1963 South African Grand Prix

 1963 South African Grand Prix

Racing data
10th of 10 races of the 1963 World Automobile Championship
Surname:	X South African Grand Prix
Date:	December 28, 1963
Place:	East London , South Africa
Course:	Prince George Circuit
Length:	333.2 km in 85 laps of 3.92 km
Weather:	hot, dry, windy
Pole position
Driver:	Jim Clark	Lotus Climax
Time:	1: 28.9 min
Fastest lap
Driver:	Dan Gurney (Round 33)	Brabham-Climax
Time:	1: 29.1 min
Podium
First:	Jim Clark	Lotus Climax
Second:	Dan Gurney	Brabham-Climax
Third:	Graham Hill	BRM

The 1963 Grand Prix of South Africa took place on December 28, 1963 on the Prince George Circuit near East London and was the last race of the 1963 World Automobile Championship .

Reports

background

Jim Clark won his seventh race of the season

As in the previous year, the South African Grand Prix was the season finale that took place at the end of the year. The works teams Brabham , Ferrari and BRM did not change their driver pairings after the season change. At Cooper , Tony Maggs drove for the team one last time. He moved to Scuderia Centro Sud in 1964 and drove only a few races with various customer vehicles in his further career. At Lotus , Trevor Taylor drove for the team one last time, before moving to BRP .

Since teams like ATS , Scirocco and BRP stayed away from the race, the field of drivers was filled by mostly South African drivers, as at the 1962 South African Grand Prix . Ernie Pieterse contested his last race on a Lotus 21 , but could not qualify for another race in 1965 . Paddy Driver was registered for the first time, but did not take part in the race due to an accident. It was not until eleven years later that he contested a Grand Prix of the automobile world championship , at the 1974 Grand Prix of South Africa . If there had been a race, there would have been eleven years between the two races, but instead Jan Lammers holds the record of the longest break between two Grand Prix. The Otello Nucci team reported two cars for Doug Serrurier and Peter de Klerk . Serrurier drove his last race on an LDS Mk1 , De Klerk his first on an Alfa Romeo Special . This was the first use of an Alfa Romeo vehicle since the 1951 Spanish Grand Prix , when the Alfa Romeo works team withdrew from the World Cup. John Love contested his only race of the season on a Cooper T55 , Sam Tingle his first on an LDS Mk1. Brausch Niemann was entered in his only Grand Prix with a Lotus 22 , David Prophet in his debut race in a Brabham BT6 . Both vehicles were powered by a Ford-Cosworth unit. Trevor Blokdyk also drove his only race in the automobile world championship with a Cooper T51 . A Maserati engine was installed in this car, and Maserati then paused as an engine supplier for 3 years.

Two weeks earlier, the Rand Grand Prix took place, which Surtees won. With Graham Hill and Jim Clark , two former winners took part in the race, with the designers Lotus, Cooper, BRM and Porsche were each victorious once before . In the drivers' standings, Clark was unmatchable and, thanks to the cancellation rules, the maximum possible number of points ahead of the two BRM drivers Richie Ginther and Graham Hill. Lotus had also already reached the maximum number of counters in the constructors' championship. BRM was in second place ahead of the tied constructors Ferrari and Brabham.

training

For the seventh time in the season, Clark was the fastest driver in practice. Clark set a new record with seven pole positions in one season, previously Alberto Ascari , Juan Manuel Fangio and Clark had this record with six pole positions. In 1973 , Clark's record was broken by Ronnie Peterson , when he was in first place nine times within a season. Now a tenth of a second behind Clark, Jack Brabham qualified for second place. His team-mate Gurney was third with a further tenth of a second.

In the other places followed the two Ferraris of John Surtees and Lorenzo Bandini , who both drove the new Ferrari 156 Aero . Behind them, Graham Hill and Ginther's BRM qualified ahead of Taylor's second Lotus. In the Cooper works team, too, both drivers started side by side, in ninth and tenth place. The best driver of those with a customer vehicle or a private vehicle was Jo Bonnier in eleventh place. The South African drivers were more than five seconds slower than Clark, they qualified in the back field. Last on the grid was Carel Godin de Beaufort , whose Porsche 718 was outdated and no longer competitive.

Paddy Driver's car was too badly damaged in a training accident that he was unable to take part in the race.

run

The night before the race, McLaren's Cooper was repaired by the mechanics and various parts had to be replaced. De Beaufort independently changed the engine of his Porsche and then tested the vehicle on public roads. He got into a radar control and was punished for exceeding the speed limit. Two hours before the start of the race, an electronics problem was discovered on the Surtees Ferrari. Several components were then replaced, but the electronics only worked again on the way to the starting grid.

The field was positioned a few meters in front of the actual starting grid and 30 seconds before the start the vehicles rolled forward in order to line up in the correct starting order. Brabham won the start but was overtaken by Clark on the first lap, who took the lead. Surtees also overtook Brabham and was second behind Clark and ahead of both Brabhams. In midfield, Taylor, Bandini, McLaren and Ginther dueled for fifth. In the following laps Brabham and Gurney Surtees attacked, giving Clark a seven-second lead over the competition. Tingle retired on lap two with a broken half-wave, one lap later the race for Pieterse ended with an engine failure.

Bandini lost several places after a driving mistake and fell back to ninth place, being overtaken by McLaren, Ginther and Graham Hill. Bandini's team-mate Surtees, on the other hand, had technical difficulties, as a result of which Brabham and Gurney overtook him on lap six. Then the engine power of Brabham's car dropped, so that both Gurney and Surtees passed him again. Taylor, who was fifth, spun off the track with a blocked gearbox and also lost several positions.

On lap 15, Graham Hill improved to fourth ahead of his teammate Ginther, as Brabham lost more places. On lap 45, Surtees was eliminated in third place, the reason for this was an engine failure. A lap later, Ginther also parked the car with damage to the half-wave. Prophet and de Klerk also dropped out in the further course of the race. Brabham spun off the track, damaging his tank. After pulling back into the pits, the gas ran out and Brabham finished the race. Since he had covered a sufficient race distance, he was classified in 13th place.

In the last third of the race the positions didn't change anymore. Clark won again with a one minute lead. He led every lap of the race and became the first driver in the history of the automobile world championship to win seven races of the season. This record lasted until the 1988 Formula 1 season , when Ayrton Senna outbid him with eight wins in one season. Gurney finished second and improved to fifth in the drivers' standings. He also drove the first fastest race lap of his career. Graham Hill reached the goal in third place and was tied with his teammate Ginther at the end of the season. Since Graham Hill won two races in contrast to Ginther, he finished the season in second place in the drivers' standings. Further points in the race were awarded to McLaren, Bandini and Bonnier. Maggs finished seventh ahead of Taylor, Love and Beaufort.

Registration list

team	No.	driver	chassis	engine	tires
Team Lotus	01	Jim Clark	Lotus 25	Climax 1.5 V8	D.
	02	Trevor Taylor
Scuderia Ferrari SpA SEFAC	03	John Surtees	Ferrari 156 Aero	Ferrari 1.5 V6	D.
	04th	Lorenzo Bandini
Owen Racing Organization	05	Graham Hill	BRM P57	BRM 1.5 V8	D.
	06th	Richie Ginther
Lawson organization	07th	Ernie Pieterse	Lotus 21	Climax 1.5 L4	D.
Brabham Racing Organization	08th	Jack Brabham	Brabham BT7	Climax 1.5 V8	D.
	09	Dan Gurney
Cooper Car Company	10	Bruce McLaren	Cooper T66	Climax 1.5 V8	D.
	11	Tony Maggs
Rob Walker Racing Team	12	Jo Bonnier	Cooper T66	Climax 1.5 V8	D.
Ecurie Maarsbergen	14th	Carel Godin de Beaufort	Porsche 718	Porsche 1.5 B4	D.
Selby Auto Spares	15th	Paddy Driver	Lotus 24	BRM 1.5 V8	D.
Otelle Nucci	16	Doug Serrurier	LDS Mk2	Alfa Romeo 1.5 L4	D.
	18th	Peter de Klerk	Alfa Romeo Special
John Love	19th	John Love	Cooper T55	Climax 1.5 L4	D.
Sam Tingle	20th	Sam Tingle	Cooper T55	Climax 1.5 L4	D.
Ted Lanfear	21st	Brew Niemann	Lotus 22	Ford-Cosworth 1.5 L4	D.
David prophet	22nd	David prophet	Brabham BT6	Ford 1.5 L4	D.
Scuderia Lupini	23	Trevor Blokdyk	Cooper T51	Maserati 1.5 L4	D.

Classifications

Starting grid

Item	driver	constructor	time	Ø speed	begin
01	Jim Clark	Lotus Climax	1: 28.9	158.74 km / h	01
02	Jack Brabham	Brabham-Climax	1: 29.0	158.56 km / h	02
03	Dan Gurney	Brabham-Climax	1: 29.1	158.38 km / h	03
04th	John Surtees	Ferrari	1: 29.8	157.15 km / h	04th
05	Lorenzo Bandini	Ferrari	1: 30.2	156.45 km / h	05
06th	Graham Hill	BRM	1: 30.3	156.28 km / h	06th
07th	Richie Ginther	BRM	1: 30.4	156.11 km / h	07th
08th	Trevor Taylor	Lotus Climax	1: 30.4	156.11 km / h	08th
09	Bruce McLaren	Cooper-Climax	1: 31.2	154.74 km / h	09
10	Tony Maggs	Cooper-Climax	1: 31.5	154.23 km / h	10
11	Jo Bonnier	Cooper-Climax	1: 32.0	153.39 km / h	11
12	Ernie Pieterse	Lotus Climax	1: 34.5	149.33 km / h	12
13	John Love	Cooper-Climax	1: 34.6	149.18 km / h	13
14th	David prophet	Brabham-Ford	1: 35.5	147.77 km / h	14th
15th	Brew Niemann	Lotus Ford	1: 35.6	147.62 km / h	15th
16	Peter de Klerk	Alfa Romeo	1: 35.7	147.46 km / h	16
17th	Sam Tingle	LDS-Alfa Romeo	1: 35.8	147.31 km / h	17th
18th	Doug Serrurier	LDS-Alfa Romeo	1: 36.4	146.39 km / h	18th
19th	Trevor Blokdyk	Cooper Maserati	1: 36.5	146.24 km / h	19th
20th	Carel Godin de Beaufort	Porsche	1: 36.6	146.09 km / h	20th

run

Item	driver	constructor	Round	Stops	time	begin	Fastest lap	Failure reason
01	Jim Clark	Lotus Climax	85	0	2: 10: 36.9	01
02	Dan Gurney	Brabham-Climax	85	0	+1: 06.8	03	1: 29.1
03	Graham Hill	BRM	84	0	+ 1 lap	06th
04th	Bruce McLaren	Cooper-Climax	84	0	+ 1 lap	09
05	Lorenzo Bandini	Ferrari	84	0	+ 1 lap	05
06th	Jo Bonnier	Cooper-Climax	83	0	+ 2 rounds	11
07th	Tony Maggs	Cooper-Climax	82	0	+ 3 rounds	10
08th	Trevor Taylor	Lotus Climax	81	0	+ 4 rounds	08th
09	John Love	Cooper-Climax	80	0	+ 5 rounds	13
10	Carel Godin de Beaufort	Porsche	79	0	+ 6 rounds	20th
11	Doug Serrurier	LDS-Alfa Romeo	78	0	+ 7 rounds	18th
12	Trevor Blokdyk	Cooper Maserati	77	0	+ 8 rounds	19th
13	Jack Brabham	Brabham-Climax	71	0	+ 14 rounds	02
14th	Brew Niemann	Lotus Ford	65	0	+ 20 rounds	15th
-	Peter de Klerk	Alfa Romeo	53	0	DNF	16		transmission
-	David prophet	Brabham-Ford	48	0	DNF	14th		oil pressure
-	Richie Ginther	BRM	43	0	DNF	07th		Half wave
-	John Surtees	Ferrari	42	0	DNF	04th		Engine failure
-	Ernie Pieterse	Lotus Climax	03	0	DNF	12		Engine failure
-	Sam Tingle	LDS-Alfa Romeo	02	0	DNF	17th		Half wave

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 54 (73) 02  Graham Hill BRM 29 03  Richie Ginther BRM 29 (34) 04th  John Surtees Ferrari 22nd 05  Dan Gurney Brabham-Climax 19th 06th  Bruce McLaren Cooper-Climax 17th 07th  Jack Brabham Brabham-Climax 14th 08th  Tony Maggs Cooper-Climax 9 09  Innes Ireland BRP-BRM 6th

Item driver constructor Points 10  Lorenzo Bandini BRM / Ferrari 6th 11  Jo Bonnier Cooper-Climax 6th 12  Gerhard Mitter Porsche 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 54 (74) 02  BRM 36 (45) 03  Brabham-Climax 28 (30) 04th  Ferrari 26th 05  Cooper-Climax 25 (26) 06th  BRP-BRM 6th 07th  Porsche 5

Web links

• Results at motorsportarchiv.de
• Photos at f1-facts.com
• Grand Prix Results: South African GP, ​​1963 at grandprix.com
• The 10th South African Grand Prix at motorsportmagazine.com
• Clark makes it a magnificent seven at espnf1.com