Syd van der Vyver
Syd van der Vyver (born June 1, 1920 in Pennington ; † August 20, 1989 ibid) was a South African motorcycle and automobile racing driver . In 1960 he was the first winner of the newly announced South African Formula 1 championship . Van der Vyver registered for a run in the Formula 1 World Championship, but did not compete due to technical defects.
Life
Speedway racing
Van der Vyver took as a mechanic in the Royal Navy in the Second World War in part. His involvement in motorsport began after the end of the war. He competed in dirt track races until the early 1950s and earned a reputation as a tough driver. During his races he wore leather combinations that were painted with a skeleton.
Smaller automobile sport classes
In 1955 van der Vyver switched to automobile sport. First and foremost, he competed in the 500cc class, a series that used small racing cars with a displacement of 0.5 liters and is considered the forerunner of Formula Junior and Formula 3 . Van der Vyver initially drove cars that had been designed in South Africa (so-called "specials"); later he used older, used cars from Cooper or BRM , which were equipped with motorcycle engines from Norton or JAP . In addition, van der Vyver drove numerous hill climbs .
formula 1
From 1960 van 1 Championship Formula, a series that as of dedicated Vyver in the newly formed South African Formule Libre broader South African drivers' championship ( South African Drivers Championship replaced). Van der Vyver used an older Cooper T43 that year , which he had taken over from Doug Serrurier and which was powered by a 1.5 liter Alfa Romeo engine. The power transmission took place via a sequential gearbox that had been specially made for van der Vyver in 1958 by the Jackson Cars company in Durban . Van der Vyvers mechanic at that time was Peter de Klerk , who a few years later took part in the championship as a driver with a self-constructed "Special". Van der Vyver won the championship title in the first season of this series. In 1961 he repeated his success in a Lotus 18 , which was also powered by an Alfa Romeo engine.
For the South African Formula 1 championship in 1962 van der Vyver registered a Lotus 21 . With this car, still powered by an Alfa Romeo engine, van der Vyver was unable to do anything against his competitor Ernest Pieterse , who used the Lotus 21 with a Climax engine that Jim Clark had previously driven . Pieterse won the championship in 1962.
In autumn 1962 van der Vyver took over the Lotus 24 Climax, which Jack Brabham had used for his own team in the first races of the Formula 1 World Championship in 1962 . Van der Vyver first reported the car to the Rand Grand Prix , which took place on December 15, 1962. He qualified as the fastest of the local drivers, but retired from the race due to a defective clutch. At the Natal Grand Prix , which was held a week later , van der Vyver was in third place for a long time, but got off the track as a result of a driving error and severely damaged the car.
For the Grand Prix of South Africa , a race belonging to the Formula 1 World Championship, which was held in the last week of December 1962, there was also a message from van der Vyvers. However, he failed to restore his lotus within the few days left. Van der Vyver therefore did not compete in the South African Grand Prix. There was no further message from van der Vyvers about a Formula 1 world championship run.
Syd van der Vyver repaired the Lotus 24 in the first months of 1963 and took part in several other South African races in the period that followed. In 1963 the car was destroyed in a fire. Thereupon van der Vyver ended his racing career. He founded a racing school in Durban . Later he dealt with the restoration of vintage cars.
Race results Formula 1 World Championship
| season | chassis | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4th | 5 | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9 | Points | rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1962 |
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0 | - | |
| Cooper T43 - Alfa Romeo | DNA |
Web links
- Syd Van der Vyver's biography on www.500race.org (accessed September 27, 2012).
Individual evidence
- ↑ https://www.statsf1.com/en/syd-van-der-vyver.aspx
- ↑ For the 500 class cf. Hodges: Racing Cars from A – Z after 1945, p. 274.
- ↑ Jackson. (No longer available online.) The BMC Experience, archived from the original on April 9, 2013 ; Retrieved September 27, 2012 .
- ↑ Brabham drove the car until his own design, the Brabham BT3, was ready for use.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Van der Vyver, Syd |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | South African motorcycle and automobile racer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 1, 1920 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Pennington |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 20, 1989 |
| Place of death | Pennington |