#136 1965 British Grand Prix

Sunday 5th July 1965 Pedro Rodriguez and Jean Guichet take their Ferrari 4400, belonging to the American team N.A.R.T, to triumph in the 12 hours of Reims. Behind the victorious car another three Italian cars are placed. The twenty-two competitors departed at 11 pm of Saturday night, but only thirteen reached the finish line. It’s been a race influenced by dramatic moments. The baleful an accident occurred thirty minutes later the departure: the Belgian Gerard Langlois loses on corner the control of his Ferrari that hits with violence the fence behind which there are two men, a runway steward, the 25-year-old Marcel Normand, and the 39-year-old Pierre Van Den Bossche. They were hit and thrown to the ground. The rescuers transport the two stewards in helicopter to Reims’ hospital, but they don’t make it. They were both married, Van Den Bossche leaves two children. The English Piper and Atwood on  Ferrari lead the race until 9:30 am, after Surtees-Parkes and Graham Hill-Bonnier have held the lead; but then Rodriguez and Guichet put themselves in the lead, while the transmission of Piper- Attwood’s Ferrari fails. The car finishes the race in fourth position, after racing for the last thirty minutes with only one gear, the fifth. John Surtees and Mike Parkes, after having tamed a fire, manage to finish in second position, while the third position in conquered by by the Belgians Willy Mairesse and Edgar Beurlys. At the start Graham Hill and Bonnier’s Ferrari puts itself in the lead of the race and stays there for 33 laps; then Rodriguez-Guichet move on to lead, ahead of Surtees-Parker, Piper-Attwood and Hairesse-Beurlys. A plot twist: Rodriguez-Guichet’s Ferrari stops at the pits, and when, fixed a defect in the clutch, can restart, it has an eight laps delay towards Hill-Bonnier, that in the meantime had taken the lead ahed of Surtees- Parkes.

But Rodriguez and Guichet don’t give up and they chase like damned. At 2:00 a.m. Surtees and Parkes take the lead of the race and with 55 seconds of advantage on Hill-Bonnier, and of two laps on Piper-Attwood. Noblet and Cambral’s Iso-grifo abandons the race. Surtees and Parkes manage to keep a mad pace (209.258 km/h of general average), detaching Hill-Bonnier of a lap and Piper-Atwood of three laps. After five hours of racing, Surtees Parkes have covered 1037.625 kilometres, for an average of 208.716 km/h, and precede of three laps Hill-Bonnier and Piper Attwood, of ten laps Bondurat-Schlesser and Sears-Whitmore (both equipages on Ford) , while the others are much more distant; but Rodriguez-Guichet continue to gain ground. At five am, halfway in the race, only a bit more of fourteen cars are on the track. But here’s another plot twist: the Ferrari in the lead, that at the moment is managed by Surtees, arrives at a reduced speed on the acceleration track and just in front of the timing post catches on fire, that the driver manages to tame with the on-board fire extinguisher. Then the car stops for a long time in front of the boxes, where the mechanics carry out a series of checks. At 6.00 a.m., Hill-Bonnier are in the lead ahead of Piper Attwood; Rodriguez-Guichet, who have made a sensational comeback, they are at six laps. When Surtees-Parkes can restart, their delay is of 15 laps. Graham Hill and Bonnier seem to be launched to the repetition of the previous year’s success, when, at 8:30 am, here’s the unexpected: the two are forced to withdraw due to the break of the gearbox.

Piper-Attwood have to stop themselves so, Rodriguez-Guichet go back to the lead; but shortly afterwards they have to stop, and Piper Attwood bypass them starting an emotional final duel. Rodriguez-Guichet conquer seconds on seconds, and when the rivals are forced to stop quickly for the last refuelling, the Mexican and the French go back to the lead. Behind, Surtees is doing wonders, and takes the record of the lap to 2’17’’’9 (average 216.724 km/h). Towards the end of the 12 Hours Piper-Attwood with the gearbox blocked on the fifth gear can’t prevent Surtees-Parker of overcoming them. Then, two races for Formulas 2 and 3 cars were played. In the first one Jochen Rindt imposes himself on Brabham, average of 196.212 km/, ahead of the Australian Gardner on Lola and of Jim Clark on Lotus. Surtees doesn’t start because the engine of his Cooper, which had failed in practice, hasn’t been repaired in time. Rindt confirms his secure class; the winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans imposes himself in an authentic flight that sees engaged four cars grouped in less than half a length. The Austrian went of the track on lap five, and is eleventh when he is able to resume; but in nine laps he recovers the disadvantage and fits in the emotional final fight, placing on the finish line his victorious cue. Even the Formula 3 race is concluded with a final sprint: just 0.1 seconds, indeed, separate the winner, the French Jean Pierre Beltoise on Marra-Ford, and the English Courage and Fenning.

During the race the English Jonathan Williams goes out of the track and is thrown out by his Brabham; transported to the hospital, he is diagnosed with a knee fracture. Saturday 10th July 1956 the Great Britain’s Grand Prix will take place in Silverstone, fifth race of the season, valid for the world title of Formula 1. Jim Clark, that is in the head of the championship with 27 points, followed by Graham Hill and Jackie Stewart with 17 points and by John Surtees with 13 points, he is the great favoured. The battle should be between the usual Clark, Hill and Surtees, plus Ginther and Stewart. But it’s not excluded that it will be the last time for Clark to race in Great Britain in races valid for the world title. It’s said indeed that the Scottish, wants to leave motorsport at the end of the season because he wants to get married. Clark had often repeated that the day in which he would settle he would never again set foot in a track. This year the R.A.C sold the rights of the Grand Prix of Great Britain to the British Racing Drivers’ Club and made use of the support of the Daily Express to organise the event in Silverstone. Even if the circuit of the airport it’s not the best place for a Grand Prix, it has a special atmosphere and it has been theatre of lots of sport events in the past, as well as being the traditional home of British motor racing over many years.

In occasion of the British Grand Prix, Scuderia Ferrari allows Surtees to use the Ferrari equipped with the engine 12 cylinders, while Bandini will have at disposal a car equipped with a V8 engine, while the second - always equipped with a V8 engine - is reserve of the British pilot. The team B.R.M. take to Silverstone the two cars used in Clermont-Ferrand, in addition to a third model built to substitute the one that crashed in France. This replacement car it’s a model from 1964, used by Hill in Monaco, and it has been equipped with the last type of engine, gear, brakes and suspensions available. The only exterior sign of recognition of the previous car are the fissures in the monoscocca pontoons under the engine, where the old side exhaust manifolds passed. Nor Graham Hill or Jackie Stewart have to a lot to learn on the British circuit and therefore they will be able to spend all of their energy to try to record fast laps. On the contrary, Jim Clark and Mike Spence will not have at disposal a replacement Lotus, as the last frame is still waiting for its engine Coventry-Climax 32-valve, with one of the  camshafts that broke on that engine in testing that the two cars were using in France, held Sunday 27th June 1965. Even Braham’s team is waiting for an engine Climax 32-valvs, since Dan Gurney, Jack Braham and Danny Hulme are using engines Climax 16-valvs.

Even the Cooper will have at disposal three cars, but only two will enter the track with Bruce McLaren and Jochen Rindt on board, because the third is in sperimental fase, with a Hewland gearbox mounted in the place of the original gear Cooper. The Honda team enrolled two cars, but at the last second withdraws the participation of the U.S. driver Ronnie Bucknum, leaving Richie Ginther with one car for the race and one for backup. The Walker team will have Jo Bonnier and Jo Siffert at disposal, with their Brabham already used in the previous races, while the Reg Parnell Team signs up  with its two Lotus-B.R.M that will be driven by Richard-Attwood and Innes Ireland, while the John Willment Automobiles signs up with Frank Gardner and a Brabham-B.R.M. V8. Bob Anderson will race with his Brabham BT- 11, equipped with a Climax engine. To complete the list of participants, the Bob Gerard Racing Team signs up and will race with a Cooper T60-Climax driven by the British driver John Rhodes, and a Cooper T71/73-Ford of 1.500 cc, on which is mounted a F2 Cosworth head, that will be driven by Alan Rollinson. Finally, Ian Raby and Chris Amon will race with the Brabham BT3-B.R.M. V8, while Brian Gubby signs up his Lotus 24-Climax V8, and the Scuderia Centro-Sud presents itself with Master Gregory and a B.R.M P57.

Thursday 8th July 1965, in occasion of the first day of practice, John Surtees goes on track with the Ferrari equipped with a 12 cylinders engine, and with the 8 cylinders, resulting more quick with the first conformation, even if the British driver is forced to work harder on curves, compared to what he is able to do with the less heavy car equipped with the V8 engine. For a certain period of time, Surtees is able to maintain a very good pace in line with the fastest lap, but soon Graham Hill, Jackie Stewart and Jim Clark begin to race seriously. John Surtees improves his record on the lap established last May, that was of 1'33"0, but Jim Clark is able to score a lap time of 1'31"3 with is Lotus 33 equipped with a Climax engine operated with 16 valves, turning to an average of 187 km/h.  These last are not the only ones that are able to improve their record on the lap scored in May: even Mike Spence, Lorenzo Bandini and Denny Hulme succeed in the same undertaking, while Richie Ginther with his Honda matches his record. During the afternoon another hour of practice is foreseen, although the track is dry, the weather is very threatening e there is the general sensation that could have rained during the day on Friday. Consequently, all the drivers do their best to score a fast lap and obtain the best position on the starting grid. Graham Hill is in shape again, after the sfortunate Gran Prix in France, and sets the pace, but Jim Clark doesn’t easily give up its position.

The two drivers score almost the same time (1'31"0), but actually even John Surtees is not too far from the first two, and scores a time lap of 1'31"3 with the replacement Ferrari. Even Richie Ginther  improves his time, closing his fast lap in 1'32"6 and leaving Denny Hulme and Jack Brabham’s Brabham lingered of over a second. With these times constantly improving the drivers privately registered begin to worry, because regulation forces them to turn within a maximum of five seconds from the third best lap time, which happens to be Stewart’s in 1'32"4, to be able to hope to qualify for the race. When the end of the second practice session is near, Jim Clark has the best lap time, but Graham Hill goes on track with a new selection of tyres Dunlop equipped on his B.R.M., having chosen the R6 to the anterior and the R7 to the posterior, and completes several laps, scoring the best lap time in 1'31"0, equalling his own best time scored during the morning practice, gaining, winning 100 pounds and increasing his and his team’s mood. Friday 9th July 1965, during the morning, the dreaded rain doesn’t disturb the drivers, leaving them free to practice during the two hours and a half of practice. Jim Clark has at disposal for the Friday practice the last model of the Lotus 33, equipped with a 32 valves Climax engine, that way the Scottish driver and his teammate Mike Spence will have at disposal a replacement car. The Scottish driver, using the new Climax engine, scores a chrono of 1’30’’8, an unreachable time for any other competitor. The rhythm is very quick and Richie Ginther is competitive aboard his Honda.

The car of the Japanese team shows an excellent performance and the engine makes all his 12 cylinders ring, John Surtees continues practice aboard his car equipped with a 12 cylinders engine, while on Lorenzo Bandini’s car breaks the V8 engine, therefore the Italian driver is forced to take over the spare car. Graham Hill isn’t able to repeat his time scored during the previous evening, while Jim Clark and Jackie Stewart improve again their lap times. The Scottish driver, aboard of his Lotus, is able to use entirely the power of the 32 valves Climax engine, and he is able to score a lap time of 1'31"3. A chrono matched by Richie Ginther with the Honda, by Jackie Stewart with the B.R.M. and by John Surtees with the Ferrari. Other significant times are scored by Mike Spence, 1'32"7, and by Dan Gurney, 1'31"9, whose Climax engine isn’t able to express as much power than other engines of the British productor. Overall, eleven drivers are able to descend below the existing record of 1'33"0, in which are present even the drivers of the team Cooper, like Jochen Rindt that scores the time of 1'32"9, using the trail of John Surtees’ Ferrari V12 for a certain number of laps. However, Jim Clark (1'30"8) and Graham Hill (1'31"0) score a front row start on the starting grid, to which Jackie Stewart (fourth) increasingly begins to join, Richie Ginther appears as well (third) with the Honda equipped with the V12 engine, disturbing the two duelists of the Formula 1 World Championship.

The day of the race, Saturday 10th July 1965, despite the overcast sky and the threat of rain, following the meetings of the British Racing Drivers’ Club the British Grand Prix in placed in day full of events and interesting demonstrations. After performing the final preparation during the morning, during which the assembly of Gurney’s car is completed with the installation of a new 31 valves Climax engine, a short practice session on one on the tracks convinces Dan to have a very competitive car, so the American driver is looking forward to be able to face a good battle. Changes are also made to the fuel injection system on the 32- valve Clark Climax engine, and the Scottish driver makes test on the track. During the afternoon twenty-one cars leave the paddock to make a warm-up lap. John Surtees chooses to race with the Ferrari equipped with a 12-cylinder engine, while Lorenzo Bandini will race with the second of the cars equipped with a V8 engine. Bruce McLaren will use his 1965 Cooper with the Cooper gearbox, as the spare car with the Hewland box was discarded following testing. Ian Raby will race in place of Chris Amon, while John Rhodes is allowed to start the race with the Cooper T60-Climax V8 of the Bob Gerard Racing team, even if in qualifying he did not score a time that fell within five seconds of the time scored by Richie Ginther. When Dan Gurney is almost done with the warm-up lap, the Climax engine breaks down and Jack Brabham gives up his car, deciding to retire from the race.

Not having time to replace the numbers on the car, Gurney decides to take Brabham’s place on the grid with the number 7, leaving take away his car now unusable. At the signal of the mossiere there is a magnificent start, with the Lotus of Jim Clark and the Honda of Richie Ginther who manage to make a good start, passing in front of the other competitors. Immediately after the start of the race, as the cars pass under the bridge at the end of the pits, Ginther’s Honda precedes Clark’s Lotus. The cars enter side by side with Copse, with the Scottish driver’s Lotus on the inside of the track and Ginther managing to keep his trajectory, taking away Clark’s chance to take the lead in the first corner, but that will be able to catch along the straight of the Hangar, overtaking the Japanese car. As Clark manages to put the wheels in front of Ginther’s Honda, he increases the pace and closes the opening lap, despite the mistake made at the exit of the Woodcote corner, when its left rear wheel is passed over the grass surrounding the circuit. Despite Clark’s mastery in leading, many of the drivers behind him are determined to close the gap: Graham Hill and John Surtees manage to close the gap that separates them from Richie Ginther during the second lap, and the British driver aboard his B.R.M. would have even managed to overtake Jim Clark’s Lotus, while John Surtees can not keep up and besides Ginther begins to worry him. Behind this leading group follow Stewart, Spence, McLaren and Hulme, who are fighting with Rindt and Gurney. Meanwhile Lorenzo Bandini completes the second lap and his race wrapped in a cloud of steam, as it breaks the V8 engine of his Ferrari.

Even Attwood is forced to make an excessively long stop in the pits following the breakage of a water pipe; an inconvenience caused by the excessive speed when he started towards the pit platform, forcing mechanics to waste a lot of time on repairs. In the leading group Graham Hill tries everything to keep Jim Clark behind him, but the Lotus of the Scottish driver gets closer and closer. Graham Hill,  Unlike Jim Clark, he has no support from his teammate, as Jackie Stewart has handling problems with his B.R.M., both because of the tyres and track conditions. The Scottish driver can only manage his fifth position, while Mike Spence, Bruce McLaren and Denny Hulme try to close the gap on John Surtees and Richie Ginther. Among other things, as the laps pass the Honda engine mounted on the Ginther single-seater begins to lose power, gradually slowing the American driver and allowing both Stewart and Spence to pass it easily. Ginther was forced to pit at the end of lap 26, ending his moment in glory. The reasons for the decline in power of the Honda engine concern a problem with the fuel injection system. At the end of the first twenty laps, equivalent to a quarter of the total distance of the British Grand Prix, Jim Clark and Graham Hill managed to get away from their pursuers, but the Scottish driver’s Lotus remains firmly in the lead and all Hill can do is continue the race hoping that Lotus may suffer some mechanical problems.

John Surtees is third, but not too sure because behind him Jackie Stewart is closely followed by Mike Spence, with the result that both are automatically gaining ground on the British driver’s Ferrari. Denny Hulme is sixth and continues quietly ahead of Bruce McLaren Jochen and Rindt, who is detached, while Dan Gurney is overtaken by Jo Bonnier. On lap 24, Spence passes Stewart, while Rindt is passed by Bonnier and Gurney at Beckett’s corner. Meanwhile, Jim Clark keeps up the pace and Graham Hill begins to ease the pressure on the Scottish driver, while Mike Spence and Jackie Stewart continue to worry John Surtees. During the 29th lap Denny Hulme stops suddenly because the transmission belt of the Climax engine alternator breaks and the battery stops working. Halfway through the race the standings stabilized; the only point of interest concerns Mike Spence, who worries John Surtees, to the point of being able to overtake him during the forty-first lap thus passing in third place. This is not to say that Graham Hill has decided to give up, but the British driver gradually loses ground compared to Jim Clark, who drives fast and smoothly. John Surtees allowed Mike Spence to stay in third place for just one lap, before recovering the third place, but he could not get rid of the compatriot aboard the second Lotus.

Meanwhile, the engine of Jackie Stewart’s car does not seem to be running in a clean way, so the Scottish driver can only maintain the fifth place. Bruce McLaren also faces gearbox problems on his Cooper, and after being overtaken by Bonnier and Gurney decides to stop at the pits to see if anything can be done about it; since there is nothing to do, the New Zealand driver rejoins the race after dropping to the bottom of the standings. When Jim Clark double Jo Bonnier and Dan Gurney during the fiftieth lap, the American takes the opportunity of the disturbance caused by the dubbing to get in front of the Swedish driver, but none of them manages to take advantage of the wake of the car of the flying Scotsman. Unlike Graham Hill, who faces many problems in being able to overtake Jochen Rindt, and when he finally manages to pass the driver Cooper takes full advantage of the wake of the B.R.M. and remains attached to the British driver for a number of laps. As Jim Clark relentlessly leaves, a fierce duel for second place kicks in. Jochen Rindt managed to overtake Graham Hill, but on lap 62 an engine failure forced him to pit and leave the competition. Thus, Graham Hill remains only in second position, being the other drivers by now very far apart from him. Jim Clark marched at full speed for about half the race, continuing to constantly gain a second over his closest pursuers, but in the second phase the engine of his car begins to crackle more and more worryingly, making it less and less due to spark plug and carburetor problems.

Everything, or almost everything, at Silverstone went according to plan. Jim Clark, in the brand new Lotus 32, on his debut, won the British Grand Prix, the fifth round of the season for the world title, preceding Hill on B.R.M. by just three seconds, a hundred meters, and Surtees on Ferrari. The flying Scotsman thus increased his lead in the standings, reaching 36 points, against 23 Hill, 19 Stewart and 17 Surtees. This is the fourth Grand Prix in which Clark won in the current season (he was absent in Monaco, where he dominated Hill, because engaged in the Indianapolis race): but in the last stages of today’s competition, When the engine of his Lotus began to suffer serious disturbances and Hill significantly reduced the gap, it was feared that he had to either retire or resign to second place. Twenty-four hours after winning the British Grand Prix, valid for the Formula 1 World Drivers' Championship, the formidable Jim Clark also asserts himself in the Rouen-les-Essarts Grand Prix, reserved for Formula 2 cars (4-cylinder engines of 1000 cc, minimum weight 450 kg). The race was held on 50 laps of the circuit of Les Essarts, near Rouen, where last year the French Grand Prix of Formula 1 took place.

The total distance is 300.930 kilometers, and some of the protagonists of Saturday’s race at Silverstone take part, including, in addition to Clark, his irreducible opponent Graham Hill, Jack Brabham, Jochen Rindt, Denny Hulme; absent instead the Ferrari drivers, not having currently Formula 2 cars. Clark, who drives a Lotus with a Ford-Cosworth engine, contrary to his usual style does not manage to go immediately in the lead, but is forced to fight for several laps with Graham Hill (on Brabham) before being right. However, the flying Scotsman takes the lead on the tenth lap and from that moment on he starts to conquer meters on meters on the pursuers, that is Graham Hill and the Austrian Jochen Rindt (on Brabham), up to accumulate a consistent advantage. As Clark departs irresistibly, between the two drivers mentioned a fierce duel for the second place. After two thirds of the race, Rindt overtook his opponent, but during the thirty-fifth lap an engine failure forced him to stop at the pits and leave. So Graham Hill, while in front of him Clark appears unreachable, remains only in second position, being the other drivers now very far apart. And the race suddenly loses all interest. Jim Clark’s monologue is however highlighted by the thunderous applause of the public, admired for the superior skill of the great British racer.

"With a driver like Clark I feel almost sure that I can win all the important races of the coming years. Mind you, we provide Clark with some great machines, but you have seen that Jim wins even when something does not work perfectly in the mechanical part".

Colin Chapman is impulsive, and it’s not the first time he’s gone a little rash, but Saturday night he had every reason to elevate hosanna to his number one driver. Jim Clark won at Silverstone, and only an unpredictable twist could deprive him of winning the 1965 World Championship. The Scottish driver took part in four of the five tests valid for the championship (he was not in Monte-Carlo at that time engaged in the American trip during which he triumphed in the Indianapolis 500) and won all four. In the world ranking Clark now has 36 points and Graham Hill, who is his closest pursuer, has 23. Behind Jim Clark and Graham Hill, third place went to Ferrari driver John Surtees, who made an honorable but not exciting race, having never managed to threaten the two that preceded him. Surtees raced with the twelve-cylinder Ferrari that in Monte-Carlo had been driven by Lorenzo Bandini. At the British Grand Prix the Italian raced with the eight-cylinder Ferrari: after two laps he was put out of the race by a mechanical accident. At the time of his retirement Bandini was in fourth place. Richie Ginther was also forced to retire at the wheel of the Honda, a car that was expected for the umpteenth time with interest at the test, and that once again disappointed expectations. The Scuderia Ferrari is consoled by Ludovico Scarfiotti who, at the wheel of a Dino Ferrari with 2000 cc engine, wins the classic uphill Trento-Bondone car race at 86.934 km/h on average.

The race is valid for the Italian speed championship of the various categories and classes and for the European mountain championship reserved for sports cars and prototypes. The exciting race is attended by a hundred drivers, With his fast Dino 2000, Scarfiotti has managed to impose himself on the dangerous Abarth and Porsche. Scarfiotti lowers by 21.4 seconds the previous record (12'17"8) won last year by the late German rider Edgar Barth. The Marche driver, who had won the same race in 1962, stops the time on the prestigious time of 11'56"4, thus giving the competition a new difficult limit beyond which, at least for now, it does not seem easy to get, and achieving a relaunch of the Italian machines in comparison with the formidable victorious Porsche with Barth in the two previous editions of 1963 and 1964. The fight, fierce, sustained on the thin edge of the second, sees engaged from the beginning the German and Swiss drivers of Porsche and the Italian ones of Abarth and Ferrari. The most fearsome antagonist of Scarfiotti is Hans Hermann, on Abarth, placed in second place with the time of 12'02"8 and a gap of 6"4 from the winner, followed by Mitter. The German holds the place of leader of the European Championship of the mountain after the three races of Ventoux, Rossfeld and Bondone. The other two Porsche drivers, Fischhaber and Mueller, come fourth and fifth. The Swiss Mueller conquers in the Gran Turismo up to 2500 cc a new record at the average of 84.803 km/h. Other records are achieved, for the class over 2500 cc, by Mario Casoni, on Ferrari, at the average of 83.384 km/h, and in the prototype category (class up to 1600 cc) by Roberto Bussinello, on Giulia, while in the various categories and lower classes the previous records are beaten.