1963 USA Grand Prix

 1963 USA Grand Prix

Racing data
8th of 10 races of the 1963 World Automobile Championship
Surname:	VI United States Grand Prix
Date:	October 6, 1963
Place:	Watkins Glen , USA
Course:	Watkins Glen International
Length:	407.11 km in 110 laps of 3.701 km
Weather:	dry, sunny
Spectator:	~ 60000
Pole position
Driver:	Graham Hill	BRM
Time:	1: 13.4 min
Fastest lap
Driver:	Jim Clark (Round 50)	Lotus Climax
Time:	1: 14.5 min
Podium
First:	Graham Hill	BRM
Second:	Richie Ginther	BRM
Third:	Jim Clark	Lotus Climax

The 1963 US Grand Prix took place on October 6, 1963 at Watkins Glen International near Watkins Glen and was the eighth race of the 1963 World Automobile Championship .

Reports

background

The Canadian racing driver Peter Broeker drove his only race in the automobile world championship at the US Grand Prix . The special thing about participating in this race was his Stebro vehicle with a Ford Cosworth engine. While it was the only Grand Prix for Stebro, the engine manufacturer Ford-Cosworth only followed a few more races in the following years , first victories began in 1967 and in the following decades the engine manufacturer became one of the most successful in the automobile world championship .

After winning both titles, Lotus announced a new driver pairing for the Grand Prix. In addition to Jim Clark , Trevor Taylor returned to the team after his injury break, a third car was registered for Pedro Rodríguez , who made his debut race. Pedro Rodríguez was the brother of Ricardo Rodríguez, who had died in an accident the previous year, and later became the only Mexican Grand Prix winner. Three American drivers were registered with Reg Parnell Racing . Masten Gregory previously drove for the team, Hap Sharp contested his first race of the season and Rodger Ward returned to the automobile world championship after three years, but did not drive any more Grand Prix afterwards. Ferrari decided not to use the new Ferrari 156 Aero and instead drove the older Ferrari 156/63 . At Brabham a Brabham BT3 was registered for Jack Brabham and a Brabham BT7 for Dan Gurney . Brabham struggled to get to the track after he couldn't find a rental car or taxi at the airport. He then hitchhiked to the racetrack.

With Bruce McLaren and Clark, two former winners took part in the race, Cooper had previously been successful with the constructors , Lotus won the last three Grand Prix events. In the drivers' standings, Clark led Ginther and Surtees and was world champion early. In the constructors' championship, Lotus was unassailable ahead of BRM and Ferrari.

training

Graham Hill , Clark and John Surtees were the three drivers who were already in first place in 1963 and who were only slightly apart in practice. Graham Hill secured pole position with a tenth of a second ahead of Clark, while Surtees came third. For Graham Hill it was the second pole position of the season after having been fastest in practice at the Belgian Grand Prix . During the training he got off the track and slid through a forest, but without hitting a tree. Hill was unharmed, the car undamaged.

Richie Ginther qualified fourth ahead of the two Brabham drivers. Taylor followed in seventh ahead of Gregory, Lorenzo Bandini and Tony Maggs . Rodríguez qualified 13th on the grid on his debut. Broeker was by a large margin last in training, he was over 15 seconds slower than Graham Hill. His car lost oil and spread it all over the route. The result was a half-hour break.

run

On the way to the starting grid there was a problem with the battery of Clark's car. The bug was fixed and Clark started the race one lap behind. He was then the fastest driver and regularly drove the fastest race laps in order to reduce his lead over the competition again. Graham Hill won the start ahead of his teammate Ginther. Surtees was third and attacked the two BRM drivers in the following laps. He passed both of them one after the other and took the lead on lap seven. In this phase of the race both ATS retired with a defective oil pump. The drivers of Reg Parnell Racing did not reach the finish either, they later retired with various defects. Another team whose drivers had to give up the race was Lotus. On lap 24, Taylor parked the car with an electrical system damage, Rodríguez followed with an engine failure. This meant that only Clark remained in the race for the team, who had already reached position ten after half-time.

Surtees led the Grand Prix while several battles for position developed behind him. Gurney also overtook both BRMs and was new second. Brabham then overtook Ginther, while Graham Hill countered against Gurney. Then Graham Hill came up to Surtees and attacked him. In the following race laps the lead changed between the two four times before Graham Hill fell back slightly due to a damaged roll bar. But his opponents also ran into difficulties. Gurney parked his car with a damaged chassis, at Surtees a valve spring and subsequent engine damage caused the failure. Brabham's engine misfired and both Cooper on the works team also failed. However, since Surtees and McLaren had covered the necessary racing distance, they were classified in ninth and eleven places.

Due to the large number of failures and defects, Graham Hill took the lead again and held it until the end of the race. This was his second win of the season, having previously won the Monaco Grand Prix . It was also the start of a series of three victories in a row for Graham Hill on BRM at the US Grand Prix. At the finish, Graham Hill was half a minute ahead of his teammate Ginther. For BRM it was the second double win of the season. Clark had improved further positions in the second half of the race and ended up third, one lap behind. Brabham was already in fourth position two laps back, and Bandini was fifth. For the last time in his career, Carel Godin de Beaufort finished sixth in the points. This was also the last counter for Porsche in the automobile world championship. Broeker missed the points in seventh place, but he was 22 laps behind the winner Graham Hill.

In the drivers' standings, the gap between Clark and second-placed Ginther was reduced to 23 points. Graham Hill and Surtees were tied in third place after the Grand Prix. In the constructors' championship, Lotus led with 51 points ahead of BRM with 35 points, Ferrari remained third.

Registration list

team	No.	driver	chassis	engine	tires
Owen Racing Organization	01	Graham Hill	BRM P57	BRM 1.5 V8	D.
	02	Richie Ginther
Cooper Car Company	03	Bruce McLaren	Cooper T66	Climax 1.5 V8	D.
	04th	Tony Maggs
Brabham Racing Organization	05	Jack Brabham	Brabham BT3	Climax 1.5 V8	D.
	06th	Dan Gurney	Brabham BT7
Team Lotus	08th	Jim Clark	Lotus 25	Climax 1.5 V8	D.
	09	Trevor Taylor
	10	Pedro Rodríguez
Rob Walker Racing Team	11	Jo Bonnier	Cooper T66	Climax 1.5 V8	D.
Ecurie Maarsbergen	12	Carel Godin de Beaufort	Porsche 718	Porsche 1.5 B4	D.
Siffert Racing Team	14th	Jo Siffert	Lotus 24	BRM 1.5 V8	D.
British Racing Partnership	16	Jim Hall	Lotus 24	BRM 1.5 V8	D.
Reg Parnell Racing	17th	Masts Gregory	Lola Mk4A	Climax 1.5 V8	D.
	18th	Rodger Ward	Lotus 24	BRM 1.5 V8
	22nd	Hap Sharp
Canadian Stebro Racing	21st	Peter Broeker	Stebro Mk IV	Ford-Cosworth 1.5 L4	D.
Scuderia Ferrari SpA SEFAC	23	John Surtees	Ferrari 156/63	Ferrari 1.5 V6	D.
	24	Lorenzo Bandini
ATS	25th	Phil Hill	ATS 100	ATS 1.5 V8	D.
	26th	Giancarlo Baghetti

Classifications

Starting grid

Item	driver	constructor	time	Ø speed	begin
01	Graham Hill	BRM	1: 13.4	181.52 km / h	01
02	Jim Clark	Lotus Climax	1: 13.5	181.27 km / h	02
03	John Surtees	Ferrari	1: 13.7	180.78 km / h	03
04th	Richie Ginther	BRM	1: 14.0	180.05 km / h	04th
05	Jack Brabham	Brabham-Climax	1: 14.2	179.56 km / h	05
06th	Dan Gurney	Brabham-Climax	1: 14.5	178.84 km / h	06th
07th	Trevor Taylor	Lotus Climax	1: 15.6	176.24 km / h	07th
08th	Masts Gregory	Lola-Climax	1: 15.6	176.24 km / h	08th
09	Lorenzo Bandini	Ferrari	1: 15.8	175.77 km / h	09
10	Tony Maggs	Cooper-Climax	1: 15.8	175.77 km / h	10
11	Bruce McLaren	Cooper-Climax	1: 15.9	175.54 km / h	11
12	Jo Bonnier	Cooper-Climax	1: 16.3	174.62 km / h	12
13	Pedro Rodríguez	Lotus Climax	1: 16.5	174.16 km / h	13
14th	Jo Siffert	Lotus BRM	1: 16.5	174.16 km / h	14th
15th	Phil Hill	ATS	1: 17.1	172.81 km / h	15th
16	Jim Hall	Lotus BRM	1: 17.7	171.47 km / h	16
17th	Rodger Ward	Lotus BRM	1: 19.2	168.23 km / h	17th
18th	Hap Sharp	Lotus BRM	1: 20.0	166.55 km / h	18th
19th	Carel Godin de Beaufort	Porsche	1: 22.3	161.89 km / h	19th
20th	Giancarlo Baghetti	ATS	1: 25.2	156.38 km / h	20th
21st	Peter Broeker	Stebro-Ford	1: 28.6	150.38 km / h	21st

run

Item	driver	constructor	Round	Stops	time	begin	Fastest lap	Failure reason
01	Graham Hill	BRM	110	0	2: 19: 22.1	01
02	Richie Ginther	BRM	110	0	+ 34.3	04th
03	Jim Clark	Lotus Climax	110	0	+ 1 lap	02	1: 14.5
04th	Jack Brabham	Brabham-Climax	108	0	+ 2 rounds	05
05	Lorenzo Bandini	Ferrari	106	0	+ 4 rounds	09
06th	Carel Godin de Beaufort	Porsche	99	0	+ 11 rounds	19th
07th	Peter Broeker	Stebro-Ford	88	0	+ 22 laps	21st
08th	Jo Bonnier	Cooper-Climax	85	0	+ 25 rounds	12
09	John Surtees	Ferrari	82	0	+ 28 laps	03
10	Jim Hall	Lotus BRM	76	0	+ 34 laps	16
11	Bruce McLaren	Cooper-Climax	74	0	+ 36 laps	11
-	Jo Siffert	Lotus BRM	56	0	DNF	14th		transmission
-	Rodger Ward	Lotus BRM	44	0	DNF	17th		transmission
-	Tony Maggs	Cooper-Climax	44	0	DNF	10		transmission
-	Dan Gurney	Brabham-Climax	42	0	DNF	06th		chassis
-	Pedro Rodríguez	Lotus Climax	36	0	DNF	13		Engine failure
-	Trevor Taylor	Lotus Climax	24	0	DNF	07th		electrical damage
-	Masts Gregory	Lola-Climax	14th	0	DNF	08th		Engine failure
-	Hap Sharp	Lotus BRM	06th	0	DNF	18th		Cam follower
-	Phil Hill	ATS	04th	0	DNF	15th		Oil pump
-	Giancarlo Baghetti	ATS	00	0	DNF	20th		Oil pump

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 51 (55) 02  Richie Ginther BRM 28 (30) 03  Graham Hill BRM 22nd 04th  John Surtees Ferrari 22nd 05  Bruce McLaren Cooper-Climax 14th 06th  Dan Gurney Brabham-Climax 12 07th  Tony Maggs Cooper-Climax 9 08th  Jack Brabham Brabham-Climax 8th 09  Innes Ireland BRP-BRM 6th

Item driver constructor Points 10  Lorenzo Bandini BRM / Ferrari 4th 11  Gerhard Mitter Porsche 3 12  Jo Bonnier Cooper-Climax 3 13  Jim Hall Lotus BRM 3 14th  Carel Godin de Beaufort Porsche 2 15th  Jo Siffert Lotus BRM 1 16  Trevor Taylor Lotus Climax 1 17th  Ludovico Scarfiotti Ferrari 1

Constructors' championship

Item constructor Points 01  Lotus Climax 51 (56) 02  BRM 35 (37) 03  Ferrari 24 04th  Cooper-Climax 21st 05  Brabham-Climax 18th 06th  BRP-BRM 6th 07th  Porsche 5

Web links

• Results at motorsportarchiv.de
• Photos at f1-facts.com
• Grand Prix Results: United States GP, 1963 at grandprix.com
• Hill wins comfortably at the Glen at espnf1.com