1965 South African Grand Prix

 1965 South African Grand Prix

Racing data
1st of 10 races in the 1965 World Automobile Championship
Surname:	XI South African Grand Prix
Date:	January 1, 1965
Place:	East London , South Africa
Course:	Prince George Circuit
Length:	333.2 km in 85 laps of 3.92 km
Weather:	sunny, dry
Pole position
Driver:	Jim Clark	Lotus Climax
Time:	1: 27.2 min
Fastest lap
Driver:	Jim Clark (Round 80)	Lotus Climax
Time:	1: 27.6 min
Podium
First:	Jim Clark	Lotus Climax
Second:	John Surtees	Ferrari
Third:	Graham Hill	BRM

The 1965 South African Grand Prix took place on January 1, 1965 on the Prince George Circuit near East London and was the first race of the 1965 World Automobile Championship .

Reports

background

Debut race and first point placement by Jackie Stewart (picture from 1971)

Grand Slam by Jim Clark

Originally the South African Grand Prix was planned as the last race of the 1964 Automobile World Championship , but by postponing it by a week to January 1st, the Grand Prix became the first race of the new season and in 1964 there was no South African Grand Prix. For the first time the race was the start of a season, from 1967 the Grand Prix became permanently the first race of the season in the following years. Since the venue changed to Kyalami in 1967, the race was held for the last time in 1965 as part of the Automobile World Championship on the Prince George Circuit , as the race track was considered too small.

Since 1965 was the last planned season in which the engines, which were limited to 1.5 liters, were driven, most factory teams decided not to develop new vehicles and drove another season with the cars from the previous year. Only Cooper launched the new Cooper T77 , which was, however, only a slightly modified further development of the Cooper T73 and was only driven by Bruce McLaren in the first race . His new teammate, Jochen Rindt, replaced Phil Hill at Cooper and became the team's new regular driver alongside McLaren. Ferrari continued to drive with the reigning world champion John Surtees and Lorenzo Bandini , the Ferrari 158 was registered for Surtees and the Ferrari 1512 for Bandini . Although the dispute between Enzo Ferrari and the Italian Automobile Association continued, Ferrari returned as an Italian team and the vehicles were painted red again. Ferrari had previously been registered for two races as the North American Racing Team and the team had painted the cars blue and white in protest. The only consequence of the disputes was Enzo Ferrari not being the team boss and being represented by Ferrari racing director Eugenio Dragoni . BRM continued to drive Graham Hill and the BRM P261 . Since Richie Ginther had switched to Honda , the team gave the free cockpit to Jackie Stewart . The later three-time world champion made his debut in the automobile world championship . At Lotus, the Lotus 33 was so developed that both Jim Clark and Mike Spence drove it. Spence became the team's official regular driver as Peter Arundell's injury break continued and he was out for the entire season. At Brabham , the driver pairing did not change either, two Brabham BT11s were registered for Jack Brabham and Dan Gurney . Brabham was the only team to switch to Goodyear tires, thereby breaking the tire monopoly that Dunlop had had in previous years. Honda didn't start the season until the second race of the season, the Monaco Grand Prix . BRP had withdrawn from the automobile world championship before the season.

In addition to the factory teams, 18 drivers with customer vehicles registered for the Grand Prix. The Rob Walker Racing Team continued to drive with Joakim Bonnier and Joseph Siffert . Bonnier drove a Brabham BT7 , Siffert the Brabham BT11. This car was also used by Bob Anderson , who returned after a break for several races. Tony Maggs made his last race in the Automobile World Championship for Reg Parnell Racing on a Lotus 25 . The team gave cockpits to other drivers during the season. John Willment Automobiles competed regularly in 1965, and Frank Gardner and Paul Hawkins were drivers in the South African Grand Prix . It was Hawkins' debut race, he drove a Brabham BT10 with a Ford engine. The other reports came from local drivers from South Africa and the surrounding countries. It was the only race of the season for John Love , Sam Tingle and Peter de Klerk and the last for David Prophet . Doug Serrurier , Ernie Pieterse , Neville Lederle , Brausch Niemann and Trevor Blokdyk were entered for a race in the context of the Automobile World Championship, Clive Puzey the only time. Jackie Pretorius and Dave Charlton made their debut, but the South African Grand Prix was also the only race of the season for both drivers. The local drivers mainly used outdated Lotus vehicles, but also their own designs such as the LDS Mk2 or the Alfa Romeo Special . By the time the factory team returned in 1979 , no Alfa Romeo cars or engines were used in the World Cup.

With Graham Hill and Jim Clark two former winners took part in the race, with the designers Lotus had previously won twice, BRM and Cooper once each.

training

The organizers limited the starting field to 20 cars. In a first training session one day before the start of the official training, nine drivers had to compete in order to qualify for participation in the training. For this, at least a fixed time of 1: 37.0 minutes had to be achieved. Charlton, Pretorius and Puzey drove slower times than the required and thus did not qualify for the training.

The first regular training session took place on Wednesday afternoon under very hot and windy weather conditions. At Brabham, Brabham initially used the Dunlop tires on his car while his teammate rode the Goodyear tires. All other teams also tested the Goodyear tires for a few laps, but when compared directly they came to the conclusion that the Dunlop tire is about one second faster per lap. Clark and Surtees set the first lap times under 1:30 minutes, Clark was three tenths of a second faster than his rival. However, his teammate Spence had difficulties with the track and spun several times. Clark continuously improved his best time in the further course of the training and in the end drove a 1: 27.6, more than a second faster than the pole time of the previous year. Meanwhile, the competition had technical difficulties. Both cars had to be repaired at Cooper, at Brabham Jack Brabham's car, he got a new engine and a new gearbox. Siffert, Maggs, and Anderson also needed repairs.

The second training session took place on Thursday morning and the weather conditions had improved, it was less windy and a little cooler. Clark set the fastest lap times again at the beginning, but did not improve the fastest time from the previous day. Hill and Stewart had minor technical problems that were quickly resolved. Gurney ended the training session early to have the engine changed. He was the only driver who had ridden Goodyear tires all the time, but slower than the immediate competition. Bandini also parked his car in the pits, and the mechanics had to repair the fuel supply. In the meantime, Clark continued to improve his best time, which was 1: 27.2 minutes after the second training session.

The third regular training session took place on Thursday afternoon. Stewart only took part later, as both the transmission and the clutch were damaged on his BRM. When the two were exchanged, both Stewart and Hill improved their times. Clark was also one second faster than the competition and also set the fastest time in the third training session. Few drivers improved their times due to very strong winds. Gurney and Spence only finished a few laps.

Clark achieved the first pole position of the season with superiority , and across all seasons it was the third in a row for him. Surtees was second ahead of Jack Brabham in third. Spence, Graham Hill and Bandini started behind. The best driver with a customer vehicle was Bonnier in seventh place. The Cooper qualified in eighth and tenth, Gurney started in ninth in between. Because the starting field was limited to 20 cars, Blokdyk, Lederle, Serrurier, Niemann and Pieterse did not qualify for the Grand Prix.

run

Clark won the start and led the race ahead of his teammate Spence. Both Lotus drivers built a lead over the competition on the first lap and set themselves apart from the competition. Brabham followed in third place, ahead of McLaren, Surtees and Hill. At the front, the order remained unchanged in the following laps, with Surtees overtaking first McLaren and then Brabham. In the first rounds Gurney and Anderson pitted. Gurney had problems with the electrical system but they couldn't be fixed. He gave up the race six laps later. Anderson had the brakes repaired by his mechanics, but again without improvement. He continued the Grand Prix in last place, spun off the track several times and was not classified at the end of the race despite having crossed the finish line because the race distance covered was too short. Tingle came to the pits with insufficient oil pressure, Bonnier drove to the pits twice due to a loose tank. Both continued the race after a repair.

The point placements remained constant in the further course of the race, only in the midfield there were changes in position due to failures. Love retired on lap 19 with a defective half-wave, Rindt parked his Cooper with electrical damage on lap 38. A short time later, Bonnier followed with a defective clutch. Bandini did not reach the goal either, but since he had covered 67 laps, he was classified in 15th place. He was previously in seventh place, which Stewart took. Clark extended his lead over Spence to 13 seconds, Surtees was a further twelve seconds behind Spence in third place. After Spence spun off the track due to a driving error, this distance decreased to three seconds and Surtees kept this distance constant in the following laps. Beyond that, Brabham got various technical problems because the battery of his car was empty. The battery was replaced at the pits and Brabham then continued the race. Hill took fourth place, Stewart was in the points for the first time in his career. Maggs, Tingle, Gardner and Prophet also pitted for various repairs. Prophet had previously lost a lot of oil on the track, causing Spence to spin off the track again. Both Surtees and Hill passed him.

Except for a few shifts at the end of the field, the positions remained in place until the finish line was crossed. There was confusion when waving the car off, as this took place one lap too early. Clark was shown a pit board by Lotus that he still had one lap to drive, but at the same time the checkered flag was waved. He made it clear to officials that they were wrong by waving his arms and continued running without slowing down. The mistake was now noticed and after a brief communication, no other driver was shown the checkered flag before Clark passed the start and finish again and he was waved off as the winner for the second time, this time right. For Clark it was the third victory in the South African Grand Prix, followed by another in 1968 . In addition to the pole position and leading every single race lap, Clark also drove the fastest race lap, achieving his sixth Grand Slam . He set a new record that Alberto Ascari had held with five Grand Slams. Clark extended the record in 1965 and is still the driver with the most Grand Slams to this day. Surtees was second ahead of Hill and Spence. The other points went to McLaren and Stewart for places five and six. For Stewart it was the first point in the automobile world championship. The first ten were completed by Siffert, Brabham, Hawkins and De Clerk. In the drivers 'championship, Clark was ahead of Surtees and Hill; in the constructors' championship, Lotus was ahead of Ferrari and BRM

Registration list

team	No.	driver	chassis	engine	tires
Scuderia Ferrari SpA SEFAC	01	John Surtees	Ferrari 158	Ferrari 1.5 V8	D.
	02	Lorenzo Bandini	Ferrari 1512	Ferrari 1.5 B12
Owen Racing Organization	03	Graham Hill	BRM P261	BRM 1.5 V8	D.
	04th	Jackie Stewart
Team Lotus	05	Jim Clark	Lotus 33	Climax 1.5 V8	D.
	06th	Mike Spence
Brabham Racing Organization	07th	Jack Brabham	Brabham BT11	Climax 1.5 V8	G
	08th	Dan Gurney
Cooper Car Company	09	Bruce McLaren	Cooper T77	Climax 1.5 V8	D.
	10	Jochen Rindt	Cooper T73
Rob Walker Racing Team	11	Joakim Bonnier	Brabham BT7	Climax 1.5 V8	D.
	12	Joseph Siffert	Brabham BT11	BRM 1.5 V8
DW Racing Enterprises	14th	Bob Anderson	Brabham BT11	Climax 1.5 V8	D.
Reg Parnell Racing	15th	Tony Maggs	Lotus 25	BRM 1.5 V8	D.
John Willment Automobiles	16	Frank Gardner	Brabham BT11	BRM 1.5 V8	D.
	18th	Paul Hawkins	Brabham BT10	Ford-Cosworth 1.5 L4
John Love	17th	John Love	Cooper T55	Climax 1.5 L4	D.
David prophet	19th	David prophet	Brabham BT10	Ford-Cosworth 1.5 L4	D.
Otelle Nucci	20th	Peter de Klerk	Alfa Romeo Special	Alfa Romeo 1.5 L4	D.
	21st	Doug Serrurier	LDS Mk2	Climax 1.5 L4
Lawson organization	22nd	Ernie Pieterse	Lotus 21	Climax 1.5 L4	D.
Scuderia Scribante	23	Neville Lederle	Lotus 21	Climax 1.5 L4	D.
Clive Puzey	24	Clive Puzey	Lotus 18	Climax 1.5 L4	D.
Sam Tingle	25th	Sam Tingle	LDS Mk1	Alfa Romeo 1.5 L4	D.
Trevor Blokdijk	28	Trevor Blokdyk	Cooper T59	Ford-Cosworth 1.5 L4	D.
Jackie Pretorius	29	Jackie Pretorius	LDS Mk1	Alfa Romeo 1.5 L4	D.
Ecurie Tomahawk	32	Dave Charlton	Lotus 20	Ford-Cosworth 1.5 L4	D.

Classifications

Starting grid

Item	driver	constructor	time	Ø speed	begin
01	Jim Clark	Lotus Climax	1: 27.2	161.83 km / h	01
02	John Surtees	Ferrari	1: 28.1	160.18 km / h	02
03	Jack Brabham	Brabham-Climax	1: 28.3	159.82 km / h	03
04th	Mike Spence	Lotus Climax	1: 28.3	159.82 km / h	04th
05	Graham Hill	BRM	1: 28.6	159.28 km / h	05
06th	Lorenzo Bandini	Ferrari	1: 29.3	158.03 km / h	06th
07th	Joakim Bonnier	Brabham-Climax	1: 29.3	158.03 km / h	07th
08th	Bruce McLaren	Cooper-Climax	1: 29.4	157.85 km / h	08th
09	Dan Gurney	Brabham-Climax	1: 29.5	157.68 km / h	09
10	Jochen Rindt	Cooper-Climax	1: 30.4	156.11 km / h	10
11	Jackie Stewart	BRM	1: 30.5	155.93 km / h	11
12	Bob Anderson	Brabham-Climax	1: 31.0	155.08 km / h	12
13	Tony Maggs	Lotus BRM	1: 31.3	154.57 km / h	13
14th	Joseph Siffert	Brabham-BRM	1: 31.8	153.73 km / h	14th
15th	Frank Gardner	Brabham-BRM	1: 32.3	152.89 km / h	15th
16	Paul Hawkins	Brabham-Ford	1: 33.1	151.6 km / h	16
17th	Peter de Klerk	Alfa Romeo	1: 33.3	151.25 km / h	17th
18th	John Love	Cooper-Climax	1: 33.8	150.45 km / h	18th
19th	David prophet	Brabham-Ford	1: 33.9	150.29 km / h	19th
20th	Sam Tingle	LDS-Alfa Romeo	1: 34.6	149.18 km / h	20th
DNQ	Trevor Blokdyk	Cooper-Ford	1: 35.2	148.24 km / h	-
DNQ	Neville Lederle	Lotus Climax	1: 35.2	148.24 km / h	-
DNQ	Doug Serrurier	LDS-Climax	1: 35.7	147.46 km / h	-
DNQ	Brew Niemann	Lotus Ford	1: 36.2	146.69 km / h	-
DNQ	Ernie Pieterse	Lotus Climax	1: 37.9	144.15 km / h	-
DNPQ	Dave Charlton	Lotus Ford	no time	-	-
DNPQ	Jackie Pretorius	LDS-Alfa Romeo	no time	-	-
DNPQ	Clive Puzey	Lotus Climax	no time	-	-

run

Item	driver	constructor	Round	Stops	time	begin	Fastest lap	Failure reason
01	Jim Clark	Lotus Climax	85	0	2: 06: 46.0	01	1: 27.6
02	John Surtees	Ferrari	85	0	+ 29.0	02
03	Graham Hill	BRM	85	0	+ 31.8	05
04th	Mike Spence	Lotus Climax	85	0	+ 54.4	04th
05	Bruce McLaren	Cooper-Climax	84	0	+ 1 lap	08th
06th	Jackie Stewart	BRM	83	0	+ 2 rounds	11
07th	Joseph Siffert	Brabham-BRM	83	0	+ 2 rounds	14th
08th	Jack Brabham	Brabham-Climax	81	1	+ 4 rounds	03
09	Paul Hawkins	Brabham-Ford	81	0	+ 4 rounds	16
10	Peter de Klerk	Alfa Romeo	79	0	+ 6 rounds	17th
11	Tony Maggs	Lotus BRM	77	1	+ 8 rounds	13
12	Frank Gardner	Brabham-BRM	75	1	+ 10 rounds	15th
13	Sam Tingle	LDS-Alfa Romeo	72	2	+ 13 rounds	20th
14th	David prophet	Brabham-Ford	71	0	+ 14 rounds	19th
15th	Lorenzo Bandini	Ferrari	67	1	+ 18 rounds	06th
-	Bob Anderson	Brabham-Climax	50	3	NC	12		unclassified
-	Joakim Bonnier	Brabham-Climax	41	3	DNF	07th		coupling
-	Jochen Rindt	Cooper-Climax	38	1	DNF	10		electrical damage
-	John Love	Cooper-Climax	19th	0	DNF	18th		Half wave
-	Dan Gurney	Brabham-Climax	10	1	DNF	09		ignition

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 9 02  John Surtees Ferrari 6th 03  Graham Hill BRM 4th 04th  Mike Spence Lotus Climax 3 05  Bruce McLaren Cooper-Climax 2 06th  Jackie Stewart BRM 1

Constructors' championship

Item constructor Points 01  Lotus Climax 9 02  Ferrari 6th 03  BRM 4th 04th  Cooper-Climax 2

Web links

• Photos at f1-facts.com
• Grand Prix Results: South African GP, ​​1965 at grandprix.com
• Clark responds with dominant win at espn.co.uk
• 11th South African Grand Prix at motorsportmagazine.com