Race Report from Forest Hall CircuitSundays Grand Prix Meeting was opened with a round of the British Saloon Car Championship. Once Frank Gardner was prised away from the Brabham pit garage, he got on with demolishing the opposition in his Alan Mann Ford Falcon Sprint. John Fitzpatrick gave chase in the Broadspeed Escort 1300TC, but in this case it was very much a victory for Goliath over David.
The Grand PrixAs everyone knows, completing a full distance Grand Prix is very different from warm ups and practice sessions. It was first time out for all teams and despite the early form shown by Matra and BRM the paddock atmosphere on race day morning was that of anxious anticipation.
As the Union Jack fell, Stewart took an early lead from Taylor, who’d, made a lightening start from 5th place on the grid. Following hard on the heels of Taylor came Hill in the GLTL 49B. Taylor gallantly held off Hill until finally succumbing to Cosworth power. Meanwhile Brabham in the BT24 was running wheel to wheel with Hill’s BRM P83; Graham struggling at the start and subsequently suffering from intermittent power issues. Unfortunately, GH was seemingly unable to quite match his earlier form in practice.
The field heads into Gerrards Bend at the start.
Leading runners on lap one.
Chris Amon kept both Brabham and Hill well within his sights throughout the race and at one point looked as though he could catch and pass Hill. As Brabham set off in pursuit of Trevor Taylor, the battle for 5th and 6th continued behind him. Dan Gurney steadily carved his way through the field in the Eagle Climax passing Brabham and McLaren in the early stages.
Amon, Hill and Gurney approach Shaws Hairpin.
Up at the front Stewart spun at Shaws Hairpin and for a brief moment Hill was ahead. However, once again the steely Scot threw down the gauntlet, recomposed himself and was quickly back in front, which was where way he remained until the chequered flag.
The action was no less exciting down in mid field. Bianchi, Rindt and Gurney fought wheel to wheel throughout the entire Grand Prix. They crossed the finish line almost 3 abreast, but it was Gurney just ahead of Bianchi and Rindt, all three only separated by fractions of a second.
Surtees had managed to improve the Ferrari 312 handling a little more to his liking for the race, but Stewart’s BRM P83 harried John all the way to the flag. Although Surtess managed to stay ahead of Stewart, the Ferrari gearbox was not sounding quite as sweet as when it left the paddock prior to the race.
Hill struggled to stay with Stewart in the early stages.
McLaren only just managed to stave off a strong challenge from Black Jacks BT24.
Surtees, followed closely by Stewart and Brabham, ran strongly in the race despite handing difficulties during practice.
Siffert ran steadily and managed to finish in tact ahead of the Cooper-Maserati of John Surtees, although a couple of pit stops to investigate continuous over-steer failed to rectify the problem. Otherwise, Siffert may have caught Hill’s GLTL 49B which had run solidly in 16th during the race.
If there were to be any prizes for bad luck, then they must surely go to the Honda Team. Richie Ginther had made a magnificent start and was initially running with the Bianchi/Surtees/Gurney battle for 10th place. However, at the three quarter distance disaster struck and Ginther’s RA273 lost its near side rear wheel going into Gerrards Bend. Ginther was unhurt, as was the car, but one had to feel sorry for the guy as he had driven so well all weekend. As the team were coming to terms with this retirement, Surtees stormed into the pit-lane with clutch/gearbox trouble. A slipping clutch was quickly diagnosed, and John was sent out again. A few laps later the same problem befell the beautiful RA300. Surtees managed to struggle onto the chequered flag, but there was clearly bitter disappointment in the Honda racing pit.
Gurney, Bianchi and Rindt ran together throughout the entire race all finishing within a second of each other at the chequered flag.
Ginther; too distraught to even leave the cockpit of his Honda cannot believe what's just happened.
Double blow for the Honda team as Surtees awaits the verdict from team mechanics.
Siffert waits frustratingly in the pits while Rob Walkers team attempt to cure a tail happy Lotus 49
Surtees and Hill both fought hard with under powered cars, but survived to the finsih.
Stewart takes the chequered flag ahead of Hill, Taylor and Brabham.
So, Round One concludes what was an incredibly tight race with only 8 laps separating the top 13 runners. The scene has been set for what looks like a very close championship and with 3 rounds still to go the leading runners are too close call just yet.