift pin and steel wire. However, the race commissioners then force the driver to stop again to check the repair. The time he lost as a result of this allow the N.A.R.T. Ferrari to take the lead. This last, which had started P11, had some problems in the first few hours of the race. Some electrical system problem forced them to make a couple of pit stops, then the clutch gave signs of failure and Chinetti was forced to calm the vehemence of his drivers down. When Jochen Rindt, who was in P18, made another pit stop, Chinetti, convinced that withdrawal was imminent, told the Austrian driver to push the car over the limit at the risk of even breaking it. Surprisingly, and somewhat ironically, the #21 Ferrari won't suffer any more problems, and it will be fast enough to come back and eventually take first place. The Ferrari of the North America Racing Team, on the other hand, overnight is involved in something that, as mentioned, will remain secret for many years. Just before dawn, it gets foggy in Le Mans. Masten Gregory comes out of the box to take his driving shift, but realizes that he has great difficulty driving in the fog. The U.S. driver is wearing thick goggles so as he can see properly. The US driver is rather worried about the rain and the darkness, so he returns to the box to give up the car to Jochen Rindt. However, the Austrian driver is no longer in the box.

 

"Where is Jochen?"

 

Luigi Chinetti is wondering, but the Austrian is not there, perhaps he is out, perhaps eating, perhaps sleeping, perhaps simply going for a walk to relieve tension. This is quite an emergency, but Edward James Hugus, the backup driver, is in the box. Luigi Chinetti gives the go-ahead. Huges secretly puts on his helmet and gloves and enters the track, shrouded in darkness. 

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Hugus does his shift, then gets out, gives up his sit to Jochen Rindt and runs away. This would be against the rules of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, since only two drivers plus a third driver as a back-up, in case of an emergency, are allowed to drive for each team. But in such a case, should the third driver be needed, he would become one of the two official drivers, effectively ousting one of them. This is why Chinetti, so as to avoid getting Rindt or Gregory disqualified, let Ed Huges race at night, without informing the commissioners, who in the meantime were toasting in the back of the box. Had the commissioners found out about this episode, the Ferrari 275 NART would have been disqualified and the ranking changed. It turned out to be so well done that even Danilo Baldi, a Ferrari mechanic who was working on loan in Luigi Chinetti's team, admitted he did not notice anything. He only learned of the swap when the race was over, perhaps because he was distracted by the work to be done during the pit stop. The American driver passed away on June 29, 2006, at the age of 82. After his death, one of his fans will publish the letter, sent to him by Ed Hugus in 2005.

 

"Dear Hubert, thank you for your kind letter dated May 19. It was beautiful to see you still remember me, it was very kind of you. Some journalists have said of me that I have driven in Le Mans more times than any other American driver. I don't know exactly about this. This is my answer concerning the facts of 1965. As you know, I have participated in the 24-hour race for many years. That year I was supposed to drive a Ferrari of Luigi Chinetti's team. Apparently, the factory couldn't deliver the car in time, so Luigi put me as a back-up driver for the 250 LM. During the night –around four o'clock?– Masten came out (of the box) on the LM. Most of the famous Le Mans circuit was shrouded in thick fog and Masten, with his bad eyesight and very thick goggles, could not see well. Rindt wasn't there, nobody knew where he was. So, Luigi told me to take my helmet and go, and I drove during the last hour, or even something more, in Masten's place. Later, Luigi told me that he had informed the race commissioners. Apparently, as Luigi said, maybe they were too drunk in the box to realise it. He was as disappointed as I was. C'est la vie! Once again, thank you. I hope this helps. Ed Hugus".

 

The only US car to cross the finish line finished in P8, and the only achievement for them was Phil Hill's lap record. The Americans came to France with a huge team of drivers, mechanics and technicians, making an impressive effort, but eventually they ended up defeated. The 12-cylinder Prototypes, on the other hand, performed well over the long distance, winning a race in which only 14 cars of the 53 participants crossed the finish line. Apart from the aforementioned Fords, the four Alfa Romeo SZs and the Alpines also failed. The only good thing about the Rover-B.R.M. was the low fuel consumption (only 22 litres per 100 kilometres, compared to 34 for the Ferrari which won). However, it seems that the turbocharged engine suffered an inexplicable power drop after the start, thus compromising the entire race. Ferrari lost out to its unofficial teams. This was partly due to the first part of the race, which was very challenging for the cars and the mechanics, as shown by the average speed up to the ninth hour of the race. This initial stress caused problems with the brakes, clutch and gearbox. The winning cars, on the other hand, were characterised by a traditional architecture (all of them were 3300-cc) and performed well over distance because they were less stressed. Porsche finishes fourth in overall ranking but wins in the Index of Performance ranking: this is, let us remind it, the ratio between covered distance and engine displacement. After Ferrari won in Le Mans, the Italian team now focuses on the French Grand Prix held on the Circuit de Charade, near Clermont Ferrand. It’s the first time back at this circuit, after Reims and Rouen hosted the French Grand Prix for several years. This is a circuit constructed by the Automobile Club d’Auvergne in the hills near the village of Charade above Clermont Ferrand. To anyone who has never seen an Italian mountain circuit, the Clermont Ferrand circuit would appear to be mountainous, but in fact it is only in the foothills of real mountains. It has almost no straights and favours driving and road-holding as well as acceleration up to 160 km/h. As is usual by mid-season, the Grand Prix “circus” has settled down, as regards cars and drivers and the picture is very much like that at Spa, except for Jack Brabham’s team. Dan Gurney has a 32-valve Coventry-Climax V8 fitted in his car and his teammate Denis Hulme uses Brabham’s own car, with Climax engine already used in previous Grand Prix.

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The reason why Hulme will be taking Brabham’s place is that the New Zealander knows the circuit well, having raced on it previously with F2 cars, whereas Brabham would have had to learn from scratch. Lotus fine-tunes Jim Clark's 32-valve Coventry-Climax V8 in a similar way as Gurney does, and they also fit a 16-valve Climax V8 engine to Mike Spence's Lotus 33. The car Clark drove in 1963 is being used as a spare, even though updated to Type 33 specification as regards suspension and steering and fitted with a V8 engine with cross-over exhaust system. All three cars are still fitted with pin-location wheels and knock-off hub caps. Ferrari does not change its team: Surtees is given two V8 Ferraris and Bandini is driving the 12-cylinder car. B.R.M.  team is also the same as at Spa: Graham Hill can use both the development car and his regular car, while Jackie Stewart will drive his usual car, with tartan upholstered seat. Jochen Rindt, who won the 24 Hour race, and Bruce McLaren have the two Cooper-Climax V8 at their disposal while Richie Ginther and Ronnie Bucknum are driving the Japanese Honda cars. Ginther has both a spare car and his own car at his disposal. All three Hondas are fitted with new drive-shafts to the rear wheels: these are solid steel shafts with forged universal joint yokes on each end, the universals joint being needle-roller mechanical type. Shaft length differences due to suspension movement has been replaced by a spline-and-ball sliding shaft inside the hub carrier. Walker and Parnell teams complete the list of the participants. Innes Ireland and Chris Amon will be driving Lotus 25-BRM V8 cars of Parnell’s team, since Hailwood is away motorcycle racing and Attwood is not yet recovered from his Spa crash. Walker’s team pair is Bonnier and Siffert in Brabhams, who will drive a Climax V8 and a BRM V8 engine cars respectively. These two cars are still using Colotti gearboxes. Bob Anderson will join the field too, with his Brabham-Climax V8, to replace the Willment team entry of Frank Gardner. It had been hoped to get Jo Schlesser into the French Grand Prix by borrowing a car from Willment, but all they could offer was a car with 4-cylinder Lotus-Ford engine, so the idea was dropped. On Friday, June 25, 1965, the first practice session begins. During the two-hour session the drivers will learn a track which is completely new to them, since this is the first time Formula 1 race held in Clermont Ferrand. 

 

The weather is very hot, so the standard for a lap time from last year’s F2 race does not mean much. So, the question now is who knows best the circuit and its innumerable turns. Since there are no internal roads, for any driver having trouble and withdrawing out on the circuit the only way back to the box is by going through the whole circuit itself. Consequently, hitch-hiking is very common. When the rear suspension on Clark’s Lotus collapses on him, Surtees gives him a lift on the back of his Ferrari. Graham Hill has it worse: the throttles on the spare B.R.M. does not shut properly and he arrives much too fast at a corner, spinning and striking a rock face. The car is badly damaged, and Hill’s neck has been given another nasty jar. This incident puts him off for the rest of the practice session. It is significant that of the six fastest laps recorded in this first practice session, five of the drivers had raced on the Circuit of Charade previously, the exception being Jim Clark, who is fifth fastest. Jack Brabham decides to let Hulme take his place, and this proves to be a wise decision: the New Zealander sets the best time of the day in 3'22"0, 0.1 seconds faster than Stewarts and Jonh Surtees. Just before the end of practice, Innes Ireland breaks the gearbox of his Parnell Lotus-B.R.M, and Jo Bonnier gives him a lift to the box. They do not go far, though, because the Swede’s Brabham-Climax runs out of petrol and stops after just a few meters! This is even more ironic because he had been to the box just shortly before to have a tank mounting strap repaired. So, they both “thumbed” a lift with Richie Ginther, sitting on the back of his Honda and get back to the box. Hence, the overall ranking for Friday is not what one would have expected: John Surtees is P3, Jim Clark is P5, Gurney is in P7 and Graham Hill even P15. On Saturday, June 26, 1965, the situation changes: it is not sunny, there are heavy clouds obliterating all the Charade hills around Clermont Ferrand, which give no sign of lifting. So there is a possibility that the starting grid will depend on Friday’s times, which would lead to a very interesting race. However, this is avoided: after lunch the clouds lift just enough for visibility round the circuit to become reasonable and the road surface dries, so that it is possible for the second practice session to start. 

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While taking Stewart’s B.R.M. back to the garage the previous day, the mechanics had damaged its nose, so that it is shorter now and with a larger opening. However, such a characteristic turns out to benefit engine temperature, so B.R.M. decides to modify Hill’s car as well for race day. The British driver, though, has not yet fully recovered from the jar of the previous day, so he will not take part in the session. Meanwhile, Stewart (B.R.M.) is setting the pace, though Dan Gurney is beginning to challenge. It soon becomes clear that a lap time of 3'20''0 will be a respectable one for qualifying. As the track is drying, the lap times are lowering even more. Lorenzo Bandini, in his Ferrari, manages to keep up with this pace. John Surtees is able to set the same time, but still cannot get any lower. So, one could wonder what time he could do if he had taken the 12-cylinder car, instead of preferring the V8 cars. Jim Clark was just beginning to join the top group, but his 32-valve Coventry-Climax engine brakes down rather disastrously. He gets back to box slightly niggled about the fact that his car has let him down two days running. Clark gets back on track with the spare car and, in no time at all, he sets the best time of the day (3'18"3) lowering Stewart's best time (3'18"8). The Team Lotus troubles are not quite over. Spence is going a bit too quickly on new tyres and gets into a big slide hitting the bank and bending the suspension. Jack Brabham is not at all happy with his own 32-valve Climax engine for it does not seem to be performing as well as the earlier engine in Danny Hulme’s car. Dan Gurney still gets a better position than his New Zealand teammate, thanks to his superior driving. On Sunday, June 26, 1965, the weather seems to be gloomy again, with dark clouds over all the circuit and frequent spells of heavy rain. But fortunately, the Grand Prix is not due to start until 3 pm and there is hope that conditions might improve. This proves true and while not warm, the weather is quite good by the time the cars set off for a lap of reconnaissance before lining up on the starting grid. Jim Clark is in pole positions: he is driving the spare Lotus, with early V8 engine. Spence starts P2 on his Lotus 33. Gurney has had his 32-valve engine replaced by a 16-valve Climax V8 engine by his mechanics. Jonh Surtees has chosen the earlier of the two V8 Ferraris, the 12-cylinder Ferrari is using the aluminium abbreviated nose cowling as at Monaco, in place of the normal fibreglass one. Hill’s B.R.M. nose cowling has been shortened and the hole enlarged as on Stewart’s car. 

 

Ginther’s Honda is using unequal length air intakes, tall ones in the centre, short ones at the ends of the V12 layout. Ronnie Bucknum’s engine, on the other hand, is using equal length intakes. Theoretically, the different length intake trumpets on Climber’s should spread the torque range of the engine. The starting grid sees Jackie Stewart and Lorenzo Bandini on the front row alongside Jim Clark, while Graham Hill has to start from the fifth row. After the warm-up lap Hill’s car is having clutch trouble, which is not completely solved. As the cars move up onto the grid, the two Parnells have to be push-started to clear rich mixtures just in time as the flag falls. The seventeen cars rush for the first left-hand turn to start the 40-lap race. Jim Clark takes the lead on the first turn and runs away from everyone. Lorenzo Bandini takes every advantage of his front row start to stay behind Clark and holds second place for the opening lap, while the other drivers behind him are battling. Jakie Stewart manages to outdistance the main group during the second lap, Dan Gurney and Jonh Surtees do the same during the third lap. But by this time Clark has pulled out a 6 second lead even though he is driving with the old Climax engine, dropping as low as 6.000 rpm out of some turns. Ginther is holding sixth position, followed by Spence, McLaren and Hulme, but the second Honda dies at the box, having arrived with a very erratically running engine, indicating electrical or ignition trouble. Jochen Rindt's Cooper is forced to retire on lap 3, as the Austrian driver hits the rear of Chris Amon's car and goes off track. McLaren’s car is handling in an odd way, and he is losing ground on the leaders all the time. After six laps, the situation is clear: there are two real champions leading the Grand Prix, followed by the others who are fighting hard to keep up with them, such as Surtees and Gurney. Jackie Stewart is struggling to keep up with Jim Clark but manages to leave everyone else behind, while Dan Gurney's car does not sound as if it is really on all eight cylinders. At the back of the field, Graham Hill is forced to drive practically without a clutch. Richie Ginther’s Honda does not last long: a small electrical bonfire behind the instrument panel brings him back into the box. He has to withdraw two laps later, on lap 9, after two more test laps. 

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John Surtees takes advantage of Gurney's problems, overtaking him and getting in P3. Several drivers are getting closer to Lorenzo Bandini: eventually both Mike Spence and Denny Hulme overtake him. At quarter distance Clark is leading the race with no big trouble, Stewart is in second place, Surtees is third, followed by Gurney, Spence, Hulme and Bandini. Then comes Bonnier, leading all the private owners: as well as McLaren and Hill and Amon he is a lap behind, having had a short pit stop. On lap 13 out of the scheduled 40 laps, Gurney comes back into the box to have a duff plug changed and get the engine on all eight cylinders again. On the next lap, Jonh Surtees goes by with his Ferrari V8 engine rumbling at peak rpm. Mike Spence has his injection pump cut-out in the middle of a series of turns and the sudden cessation of power caused him to spin, luckily without any damage. He is able to rejoin the race in eighth place, but he has troubles with intermittent cutting-out for the rest of the race. Meanwhile, Dan Gurney rejoins the race a lap behind the leader, starting pushing really hard to close the gap: he also sets a new lap record, but eventually the engine blows up on lap 16 and he is forced to withdraw. Behind the front drivers, Denny Hulme holds fourth place without much trouble, although he is far away from John Surtees. On lap 16 Surtees makes a quick pit stop because the alternator is pushing alternating current into the battery, instead of direct current, so the engine is not working properly. Surtees is driving very hard and in spite of the handicap of his engine he keeps ahead of Danny Hulme’s Brabham-Climax. By half distance, Clark gives no sign of trouble, and he increases his lead over Jackie Stewart to a comfortable 15 seconds. Surtees with his malfunctioning Ferrari is still third, followed by the group composed of Hulme, Bandini, Graham Hill, Siffert, Spence and McLaren. The only other driver left is Anderson, who has been lapped by the leader. Jo Bonnier withdraws on lap 21 due to the toothed-belt drive to the alternator breaking, leading to battery failure.  Innes Ireland also stops on lap 18 due to a gearbox stuck-in one gear. Chris Amon also retires on lap 20 due to fuel feed problems. Bruce McLaren gives up the struggle with the poor handling of his Cooper: after he has been lapped, he retires at the end of lap 23 and gets back to the box. By 30 laps, it looks as if Hulme is the tipped to win the race: his car seems more reliable than the first three ones, especially the one of Jonh Surtees. It is only his determination and skill that is keeping it in third position, and the engine is beginning to do an awful sound. 

 

Looking back at some of the previous editions of the French Grand Prix in Reims, the 51st edition was characterized by the mediocrity of the cars' mechanical structures rather than by great battles. On lap 34, Jim Clark laps Graham Hill setting a new lap record as he does so. With three laps to go, Bandini has a big slide, strikes an earth bank, and before he finishes the lap a rear wheel brakes off and all the suspension parts end up on the track. The Italian driver is then forced to retire on lap 36. At the end of the scheduled forty laps, Jim Clark wins what Colin Chapman defines “a typical Clark race”, leading from start to finish. Jim Clark and Jackie Stewart, who is in P2, finish almost 30 sec apart and Jonh Surtees brings his sick Ferrari into third place. A rather lucky Danny Hulme finishes P4, for the oil pressure had disappeared from his Climax engine during his last lap. Graham Hill and Jo Siffert complete the top six, taking the last points up for grabs. Jim Clark, the Flying Scotsman, wins for the third time in a row and sets the lap record (3'19''6), at an average speed of 233 km/h (145 mph). Jackie Stewart finishes second and continues to amaze with his skills: he can boast both technical skill and the uncommon ability not to stress the car too much during a fight. As in the Belgian Grand Prix, the British driver managed to finish the race ahead of team-mate Graham Hill. John Surtees finishes in P3 in his Ferrari. The Maranello car seems to be better than Lotus and B.R.M. rivals, but Surtees seems to be going through a period of no-confidence, and he must get through it if he does not want to be out of the fight for the 1965 World Championship. Ferrari's other driver, Lorenzo Bandini, maintains P5 almost until the end of the Grand Prix, but then is involved in an accident, fortunately without consequences. Bandini finishes in P8 by virtue of the laps completed. The race has been rather tough: out of seventeen drivers who started, in fact, only nine finished it. Thanks to another win, Jim Clark consolidates his position in the World Championship standings: he has now 27 points. This gives him a 10-point lead over Graham Hill and Jackie Stewart, who both follow with 17 points. He seems to get closer to the World Title, that he won also previously, in 1963. 

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You have to go back several years in motor racing history to find another driver who dominated his rivals with such authority and consistency of results. In the post-war period, only drivers such as Fangio, Ascari and Moss were able, in their prime days, to offer such a show of confidence, almost of nonchalance, on the track. Some might say that, in the past, there were many champions, whereas nowadays, we could argue that there are no more than three or four drivers of real quality, making the job for a champion like Jim Clark easier. All this is true, but one cannot compare directly. We have to trust impressions and memories: it would be equally rash to claim that Clark's success is simply due to the fact that his rivals are not real champions. On the contrary, it is precisely this consideration that makes Clark's success so difficult, and he can be considered a true champion like the drivers of past times. On the torturous Auvergne circuit, Jim Clark wins the 51st edition of the Automobile Club of France Grand Prix, which is his third victory in a row in a World Championship race. The Lotus driver had chosen not to take part in the Monaco race in order to participate (and win) at Indianapolis. Despite giving an advantage to his rivals, he gained 27 points in the world championship standings, and it will be a hard task to take the lead, and the word title, away from him. The 1965 season has only just begun, so there is still a long way to go before someone is crowned World Champion. But it is clear that it will be hard to complete with the Clark-Lotus team. Let's get back to the French race talking about Ferrari: neither Surtees nor Lorenzo Bandini have been particularly lucky. The former, after a promising start, was forced to make a quick pit stop due to ignition problems; Bandini even lost a wheel just as he was seeing the finish line, when he was in sixth position (fortunately without serious consequences). In order to catch up with Clark, a drastic change shall be needed in the technical situation. In other words, B.R.M., and especially Ferrari, would need a significant performance improvement to overcome Lotus and reopen the whole question. Today, Lotus can boast a great balance of mechanical means, paired with the great skill of Clark. Despite everything, one must have faith in Ferrari: even last year the Maranello cars had a below-average start of the season. Little by little, the situation was reversed, and John Surtees managed to win in Monza and finally to win the World Championship in the last Grand Prix, held in Mexico.


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