1963 German Grand Prix

 1963 German Grand Prix

Racing data
6th of 10 races of the 1963 World Automobile Championship
Surname:	XXV German Grand Prix
Date:	4th August 1963
Place:	Nuerburg , Germany
Course:	Nürburgring
Length:	342.15 km in 15 laps of 22.81 km
Weather:	warm, dry, sunny
Spectator:	~ 350000
Pole position
Driver:	Jim Clark	Lotus Climax
Time:	8: 45.8 min
Fastest lap
Driver:	John Surtees (Round 9)	Ferrari
Time:	8: 47.0 min
Podium
First:	John Surtees	Ferrari
Second:	Jim Clark	Cooper-Climax
Third:	Richie Ginther	BRM

The 1963 German Grand Prix took place on August 4, 1963 at the Nürburgring near Nürburg and was the sixth race of the 1963 World Cup .

Reports

background

First win for John Surtees

Gerhard Mitter's only point placement

BRM continued to use the old BRM P57 for both drivers, Graham Hill and Richie Ginther . The new BRM P61 was also registered for Graham Hill, but it was not used. At Scuderia Ferrari , Willy Mairesse returned after his injury break and drove as the team's second driver alongside John Surtees . A serious accident in the course of the race led to another injury break, so that he did not contest for another year. He then remained active as a test driver for Ferrari, but no longer drove any more races in the context of the automobile world championship. He was registered for another Grand Prix in 1965 , but did not start. Lorenzo Bandini , who drove his last race for BRM and for Scuderia Centro Sud , replaced Mairesse at Ferrari from the 1963 Italian Grand Prix .

Before the German Grand Prix, the Solitude race took place near Stuttgart . After Jim Clark had retired while in the lead, Jack Brabham won the race on a Brabham, which was the car's first victory in a non-World Automobile Grand Prix.

In the teams with customer vehicles, there were other drivers who drove their last race. For Scirocco were Tony Settember and Ian Burgess reported. Burgess then ended his career. Bernard Collomb qualified one last time for a Grand Prix in a private Lotus 24 , Kurt Kuhnke missed the qualification in his last race on a Lotus 18 . At Ecurie Maarsbergen , Gerhard Mitter drove for a second time alongside Carel Godin de Beaufort and for the last time in the season as well as in a Porsche . The Tim Parnell team was registered with Tim Parnell and André Pilette , Parnell then ended his career in the automobile world championship, Pilette the season. With Joakim Bonnier and Graham Hill two former winners took part in the race, Ferrari had previously been successful six times, Lotus and BRM once each. In the drivers' championship, Clark was 22 points ahead of Ginther and 23 points over Graham Hill. Lotus led the constructors' standings , with a lead of 19 points over BRM and 21 points over Cooper . In both evaluations there were still theoretical chances for the title for everyone.

training

Clark dominated the practice session and took pole position for the fourth time in a row . He was almost a second faster than second-placed Surtees and more than seven seconds faster than third-placed Bandini. Bandini qualified with the customer vehicle ahead of the two BRM works drivers Graham Hill in fourth and Ginther in sixth. Bruce McLaren finished fifth, putting five different teams in the top five. If Brabham qualified for the first rows in the previous races, the car was not capable of winning the German Grand Prix. Jack Brabham was eighth in training behind Mairesse, team-mate Dan Gurney finished 13th on the grid. The first ten were completed by Jo Siffert and Tony Maggs . The vehicles from Lola Cars , Porsche and Scirocco took up places in the back field.

The starting field was limited to 22 cars. As a result, the four slowest drivers did not qualify for the race. These were Pilette, Ian Raby , Parnell and Kuhnke. These four drivers on Clark were more than a minute apart. Leaked oil on the track caused problems during the first practice session, Ireland went off the track, damaged the car slightly and was uninjured.

run

Clark won the start and took the lead over the two BRMs of Ginther and Graham Hill. The clutch on Brabham's car initially failed and it took more than eight minutes before he left. During the first lap, Clark ran into trouble with the engine of his Lotus, so Ginther overtook him and took the lead. But he suffered transmission problems, so that he lost several positions and fell back to fifth behind McLaren. Surtees then led the race and fought a duel with Clark. His team-mate Mairesse had a serious accident in the airfield section and narrowly missed the audience, but met a paramedic who was killed in the process. Mairesse broke an arm and was transported to the hospital. Another collision occurred on the first lap of the race between Bandini and Ireland. Both drivers retired but were uninjured. After Graham Hill retired with a gearbox failure, McLaren improved to third place. He also had a serious accident and was taken to hospital unconscious with a concussion and knee injuries. Carel Godin de Beaufort lost the left rear wheel of his Porsche between Adenauer Forst and Metzgesfeld. The rim had broken off all around the wheel nuts. De Beaufort managed to keep the car on the track and got out of it unharmed. Chris Amon also had an accident because the steering failed on his Lola and he hit several trees. He survived with minor knee injuries. On lap five, Settember also went off the track and survived the retirement without injuries.

At the front, Clark overtook Surtees, but only seven cylinders of his engine were working, so Surtees countered one lap later and then continuously expanded the lead over Clark. Third was Ginther, who, like Clark, was struggling with technical problems. Maggs was fourth until retired with an engine failure. Siffert took over this position, but retired due to a gearbox failure, but was still classified in ninth place. Gurney and Cabral had previously had transmission damage that led to the abandonment. After Beaufort parked his car on lap nine because of a lost wheel, only ten vehicles remained in the field.

Surtees increased the lead on Clark to more than a minute and won the race by a large margin. This was his first win in the automobile world championship and the prelude to a successful time at Ferrari, which brought him the driver’s world championship the following season. Ferrari last won a Grand Prix at the 1961 Italian Grand Prix and Surtees said after the race that he showed his team how to be successful again after they had a miserable season in 1962. In the following year, at the 1964 German Grand Prix , Surtees repeated this success. With the race win, he also broke the winning streak of Clark, who had previously won four grands prix in a row. Clark's second place was the only time in the automobile world championship that he occupied that position. He said after the Grand Prix that Surtees drove a fine race and that with a missing cylinder he was having trouble keeping the car in the race. Ginther was third in front of Mitter, Hall and Bonnier. It was Mitter's only point placement and the last for Hall. Brabham crossed the finish line in seventh ahead of Taylor, Siffert and Collomb.

In the drivers' championship, Surtees improved to second place and was 20 points behind Clark. All drivers with at least six points still had theoretical chances for the title, but Clark would have been enough to win the next race to become world champion early. There was a similar situation in the constructors' championship. Ferrari improved to second place, the gap to the leading Lotus was 21 points. Lotus lacked another win to win the title in the next race.

Registration list

team	No.	driver	chassis	engine	tires
Owen Racing Organization	01	Graham Hill	BRM P57	BRM 1.5 V8	D.
			BRM P61
	02	Richie Ginther	BRM P57
Team Lotus	03	Jim Clark	Lotus 25	Climax 1.5 V8	D.
	04th	Trevor Taylor
Cooper Car Company	05	Bruce McLaren	Cooper T66	Climax 1.5 V8	D.
	06th	Tony Maggs
Scuderia Ferrari SpA SEFAC	07th	John Surtees	Ferrari 156/63	Ferrari 1.5 V6	D.
	08th	Willy Mairesse
Brabham Racing Organization	09	Jack Brabham	Brabham BT7	Climax 1.5 V8	D.
	10	Dan Gurney
British Racing Partnership	14th	Innes Ireland	BRP Mk1	BRM 1.5 V8	D.
			Lotus 24
	20th	Jim Hall	Lotus 24
Scuderia Centro Sud	15th	Lorenzo Bandini	BRM P57	BRM 1.5 V8	D.
	22nd	Mário de Araújo Cabral	Cooper T60	Climax 1.5 V8
Rob Walker Racing Team	16	Jo Bonnier	Cooper T66	Climax 1.5 V8	D.
Ecurie Maarsbergen	17th	Carel Godin de Beaufort	Porsche 718	Porsche 1.5 B4	D.
	26th	Gerhard Mitter
Siffert Racing Team	18th	Jo Siffert	Lotus 24	BRM 1.5 V8	D.
Reg Parnell Racing	21st	Chris Amon	Lola Mk4A	Climax 1.5 V8	D.
Scirocco Powell	23	Tony Settember	Scirocco 01	BRM 1.5 V8	D.
	24	Ian Burgess	Scirocco 02
Ian Raby Racing	25th	Ian Raby	Gilby 62	BRM 1.5 V8	D.
Kurt Kuhnke	27	Kurt Kuhnke	Lotus 18	Borgward 1.5 L4	D.
Bernard Collomb	28	Bernard Collomb	Lotus 24	Climax 1.5 V8	D.
Tim Parnell	29	André Pilette	Lotus 18/21	Climax 1.5 V8	D.
	30th	Tim Parnell

Remarks

1. ↑ ^{a b} Graham Hill drove the BRM P57 with the number 1 in practice sessions and in the race.
2. ↑ ^{a b} Innes Ireland drove the number 14 Lotus in practice sessions and in races.
3. ↑ According to Eckhard Schimpf : Prinzenpark - car and motorcycle races of the post-war period , there were difficulties in adapting the Borgward engine to the Lotus, which is why Kuhnke drove at the Nürburgring in 1963 with the Climax engine that was originally installed in the car.

Classifications

Starting grid

Item	driver	constructor	time	Ø speed	begin
01	Jim Clark	Lotus Climax	8: 45.8	156.17 km / h	01
02	John Surtees	Ferrari	8: 46.7	155.91 km / h	02
03	Lorenzo Bandini	BRM	8: 54.3	153.69 km / h	03
04th	Graham Hill	BRM	8: 57.2	152.86 km / h	04th
05	Bruce McLaren	Cooper-Climax	8: 57.3	152.83 km / h	05
06th	Richie Ginther	BRM	9: 02.8	151.28 km / h	06th
07th	Willy Mairesse	Ferrari	9: 03.5	151.09 km / h	07th
08th	Jack Brabham	Brabham-Climax	9: 04.2	150.89 km / h	08th
09	Jo Siffert	Lotus BRM	9: 11.1	149.00 km / h	09
10	Tony Maggs	Cooper-Climax	9: 11.6	148.87 km / h	10
11	Innes Ireland	Lotus BRM	9: 14.6	148.06 km / h	11
12	Jo Bonnier	Cooper-Climax	9: 16.0	147.69 km / h	12
13	Dan Gurney	Brabham-Climax	9: 17.2	147.37 km / h	13
14th	Chris Amon	Lola-Climax	9: 20.1	146.61 km / h	14th
15th	Gerhard Mitter	Porsche	9: 20.9	146.40 km / h	15th
16	Jim Hall	Lotus BRM	9: 22.7	145.93 km / h	16
17th	Carel Godin de Beaufort	Porsche	9: 25.1	145.31 km / h	17th
18th	Trevor Taylor	Lotus Climax	9: 33.8	143.11 km / h	18th
19th	Ian Burgess	Scirocco BRM	9: 52.2	138.66 km / h	19th
20th	Mário de Araújo Cabral	Cooper-Climax	9: 53.1	138.45 km / h	20th
21st	Bernard Collomb	Lotus Climax	10: 01.0	136.63 km / h	21st
22nd	Tony Settember	Scirocco BRM	10: 02.0	136.41 km / h	22nd
DNQ	André Pilette	Lotus Climax	10: 20.0	132.45 km / h	-
DNQ	Ian Raby	Gilby-BRM	10: 44.7	127.37 km / h	-
DNQ	Tim Parnell	Lotus Climax	11: 07.2	123.08 km / h	-
DNQ	Kurt Kuhnke	Lotus Borgward	11: 23.5	120.14 km / h	-

run

Item	driver	constructor	Round	Stops	time	begin	Fastest lap	Failure reason
01	John Surtees	Ferrari	15th	0	2: 13: 06.8	02	9: 47.0
02	Jim Clark	Lotus Climax	15th	0	+1: 17.5	01
03	Richie Ginther	BRM	15th	0	+ 2: 44.9	06th
04th	Gerhard Mitter	Porsche	15th	0	+ 8: 11.5	15th
05	Jim Hall	Lotus BRM	14th	0	+ 1 lap	16
06th	Jo Bonnier	Cooper-Climax	14th	0	+ 1 lap	12
07th	Jack Brabham	Brabham-Climax	14th	0	+ 1 lap	08th
08th	Trevor Taylor	Lotus Climax	14th	0	+ 1 lap	18th
09	Jo Siffert	Lotus Climax	10	0	+ 5 rounds	09
10	Bernard Collomb	Lotus Climax	10	0	+ 5 rounds	21st
-	Carel Godin de Beaufort	Porsche	09	0	DNF	17th		lost wheel
-	Tony Maggs	Cooper-Climax	07th	0	DNF	10		Engine failure
-	Mário de Araújo Cabral	Cooper-Climax	07th	0	DNF	20th		transmission
-	Dan Gurney	Brabham-Climax	06th	0	DNF	13		transmission
-	Tony Settember	Scirocco BRM	05	0	DNF	22nd		accident
-	Ian Burgess	Scirocco BRM	05	0	DNF	19th		Steering lever
-	Bruce McLaren	Cooper-Climax	03	0	DNF	05		accident
-	Graham Hill	BRM	02	0	DNF	04th		transmission
-	Chris Amon	Lola-Climax	02	0	DNF	14th		Steering failure / accident
-	Innes Ireland	Lotus BRM	01	0	DNF	11		Collision with Bandini
-	Willy Mairesse	Ferrari	01	0	DNF	07th		accident
-	Lorenzo Bandini	BRM	00	0	DNF	03		Collision with Ireland

World Cup stands after the race

The first six of the race got 9, 6, 4, 3, 2, 1 points. Only the six best results from ten races counted. In the constructors' championship, only the points of the best placed driver on a team counted.

Driver ranking

Item driver constructor Points 01  Jim Clark Lotus Climax 42 02  John Surtees Ferrari 22nd 03  Richie Ginther BRM 18th 04th  Graham Hill BRM 13 05  Dan Gurney Brabham-Climax 12 06th  Bruce McLaren Cooper-Climax 10 07th  Tony Maggs Cooper-Climax 8th 08th  Innes Ireland BRP-BRM 3 09  Jack Brabham Brabham-Climax 3

Item driver constructor Points 10  Gerhard Mitter Porsche 3 11  Jo Bonnier Cooper-Climax 3 12  Jim Hall Lotus BRM 3 13  Lorenzo Bandini BRM 2 14th  Jo Siffert Lotus BRM 1 15th  Carel Godin de Beaufort Porsche 1 16  Trevor Taylor Lotus Climax 1 17th  Ludovico Scarfiotti Ferrari 1

Constructors' championship

Item constructor Points 01  lotus 43 02  Ferrari 22nd 03  BRM 22nd 04th  cooper 17th 05  Brabham 13 06th  Porsche 4th 07th  BRP 3

Web links

• Results at motorsportarchiv.de  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )
• Photos at f1-facts.com
• Grand Prix Results: German GP, ​​1963 at grandprix.com
• Formula 1 Grand Prix of Germany Nürburgring 1963 at youtube.com
• When Surtees won the 1963 German GP at motorsportmagazine.com
• Surtees takes first win on four wheels at espnf1.com