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#136 1965 British Grand Prix

2022-05-11 18:36

Osservatore Sportivo

#1965, Fulvio Conti, Translated by Alessia Andreoli,

#136 1965 British Grand Prix

Sunday 5th July 1965 Pedro Rodriguez and Jean Guichet take their Ferrari 4400, belonging to the American team N.A.R.T, to triumph in the 12 hours of R

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On Sunday, July 5, 1965, Pedro Rodriguez and Jean Guichet win the 12 Hours of Reims driving a Ferrari 4400 belonging to the American N.A.R.T. team. Behind the winner are three other Italian cars. The twenty-two participants started the race at 11 pm on Saturday night, but only thirteen of them made it to the finish line. Several tragic moments sadly characterised the race. The fatal accident occurs thirty minutes after the start: Belgian Gerard Langlois loses control of his Ferrari on a turn and violently hits a fence. Behind it there are two men, a track marshal, 25-year-old Marcel Normand, and 39-year-old Pierre Van Den Bossche. They are sadly hit by the car and violently thrown to the ground. Rescue squad transports the two stewards by helicopter to the hospital in Reims, but unfortunately, they do not make it. They were both married, Van Den Bossche leaves two children. The Piper-Atwood English team (Ferrari) lead the race until 9:30, after Surtees-Parkes and Graham Hill-Bonnier had taken the lead; but then Rodriguez and Guichet move to P1, while the transmission of Piper-Attwood's Ferrari fails. Their car finishes the race in P4, having run for the last thirty minutes in only one gear, fifth. John Surtees and Mike Parkes, after putting out a fire, manage to finish in P2, while Belgians Willy Mairesse and Edgar Beurlys finish in P3. At the start the Ferrari of Graham Hill and Bonnier takes the lead and keeps it for 33 laps; then Rodriguez-Guichet move to P1, ahead of Surtees-Parker, Piper-Attwood and Hairesse-Beurlys. But then, there's a plot twist. The Ferrari driven by Rodriguez-Guichet stops in the box due to a clutch failure. But as soon as they are able to rejoin the race, they are eight laps behind Hill-Bonnier, who in the meantime have taken the lead ahead of Surtees-Parker. But Rodriguez and Guichet do not give up and they push hard to comeback, almost like they were possessed. At 2:00 a.m. Surtees and Parkes take the lead of the race and are 55 seconds ahead of Hill-Bonnier and two laps ahead of Piper-Attwood. Noblet-Cambral's Iso-Grifo A3C Chevrolet is forced to withdraw from the race. Surtees and Parkes manage to keep a furious pace (209.258 km/h as an overall average), leaving Hill-Bonnier one lap and Piper-Atwood three laps behind. After five hours of racing, Surtees-Parkes have covered 1037,625 kilometres approx. at an average speed of 208.716 km/h. They are three laps ahead of Hill-Bonnier and Piper-Attwood, ten laps ahead of Bondurat-Schlesser and Sears-Whitmore (both teams racing with Ford cars), while the others are much further back, even though Rodriguez-Guichet continue to gain ground. 

 

At five a.m., halfway through the race, only fourteen cars or so are still on the track. But there is another plot twist. The Ferrari which was in the lead, at that moment driven by Surtees, comes in at low speed on the acceleration track, and right in front of the stopwatch it catches fire, which the driver manages to put out with the on-board fire extinguisher. Then the car stops for a long time in the box, where the mechanics carry out several checks. At 6.00 a.m., Hill-Bonnier are in the lead ahead of Piper Attwood; Rodriguez-Guichet, authors of a sensational comeback, are six laps down. As soon as Surtees-Parkes can rejoin the race, they are 15 laps behind. Graham Hill and Bonnier seem well on their way to repeating the previous year's success when, at 8:30, the unexpected happens: the two are forced to withdraw due to a broken gearbox. Piper-Attwood have to stop and Rodriguez-Guichet consequently retake the lead; but shortly afterwards they have to stop in turn and Piper-Attwood overtake them, creating an exciting final duel. Rodriguez-Guichet gain a considerable lead, second by second, and when the rivals are forced to stop quickly for the last refuelling, the Mexican and the French take the lead again. Behind, Surtees's performance is incredible, and he lowers the lap record to 2'17''9 (an average speed of 216.724 km/h). Towards the end of the 12 Hours race, Piper-Attwood, with their gearbox stuck in fifth gear, are unable to prevent Surtees-Parker from overtaking them. Afterwards, The Formula 2 and Formula 3 race take place. Jochen Rindt (Brabham) win the Formula 2 race, with an average speed of 196.212 km/h, ahead of Australian driver Gardner (Lola) and Jim Clark (Lotus). Surtees is not able to start the race because the engine of his Cooper, which had failed in practice, has not been repaired in time. Rindt confirms his skills and his self-confidence; the winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans wins in a final sprint in which four cars are grouped together in less than half a length. The Austrian goes off the track on lap five, and is eleventh when he manages to restart; but in just nine laps he comes back and enters the exciting final fight, winning  with a thrilling sprint on the finish line. The Formula 3 race also ends in a final sprint, with just 0.1 seconds between the winner, Frenchman Jean Pierre Beltoise (Marra-Ford) and the two English drivers Courage and Fenning.

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During the race, Englishman Jonathan Williams goes off the track and is thrown from his Brabham; he is taken to hospital and diagnosed with a fractured knee. On Saturday, July 10, 1956, the British Grand Prix, the fifth race of the season, valid for the Formula One world title, will be held in Silverstone. Jim Clark is the tipped to win: he is currently leading the world championship with 27 points, followed by Graham Hill and Jackie Stewart, both with 17 points, and John Surtees with 13 points. The battle should be, as usual, between Clark, Hill and Surtees, as well as Ginther and Stewart. But it cannot be ruled out that it will be Clark's last time racing in Britain in the world title races. Indeed, it is rumoured that the Scot plans to leave motorsport at the end of the season because he wants to get married. Clark has often repeated that the day he would settle down he would never set foot on the track again. This year the R.A.C. sold the rights of the British Grand Prix to the British Racing Drivers’ Club and they enlisted the support of the Daily Express to organise the event at Silverstone. While the airfield circuit is not the best of places for a Grand Prix, it has a pleasant atmosphere and has been the scene of many British G.P. events in the past, as well as being the traditional home of British motor racing for many years now. For the British Grand Prix, Scuderia Ferrari permits Surtees to make use of the 12-cylinder engined Ferrari, while Bandini has a V8 at his disposal. Another V8 car is for Surtees to be used as spare. B.R.M. has the two cars used at Clermont-Ferrand, and has built a third car to replace the one that crashed in France. This spare car is a 1964 car, actually the one Hill used at Monaco that year, fitted with the latest type of engine, gearbox, brakes and suspension. The only outward signs of recognition were the slots in the monocoque pontoons under the engine, where the old side exhaust pipes used to pass through. Neither Hill nor Stewart have much learning of the circuit to do, so they can put all their energies into recording fast laps. On the contrary, Jim Clark and Mike Spence have no spare Lotus available, as the latest chassis is still awaiting its 32-valve Coventry-Climax engine. One of the camshafts broke on that engine in practice for the French GP, held on Sunday, June 27, 1965. The Brabham team is also awaiting a 32-valve Climax engine, so that Gurney, Brabham and Hulme are all using 16-valve Climax engines in their cars. Coopers also have three cars, but only two of them entered the tack, for Bruce Mclaren and Jochen Rindt respectively. 

 

The third one is still experimental, having a Hewland gearbox fitted in place of Cooper’s own gearbox. Honda entered two cars, but at the last moment withdrew the one for the US driver Ronnie Bucknum, leaving Richie Ginther with one car for the race and one as a spare. The Walker team has Jo Bonnier and Jo Siffert as drivers, with their Brabhams as in previous races. Tim Parnell (Reg Parnell Team) enters his two Lotus-B.R.M.s with Richard Attwood and Innes Ireland as drivers, while Willment (John Willment Automobiles) enters Frank Gardner with their Brabham-B.R.M. V8 and Bob Anderson has his Climax-engined Brabham BT- 11. To complete the list, Bob Gerard racing team enters his Cooper T60-Climax for British driver John Rhodes and a Cooper T71/73-Ford with 1,500-c.c. Ford engine to which a F.2 Cosworth o.h.c. head has been fitted, which Alan Rollinson is about to drive. Finally, Ian Raby enters his own Brabham-B.R.M. V8 with himself and Chris Amon as drivers, Brian Gubby enters his Lotus 24-Climax V8, and Scuderia Centro-Sud enters Master Gregory with an ex-works B.R.M. P57, with another as spare. Thursday July 8, 1965, is the first day of practice. John Surtees is driving both the 12-cylinder and an 8-cylinder Ferrari, but he is faster with the 12-cylinder, even though the British driver has to work harder on the turns than what he does with the V8 car, which is a lighter setup. For a time, he sets the pace with fastest lap, but very soon Graham Hill, Jakie Stewart and Jim Clark begin serious motoring. Jonh Surtees improves on his lap record set last May, which was 1'33"0, but incredibly Jim Clark gets down to 1'31" in a Lotus 33 with 16-valve old-type Climax engine, with an average speed of 187 km/h. Surtees and Clark are not the only ones who improved on the May lap record. Other are Mike Spence, Lorenzo Bandini and Denny Hulme, while Ginther with the lone Honda equalled the record. At the end of the afternoon there is a further hour of practice and though the track is dry the weather is very threatening, and there is a feeling that it could rain on the next day, Friday. In consequence, everyone are doing their best to put in a fast lap and get the best position on the starting grid. Graham Hill is really back on form after his French G.P. set-back and is setting the pace, but Clark is certainly not giving in. The two drivers almost matched each other’s times (1'31"0), although Surtees is not far from them. He records a time of 1'31"3 with the spare V8 Ferrari. 

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Also Richie Ginther is improving his time by getting the Honda round in 1'31"6 and leaving the Brabhams of Denny Hulme and Jack Brabham over one second and one lap behind. With the top drivers scratching away so furiously, the private owners are getting a bit worried, for the regulations calls for them to lap within 5 sec. of the time of the third fastest competitor, and this happens to be Stewart with a time of 1'31"4. The second practice session is nearly over, with Jim Clark holding the best lap time, when Graham Hill goes out once more, with a new mixture of Dunlop tyres on his B.R.M., having R6 on his front and R7 on the back. He does an enormous number of laps and clocks 1'31"0, to beat Clark by one tenth of a second and improve his own time record recorded during the morning practice, win himself £100, and boost his team’s and his own morale. On Friday, July 9, 1965, in the morning there are two and a half hours of practice but the threatened rain does not materialise, so everyone is able to continue the pace of the day before. For this Friday practice session, Jim Clark now has the latest Lotus 33, with 32-valve Climax engine, so that he and his teammate, Scots driver Mike Spence, now have a spare car. The Scottish driver, his car fitted with the new Climax engine, scores a time of 1’30’’8, which is unrealizable for any other competitor. The pace is furious and Richie Ginther is very competitive on his Honda. The Japanese car is running better than ever before and really singing on all 12 cylinders. Jonh Surtees makes his fastest lap of all using the flat 12-cylinder Ferrari. Bandini blows up the V8 he had been using and so the Italian driver is forced to take over the spare car. Graham Hill cannot repeat his remarkable time of the previous evening, but Jim Clark and Jackie Stewart are still improving. So, the Scottish Lotus driver makes full use of the 210 b.h.p. of the 32-valve Climax engine by being the only driver to break 1 min. 31 sec., with a time of 1'31"3. The same time is recorded by Richie Ginther (Honda), Jackie Stewart (B.R.M.) and John Surtees (Ferrari). Other very fast times are put up by Mike Spence (1'32"7) and Dan Gurney (1'31"9) whose Climax engine is not giving as much power as other engines by the British provider. Altogether eleven drivers get below the existing lap record of 1'33"0, these including both works Coopers. One of them, Jochen Rindt, has recorded his time of 1'32"9 by getting the slipstream of the 12-cylinder Ferrari of Jonn Surtees for a number of laps. However, Jim Clark (1'30"8) and Graham Hill (1'31"0) also manage to set a time that gives them hopes for a front row start. 

 

Jackie Stewart (fourth) is also there, together with Richie Ginther (third), who is driving the V12 engine Honda and joins the two contenders for the Formula 1 World Championship. The race is scheduled for Saturday, July 10, 1965: in spite of the fact that the weather is dull and overcast, everyone keeps their fingers crossed that the rain keeps away. Following the British Racing Drivers’ Club (B.R.D.C.) meetings, the British Grand Prix is fitted into a full day of racing and interesting demonstrations. After a morning of final preparation, during which time Gurney’s car is completed, having had a new 32-valve Climax engine installed, a brief tryout on one of the runways convinces Gurney that he has a very competitive car and the American driver looks forward to a good battle. Clark’s 32-valve Climax engine had adjustments made to the fuel injection and the Scottish driver also gives it a try-out on the runway. In the afternoon, twenty-one cars leave the paddock for a warm-up lap. Jonh Surtees has chosen to race the 12-cylinder engined Ferrari, while Lorenzo Bandini is using the second of the V8 cars. McLaren is using his 1965 Cooper with the Cooper gearbox, the spare car with the Hewland box is being abandoned following some unsatisfactory testing. Ian Raby will drive his own car instead of Chris Amon, and John Rhodes is allowed to start with Bob Gerard Racing Team’s Cooper T60-Climax V8, even though he is not within 5 sec. of Richie Ginther’s time. When Dan Gurney arrives at the end of his warm-up lap his new Climax engine brakes and immediately Jack Brabham gives him his car, electing to stand down from the race himself. There is no time to change numbers on the cars, so Gurney takes his place on the grid with Brabham’s number 7 on the car, and the 32-valve-engined car is wheeled away since it cannot be used anymore. The flag falls and it is a magnificent start, with the Lotus of Clark and Ginther’s Honda surging ahead of the others. Immediately after the start of the race, as the cars go under the bridge at the end of the boxes, Ginther’s Honda is in front of Clark’s Lotus. They go into Copse turn side by side, with the Lotus of the Scottish driver being squeezed against the wall on the inside. Ginther manages to keep his trajectory, taking away Clark’s chance to take the lead in the first turn. In fact, it is not until Hangar straight that Clark gets ahead of the Japanese car. Once in front of Ginther’s Honda, he gives it all he has and finishes the opening lap well in the lead, despite the fact he makes a mistake out of Woodcote turn, putting his left-hand rear wheel on the grass.

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 He is trying all right and doing everything to pull out a lead, but there are a lot of determined drivers behind him, who are trying to close the gap. Graham Hill and Jonh Surtees manage to get by Richie Ginther’s Honda on the second lap and the British B.R.M. driver is practically holding Jim Clark’s leading Lotus, but Jonh Surtees cannot really keep up and even Ginther is beginning to worry him. Behind these four come Stewart, Spence, McLaren and Hulme having a close battle with Rindt, and Gurney following. Meanwhile Lorenzo Bandini finishes his second (and last) lap in a cloud of steam, having blown-up his V8 Ferrari engine. Attwood is also forced to stop at the box for a rather long pit stop, because he took the ramp up onto the box’s platform a bit too fast and cracked a water pipe, so that he loses a lot of time having repairs made by his mechanics. In the leading group, Graham Hill is doing his best to hold Clark, but yard by yard the Lotus of the Scottish driver is getting away. Graham Hill, unlike Jim Clark, does not have the support of his teammate Jackie Stewart, for he is finding his B.R.M. not handling perfectly, either due to tyres or circuit conditions. The Scottish driver can only manage fifth position, but the pressure on Mike Spence, Bruce McLaren and Denny Hulme is causing all four of them to close up on Jonh Surtees and Richie Ginther. As laps go by, Ginther’s Honda engined car starts to lose power and the American driver slows down, so that both Stewart and Spence overtake him easily. Then he is forced to stop at the box at the end of lap 26, his moment of glory over. The reasons for the power loss concern the fuel injection system. At 20 laps, which is quarter-distance of the British Grand Prix, Jim Clark and Graham Hill have outdistanced everyone else, but the Lotus of the Scottish driver is firmly in the lead and all Hill can do is keep going and hope the Lotus might fail. Jonh Surtees is in third place, but is not too secure, for behind him Jackie Stewart is being hard pushed by Mike Spence, with the result that they are automatically gaining on the Ferrari of the British driver. Denny Hulme is holding a quiet and smooth sixth place ahead of Bruce McLaren and Jochen Rindt, who comes next a bit distanced, while Dan Gurney is overtaken by Jo Bonnier. On lap 24, Spence gets by Stewart and at the same time both Bonnier and Gurney overtake Rindt at Beckett’s turn. Meanwhile, Jim Clark is keeping up the pace and Graham Hill is beginning to ease off, but Mike Spence and Jackie Stewart are worrying Jonh Surtees and threatening to take third place from him. 

 

On lap 29, Denny Hulme suddenly withdraws when the belt drive to the alternator on his Climax engine brakes suddenly and his battery gives out. Towards half-distance, the race settles down into one of endurance, the only interest being that Mike Spence is really worrying John Surtees, and on lap 41 he gets by into third place. Graham Hill has not really given up, but he is still losing ground to Jim Clark, who was driving as fast and as smoothly as ever. Jonh Surtees only lets Mike Spence stay ahead for a lap before retrieving third place, but even so he cannot get rid of the number two Lotus driver and his compatriot, who is performing very well. Meanwhile, Jackie Stewart’s engine does not sound to be working as cleanly as it might, and he can do nothing but hold a firm fifth place. Bruce McLaren is also having gear-changing problems on his Cooper and after being overtaken by Bonnier and Gurney he stops at the box to see if anything can be done about it. But unfortunately there is nothing to do, so the New Zealander rejoins the race having dropped to the back of the field. When Jim Clark laps Jo Bonnier and Dan Gurney on lap 50, the American takes the opportunity of the disturbance to get in front of the Swedish driver, but neither of them can get advantage of the slipstream from the flying Scot. Graham Hill, on the other hand, is having trouble in lapping Jochen Rindt, and when he finally gets by, the Cooper driver makes the most of the B.R.M.’s slipstream and hangs on for a number of laps. While Jim Clark is outstanding everyone else, a fierce duel for second place begins. Jochen Rindt manages to overtake Graham Hill, but on lap 63 his engine brakes and leaves him stranded out on the circuit, forcing him to withdraw. Thus, Graham Hill has now outdistanced everyone else, he is quite alone in second position. Jim Clark has kept a furious pace for about half of the race, consistently gaining about a second on his closest rivals. However, in the second part of the race, his car's engine begins to crackle more and more worryingly, and starts losing power due to problems with spark plugs and carburettors. Jim Clark still manages to keep his advantage, making the most out of the erratic-working engine. Despite everything, the Flying Scotsman gradually increases his lead. Hill also outdistances his rivals, while Surtees (Ferrari) has a fantastic fight with the two young Lotus and B.R.M. drivers respectively, the Ferrari driver prevailing in the end. With ten laps to go, Jim Clark's Lotus starts having some trouble, so Graham Hill takes this opportunity to attack. 

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The Scottish driver barely manages to counteract this, he manages to keep the lead, but there are just a few hundred metres between the two drivers. The engine problems do not seem to affect Jim Clark's lap times too much, but the B.R.M. mechanics are in the box to pass the information to Graham Hill. All eyes are on Jim Clark’s Lotus and Graham Hill’s B.R.M. but there is nearly half a lap distance between them. Slowly but surely, the gap begins to close and as the seconds diminish, Graham Hill starts driving harder. Behind him, Surtees successfully gets rid of Spence. Clark has lapped all the other cars, and the situation between the Lotus and the B.R.M. is beginning to get tense, because the Climax engine have been losing oil and the level in the tank is getting lower. This results in a loss of oil pressure, so the crafty Clark is coasting round the corners and only using the power on the straights while he has pressure in the oil gauge. All the time Hill is driving harder and harder and with ten laps still to go Clark is slowing visibly all round the circuit. The B.R.M. supporters are urging Hill on his way, while Lotus supporters are keeping their fingers crossed. In the last five laps Clark is looking anxiously in his rear-view mirrors and driving as hard as he dares, without risking blowing up the engine. As he starts his last lap Graham Hill has Jim Clark in sight, and as the Lotus of the Scottish driver goes into Copse turn, Clark can see Hill’s B.R.M. in his mirrors. Nevertheless, he obviously has command of the situation for when he finishes the 80th lap, he is virtually still the same distance ahead of Hill’s B.R.M., which is officially 3.2 sec. Had the Scottish driver not driven with such determination in the first half of the race, he may not have been able to nurse the Lotus to the finish ahead of Graham Hill, to record his fourth consecutive British Grand Prix victory.  But thanks to his perseverance, Jim Clark wins the British Grand Prix, lapping Bruce McLaren at the finish line in his brand new Lotus 32, covering the eighty laps of the race in two hours and six minutes and beating Graham Hill. John Surtees finishes third in his V12-engined Ferrari, while Mike Spence has to settle for a P4. Jackie Stewart finishes in P5 and Dan Gurney in P6, one lap behind the winner. 

 

At Silverstone everything, or almost everything, has worked out as expected. Jim Clark, in the brand new Lotus 32, used here for the first time, has won the British Grand Prix, the fifth round of the season, valid for the world title. Next come Hill (B.R.M.) only three seconds behind him, about a 100 metres gap, and Surtees (Ferrari). The Flying Scotsman thus increases his lead in the ranking: he has now 36 points, followed by Hill (23 points), Stewart (19 points) and Surtees (17 points). This is Clark's fourth Grand Prix victory in the current season: he was absent in Monaco, where Hill won, because he was taking part in the Indianapolis race. Actually, in the latter part of today's race, when the engine of Clark’s Lotus began to suffer serious problems and Hill started reducing the gap considerably, someone started thinking that he would have to withdraw or settle for second place. Just twenty-four hours after winning the British Grand Prix, valid for the Formula 1 Word Championship, the amazing Jim Clark also wins the Rouen-les-Essarts Grand Prix for Formula 2 cars (1000 cc 4-cylinder engines, minimum weight 450 kg). The race consists of 50 laps and is held on the Les Essarts circuit, near Rouen, where the Formula 1 French Grand Prix was held last year. The total covered distance is 300.930 kilometres, and some of the protagonists of Saturday's race in Silverstone take part in the race. Among them, apart from Clark, there are also his implacable opponent Graham Hill, Jack Brabham, Jochen Rindt, Denny Hulme; the Ferrari drivers instead are absent, because they have no Formula 2 cars currently. Clark is driving a Lotus equipped with a Ford-Cosworth engine. Contrary to the usual, he does not manage to take the lead immediately, but is forced to fight for several laps with Graham Hill (Brabham) before he finally gets it right. However, the Flying Scotsman takes the lead on lap 10 and from this moment on he starts outdistancing the other drivers, i.e. Graham Hill and Austrian driver Jochen Rindt (Brabham), until he builds up a consistent advantage. While Clark is far ahead of everyone else, a furious duel for second place begins between the two drivers. After two thirds of the race, Rindt overtakes his rival, but on lap 35 an engine failure forces him to stop at the box and finally he withdraws from the race. Thus Graham Hill, while in front of him Clark is far out of reach, is quite alone in second position, the other drivers now being far behind. And the race suddenly loses all interest. Nevertheless, the fans seem to appreciate Jim Clark's solo performance and they are applauding as he passes by, admiring the superior skill of the great British driver.

 

"With a driver like Clark I'm almost sure we can win all the important races in the coming years. Of course, we provide Clark with fantastic cars, but you've seen that Jim is also able to win when something doesn't work perfectly in the mechanical part".

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It is quite typical of Colin Chapman to be a little impulsive and it is not the first time he has been a little rash, but given the excellent performance of Jim Clark in Saturday’s race, he has every reason to praise his number one driver. Jim Clark has won at Silverstone, and now only an unpredictable twist of fate could take the 1965 World Championship away from him. The Scottish driver took part in four of the five rounds valid for the championship (he did not race in Monte Carlo because he was taking part in the Indy 500, which he finally won) and triumphed in the four of them. In the world championship standings, Clark now has 36 points and Graham Hill, his closest pursuer, has 23. Behind Jim Clark and Graham Hill, third place went to Ferrarista John Surtees, who drove an honourable but unexciting race, never managing to challenge the two ahead of him. Surtees has raced with the twelve-cylinder Ferrari that Lorenzo Bandini used in Monte-Carlo. The Italian driver was driving the eight-cylinder Ferrari for the British Grand Prix, but after just two laps he was forced to withdraw due to a mechanical problem. Bandini was in fourth place when he withdrew. Richie Ginther was also forced to withdraw: the Honda was an eagerly awaited car, but the result was rather disappointing once again. The only good thing for Scuderia Ferrari is that Ludovico Scarfiotti, on a 2000 cc-engined Dino Ferrari, won the classic Trento-Bondone uphill car race at an average speed of 86.934 km/h.

 

The race is valid for the Campionato Italiano di Velocità (Italian Speed Championship) for different categories and classes, and for the European Hill Climb Championship for sports cars and prototypes. Around 100 drivers participate in this exciting race. Scarfiotti in his fast Dino 2000 manages to win over some dangerous rivals such as Abarth and Porsche. Scarfiotti is 21.4 seconds faster than the previous record (12'17"8) set last year by the late German driver Edgar Barth. The Marche driver, who had won the same race in 1962, sets the rather prestigious time of 11'56"4, thus giving the competition a new record, very difficult to overcome, at least for now. Furthermore, he brings the Italian cars to victory again, beating formidable Porsche, which won the two previous editions in 1963 and 1964 with Barth. We have witnessed a fierce battle, fought second by second, between the two Porche drivers, German and Swiss respectively, and the Italian drivers of Abarth and Ferrari. Scarfiotti's most fearsome rival is Hans Hermann (Abarth), who finishes second with a time of 12'02"8 and a gap of 6"4 from the winner, third comes Mitter. The German driver is currently leading in the European Hill Climb Championship after the three races held in Ventoux, Rossfeld and Bondone. The other two Porsche drivers, Fischhaber and Mueller, finish fourth and fifth respectively. The Swiss Mueller sets a new record in the Grand Turismo category up to 2.500-cc, with an average speed of 84.803 km/h. Other records are broken, namely in the over 2.500 cc class by Mario Casoni (Ferrari), with an average speed of 83.384 km/h, and in the prototype category (class up to 1.600 cc) by Roberto Bussinello (in a Giulia), and also in different lower categories and classes previous records are broken.


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