Buy from Abebooks


  Buy from Abebooks


  Buy from Abebooks


  Buy from Abebooks

If you would like to support this website please click on some of the ads. No purchase is necessary.

The End of the Old Order

With the cancellation of the Grand Prix of Argentina the first race of the season would be Monte Carlo. Brabham inherited the lead and then the victory after the retirements of first Behra in a Ferrari and Moss in the Rob Walker Cooper. Zandvoort, the next race on the calendar, saw a surprise win by Jo Bonnier in a BRM. The was the marquee's first victory after nine seasons. Ferrari showed that they were still a force to reckon with on fast circuits by scoring a 1-2 at Reims with Brooks leading his teammate Phil Hill. The Cooper's were back in force for the British Grand Prix at Aintree where Brabham scored his second victory. His young teammate Bruce McLaren would finish third behind Stirling Moss. Ferrari, citing an Italian labor strike did not enter the race. The effect on the World Championship hopes of its driver Tony Brooks would prove fatal. The next race was the German Grand Prix which this year would be run on the banked Avus circuit. This being a horsepower track, provided Ferrari and Tony Brooks with a dominating win. Moss winless until now won the Portuguese Grand Prix and further tightened the World Championship race between Moss, Brabham and Brooks. Monza saw another victory for Moss with Brabham finishing third and once again picking up some valuable points.

There was a three month gap to the next race, the United States Grand Prix, to be held at Sebring the home of the 12 hour sports car race. The only chance that Moss would have for the title would be to win the race and after qualifying on the pole he was doing just that. Unfortunately his engine would not uphold its part of the bargain. This left the door open for Brabham who promptly ran out of fuel. Stubbornly pushing his car over the finish line he was awarded fourth place and the title. The victory went to the youngest driver in history to win a Grand Prix, the 22 year old New Zealander Bruce McLaren. Cooper won the Constructor's Cup beating Ferrari by eight points. David had beaten Goliath and Grand Prix racing would never be the same again.

By 1960 only Ferrari of the major contestants used a front-engine car. The young Cooper driver, McLaren won the opening race in Argentina. Moss in a private Lotus scored a brilliant victory, in the rain, at Monaco. The next five races were all claimed by Brabham and he was well on his way to scoring a second consecutive World Championship. Monza was won by Ferrari and the season ender, the US Grand Prix, was captured by Moss. Cooper once again won the Constructors Cup and their drivers were 1-2 in the title race with Brabham taking the crown for the second time running. This was the last year of the 2.5 liter formula that had seen so much history.

The new formula for the 1961 season placed a minimum car weight of 450kg, limited engine size to 1500cc and banned the use of supercharging outright. The new rules were met with wide spread protest that these cars would be to under powered and lose fan interests. The British teams were most effected as they did not have a suitable engine and would be at a disadvantage to Ferrari for the foreseeable future.The development of a new V-8 Coventry-Climax engine was running into problems and most of the British teams had to rely on an old four-cylinder unit.Ferrari, since converted to the rear-engine format would have the advantage this year. Driving for Ferrari were two Americans, Phil Hill and Richie Ginther who were joined by the charismatic German Wolfgang von Trips. Stirling Moss was relegated to a year old Lotus having been refused the latest factory model. Yet Moss would score the greatest victory of his career at Monaco. Moss recalls: "I'd say, without a doubt, that was my best race. I had to drive flat-out for all but about eleven of the 100 laps. And I mean flat-out. For the first few laps I was happy to pace myself, but when the others started to speed up I felt that I had to keep with the pack. I wouldn't normally have gone for the lead so soon but it seemed the right thing to do.' First Hill and then Ginther tried to force their way past. Always looking for the slightest mistake but there would be none this day. After being pressured by the three Ferraris for the entire race it was finally the last lap and Moss miraculously was still in the lead: "I thought, here we go, this is where they put their foot down and take me. From what I heard they were given signals by the Ferrari pits to "give all" but I managed to stay in front." Moss took the checkered flag 3.6 seconds in front of Ginther who was followed by Hill and von Trips in the other Ferraris. The Ferraris would not be stopped again. Even Reims where all of the factory Ferraris would fall victim to mechanical problems, was won by a private entrant, Giancarlo Baghetti, in a Ferrari. It was only Moss's victory at Nurburgring and the death of von Trips at Monza that ruined a great season for Ferrari. The championship belonged to Phil Hill. Tony Brooks the former dental student who had battled for the championship against the likes of Hawthorn and and Moss announced his retirement. This gentle man was, next to Moss, the greatest British driver during the 1950's and only the vagaries of fate deprived him as it did his, friend and rival, from his crown.

Goodwood
Ferrari correctly sensing that his cars could not maintain their dominance over the British contingent, sought to sign their best driver. Stirling Moss had earlier spurned the old man's advances due to an incident that had happened earlier in his career when in 1951 Enzo Ferrari offered Moss a place in his team for a race at Bari. When Moss appeared for the first day of practice he asked which one of the cars was his, and was told that there would be no car. Ferrari had changed his mind and had given Moss’s car to Piero Taruffi. Moss swore that day that he would never race in one of the red cars but feeling a desire to once again have competitive car he considered this offer carefully. Seeing new British teams sprouting up like mushrooms Ferrari began to feel vulnerable. To Moss he confided. "I need you. Tell me what kind of car you want and I will make it for you in six months. Put your ideas on paper for me. If you drive for me, you tell me on Monday what you did not like about the car on Sunday and by Friday it will have been changed to your taste… If you drive for me, I will have no team, just you and a reserve driver. With Moss, I would need no team…" Moss would not turn his back on Rob Walker so he suggested to him that he would drive a Ferrari as a Rob Walker entrant. Amazingly Ferrari agreed and a car was dutifully prepared and painted Rob Walker blue.

Moss never drove the Ferrari for he crashed and suffered career ending injuries at the Easter Monday meeting at Goodwood. Graham Hill in his book Graham, wrote: "I was leading the race comfortably, with Stirling still two laps behind me, when he flew past on the outside of a bend. Normally Stirling would never have attempted to pass anyone there, and as he overtook me he was already off the grass. Then, for no apparent reason, he just ploughed straight on into the bank. When he passed me he seemed to be completely out of control. Just what happened no-one will ever know - but I'm absolutely sure it wasn't due to driver error." Moss hovered near death and when he finally awoke he was temporally paralyzed. On 1 May 1963, just over a year after his accident he returned to a deserted Goodwood and tested a race car. Even though he was able to lap the circuit at near racing speeds he found the effort extremely difficult. What had been natural was no longer and he shortly afterwards announced his retirement. The link to the past had been broken and a new generation would rise to the top. Their names were Clark, Surtees, Gurney and Hill.

British Racing Motors
After Ferrari's success in 1961 the story would be completely different the next year. As is their wont at Ferrari their 1962 season suffered due to internal politics that exploded into a major rebellion at the factory that saw a mass walkout of engineers and technical staff including their chief engineer and team manager. The 1962 season would be fought with reworked 1961 cars driven chiefly by Phil Hill and supported by Willy Mairesse, Ricardo Rodriguez, Giancarlo Baghetti and Lorenzo Bandini in the face of a strengthened British and German challenge. The German challenge was not in the form of either Mercedes or Auto Union but Porsche. Using a flat eight air-cooled engine which was mounted to a much improved tubular chassis they were ably driven by American Dan Gurney and popular Swedish driver Jo Bonnier. At Lotus Innes Ireland was unceremoniously replaced with Trevor Taylor to partner Colin's "new boy" Jimmy Clark. To match his new star Chapman created the Type 25 using a monocoque chassis which resulted in the driver siting in an almost bathtub like structure. This type of construction allowed for increased rigidity and reduced weight, two of the most important aspects in chassis design. BRM had Graham Hill and Richie Ginther as numbers 1 and 2 respectively while Cooper had Bruce McLaren and Tony Maggs. Brabham, who had left Cooper, was busily preparing his own cars that would debut later in the season.

The season's opening race was at Zandvoort, Holland. The raced opened with Clark, Gurney and Graham Hill battling for the lead. Mechanical failures would remove his two protagonists leaving Hill to win his first Grand Prix and BRM only their second. At the next race in Monaco both Hill and Clark looked set to resume their fight but soon both of their cars would let them down. Bruce McLaren went on to claim the victory followed by Phil Hill in the Ferrari. The Belgian Grand Prix at Spa would be remembered as the site of Jimmy Clark's maiden victory. Ever since he began in Formula 1 it was not a question of if, but only when he would reach the top step of the podium.

The French Grand Prix was held at Rouen in Normandy. The first three positions on the grid were taken by Clark on the pole followed by Hill and McLaren. Ferrari was forced to withdraw from the race and when all the leaders suffered from mechanical trouble it was an opportunistic Dan Gurney who claimed a maiden victory for himself and for Porsche. Next up was the British Grand Prix held at Aintree. Ferrari was only able to enter one car which was driven by Phil Hill but he was unable to climb higher than 9th place when he was forced to retire with mechanical trouble. The crowd saw a race long duel between Clark and ex-motorcycle champion John Surtees in a Lola. But after losing second gear Surtees had to settle for second place. With his second win of the season, Clark was now in a tie with Graham Hill for the Championship.

The German Grand Prix at the famous Nurburgring saw Porsche determined to win the race in front of their home crowd. They did not disappoint their fans when Dan Gurney claimed pole position 3 seconds clear of Graham Hill's BRM and ten seconds faster than the previous record held by Phil Hill in a Ferrari. The front of the grid was occupied by five different carmakers - Porsche, BRM, Lotus, Lola and Cooper, the race had all of the ingredients of becoming a classic. The drivers whose names would become legends, were Gurney, Hill, Clark, Surtees and McLaren. The weather was such that would chill even the most ardent driver's heart. With several minor landslides along the 14-mile track visibility dropped to less than 100 yards or the distance a race car would travel in just over one second. The start of the race was postponed for an hour to allow flood water on the track to subside. After circulating the track on their warm-up reconnaissance lap the cars warily formed on the grid. The crowds exceeding 350,000 even in the face of the atrocious conditions stood in silence in memory of their fallen hero, Wolfgang von Tripps. Then the flag dropped and the cars thundered away, that is all except for Clark's Lotus which stalled on the grid but miraculously was not collected by a back-marker. At the end of the first lap Gurney's silver Porsche led, much to the satisfaction of the assembled dignitaries. But by the second lap Graham Hill was able to force his way into the lead. And so it remained for this battle between three great drivers at the top of their game with never more than 5 seconds separating the first and third cars. On a day when even the slightest mistake would mean disaster not a wheel was put wrong by this trio. Surtees who had passed Gurney was 3.5 seconds behind Hill with the taste of victory in his mouth he looked for the slightest opportunity to pounce. Setting himself up to slingshot past the leader on the last lap he was more determined than ever that the day would be his. Just at the decisive moment when he would make his move they came upon a lapped car and Hill was just able to reach the line 2.5 seconds in front of the raging Surtees.

With three races left in the Championship the turning point would come in the next race at Monza. The two leaders in the title fight were first and second on the grid. Clark surged into the lead at the drop of the flag but by the time the cars came around for the completion of the first lap the BRM of Graham Hill was in the lead. The third time around the green Lotus was nowhere to be seen, that is if you were looking for it on the track rather than back at its pit. Out with a seized transmission Clark could only watch his friend and rival Hill raced to a solid win and claimed a commanding lead in the Championship. Ginther in the other BRM was able to make it 1-2 for the team from Bourne.

After fifteen years and numerous setbacks that at times led to public ridicule, the championship was in their grasp. Unfortunately for them nobody had informed the Scotsman Clark that all was lost and after a convincing win at the United States Grand Prix the title would be settled in South Africa. Hill, who enjoyed a nine point lead on his rival had earned the maximum points allowed based on his complete races but Clark could still take the Championship on victories. And so it was that the failure of a 50 cent piece of hardware ended Clark's Championship hopes in East London and gave the crown to Hill. Racing is all about skill mixed in with preparation and a little bit of luck and no one begrudged the new Champion on that day. At thirty-three, after six years of racing and only nine years from receiving his first driver's license Graham Hill became England's most popular champion. Starting as a mechanic earning 1£ a day he reached racing's highest goal, Formula 1 World Champion.