14 replies to this topic

[dgs]

The 1962 South African Grand Prix, held at the East London circuit on 29th December was the last GP of the 1962 season. However a Formula 1 race was held on same day prior to the GP.

 

The was the 21 lap 'Daily Despatch Trophy' which was won by Peter de Klerk in his Alfa Special.

 

Four drivers, John Love (Cooper 55), Neville Lederle (Lotus 21), Doug Serrurier (LDS) & Mike Harris (Cooper 53) all practiced for the Daily Despatch Trophy, as well as the South African GP. As all four drivers managed to qualify for the GP, they withdrew from the F1 race.

 

I think this is the only time a Grand Prix & a Formula 1 race has ever taken place on same day & same circuit.

[Felix Muelas]

Very interesting. I had it (the Dispatch Trophy) happening the previous day, the 28th, but if that is not correct it is certainly curious. 

[Alan Cox]

As Felix says, the Daily Dispatch trophy would appear to have taken place on Friday the 28th, according to these websites 

http://www.dlg.speed...e/62flibre.html

http://jpgleize.pers...r/gp/afmodh.htm

http://forums.autosp...ican-questions/

[Catalina Park]

Did any of the 1952/53 GP meetings have an F1 race on the same day?

[Vitesse2]

Did any of the 1952/53 GP meetings have an F1 race on the same day?

No.

[Eric Dunsdon]

Did any of the 1952/53 GP meetings have an F1 race on the same day?

The 1952 and 1953 British Grand Prix meetings included Formula Libre races which included Formula One cars of the day and were actually more exciting than the Formula Two cars competing in the Grands Prix.

[uechtel]

Monza 1933

[Roger Clark]

As Felix says, the Daily Dispatch trophy would appear to have taken place on Friday the 28th, according to these websites
http://www.dlg.speed...e/62flibre.html
http://jpgleize.pers...r/gp/afmodh.htm
http://forums.autosp...ican-questions/

The F1 Register says the race was on the 29th. Autosport and an article in Classic Car Africa imply (but do not say explicitly) that was the same day as the Grand Prix. Motor Sport and Motoring News (both reports by MJT) did not mention the race but MS said that final practice for the Grand Prix was at 6am on Friday so that the marshalls could go to work as normal. Doug Nye, in BRM Vol 2 said: "After preliminary races for motorcycles and national 1,500cc Formula cars, the Grand Prix drivers were paraded round the track..."

[D-Type]

I think the SA National Formula 1 was restricted to 4-cylinder cars.

[Rob Miller]

At the time V8 engines were allowed in the SA F1 championship but only Syd van der Vyver had one in his Lotus 24. Only sometime after the car was destroyed in a garage fire in 1963 were cars limited to 4 cylinder engines.

 

We were at the races on Saturday the 29th but cannot remember for sure if the Daily Dispatch Trophy was run on that day or not.

[opplock]

I have a copy of the Formula One Record Book (Thompson, Rabagliati, Sheldon 1974) which describes "every single event run to the F1 rules which obtained at that time" (1961-1965). The Daily Despatch trophy is not listed. I assume that they distinguished between races for what DCN described as "national 1500cc Formula cars" and those that included "proper"  F1 cars. Perhaps the organisers of New Zealand's National Formula for 1500cc Ford Twin Cam engined cars missed a trick by not calling this series F1 during 64 and 65.   

[dgs]

I have a copy of the Formula One Record Book (Thompson, Rabagliati, Sheldon 1974) which describes "every single event run to the F1 rules which obtained at that time" (1961-1965). The Daily Despatch trophy is not listed. I assume that they distinguished between races for what DCN described as "national 1500cc Formula cars" and those that included "proper"  F1 cars. Perhaps the organisers of New Zealand's National Formula for 1500cc Ford Twin Cam engined cars missed a trick by not calling this series F1 during 64 and 65.   

I also have a copy of The Formula One Record Book (1974), plus second edition of 'A Record of Grand Prix and Voiturette Racing, Volume 7 (1960-1964) by Paul Sheldon & Duncan Rabagliati. In the Preamble to the 2nd edition it states " The most obvious changes that have been made are to include the South African Formula One races of the period which were separately published as A Record of F1 Racing in South Africa 1960-1975".

[Roger Clark]

According to the Black Book, several of the cars in the Daily Dispatch race were formula juniors, with Ford 105E and BMC A series engines,  They would probably be under 1300cc and therefore not eligible for formula 1.

[dgs]

Motor Sport magazine online database has 1962 Daily Despatch Trophy race as a non-championship Formula 1 race that took place on Saturday 29th December - won by Peter de Klerk.

 

I agree that to make up the numbers a few drivers were driving FJ cars. 

 

Would the organisers of the East London circuit have run a race on the Friday (28th December) when most spectators would have been at work?

[Rocky2]

Basing on "Sun on the grid" by Ken Stewart and Norman Reich, I confirm that both abovementioned races: Daily Despatch Trophy for S.A. F1 1500 cc cars, and IXth S.A. GP, 9th WDC round of 1962 (WDC ever event #111) took place on Saturday, 29th December 1962.

As might be expected a most interesting entry was attracted to East London. Apart from Lotus and B.R.M. marques, Lola and Cooper entered their factory teams and U.T.D.-Laystall again provided Innes Ireland with a Lotus V8 mount. Jack Brabham arrived with a Brabham-Climax and the Emeryson stable prepared to dispatch Tony Settember and one of their machines.

The Dutch team of Ecurie Maarsbergen -- of which Count Karel Godin de Beaufort was prime mover -- entered a rather obsolete Porsche with the Count at the helm. Gary Hocking had entered a car for Sam Tingle but it was of course withdrawn; similarly Van der Vyver had entered his Lotus but the accident at Westmead put paid to his chances of competing.

The rest of the field consisted of entries from South Africa and Rhodesia. Lederle, Harris, Pieterse and Serrurier were all there and John Love took over the Cooper he had loaned to Tony Maggs for the Rand Grand Prix, Maggs being in the Cooper works team with Bruce McLaren.

From the provisional entry list of 22, 16 drivers were nominated the remainder competing for the other two places. It so happened that only 17 took their place on the grid as the Emeryson and Settember failed to arrive by the Friday before the race and it was learnt that neither would leave London due to some mechanical derangement in the car. Hocking's own entry was naturally withdrawn.

Because so many competition cars did not measure up to F.I.A. international standarts, the organizers decided to run a separate 1500 c.c. scratch race as pipe-opener to the Grand Prix and a handsome entry of 28 was received. The day's programme would be completed by two top notch motor cycle races.

East London had taken Stirling Moss to its heart after his two appearances in the South African Grand Prix and following his retirement, the organizers invited him to be their special guest for the historic race.

The race procedure began when the cars were weighed on Wednesday, December 26, and on that afternoon most drivers appeared to do a few familiarization laps. Bruce Johnstone was soon in the troble and it turned out to be his only practice session before Grand Prix day. The B.R.M. was later completely stripped and overhauled and he had to be content to start from the back of the grid.

The following day's practice was used mainly for the drivers to try various cars out for B.R.M., and Lotus had still to decide which use. Both had new machines at East London -- Lotus, the as-yet unproved fuel-injection model and B.R.M. one that was shrounded in mystery. Graham Hill protested that there was nothing special about it and that he had used it at Monza in the Italian Grand Prix earlier in the year but the cognoscenti were not so easily convinced. Everyone thought that Bourne was holding something back for this all-important duel.

This belief was strengthened as the race drew closer, for on Friday, all cars were on view in East London's main garages for the public to get a close look, except the B.R.M.

Practice on Friday was confined to 90 minutes in the early morning while a bumper-to-bumper stream of cars all the way from East London central to the track provided quite a sight so early in the day. There were at least 10,000 people out to see the fun -- practice can also provide entertainment of the highest order! It took the cars some time to warm up with the cold sea breeze blowing in from the Indian Ocean but one by one they at least appeared. Jim Clark got going quickly and broke the lap record he set up in the previous year's race a total of 24 times, getting down to 1 minute 29.3 seconds shortly before the end of practice. To whet the spectators' appetites, Hill also got on to the front row of the grid with a best time only 0.3 seconds slower than his rival.

Travor Taylor then took out the fuel-injection car to turn in 1 minute 30.9 seconds after a series of disappointing laps. Clark also had a fling in the new car and managed 1 minute 28.9 seconds, but he said afterwards that the car had a tendency to misfire and he would prefer driving the well-tried carburettor model in which he had more confidence.

The Lola of Surtees also gave a great deal of trouble, losing a lot of oil and after the Bowmaker mechanics had stripped the engine they decided to replace it with the spare. Brabham looked untidy through Cocobana but he must have been motoring to good effect for he turned in a best lap of 1 minute 31.0 seconds -- fast enough to ensure him third place on the grid. The Laystall Lotus-Climax of Innes Ireland sounded refreshingly clear in the early morning and he was the first to better his times of previous sessions. Brabham eventually beat him to fourth place on the grid by only 0.1 second. Coopers were finding a few things to sort out and took time reaching their peak. Maggs beat his number one, McLaren, with a good round of 1 minute 31.5 seconds while Ginther was next in line with 1 minute 31.7 seconds.

Neville Lederle, who had been the first South African home in both the Rand and Natal events, was again top of the locals with a best time of 1 minute 33.6 seconds.

In the South African tradition, braaivleis was the order of pre-race night. The car parks lining the track held thousands of campers who enjoyed themselves with a good sing-song around the camp-fire with meat on the grill and the waves lapping the beach in the background.

The entrances were busy with race-goers all night, large crowds arriving early to secure a good vantage point. Never before had anything like it ever seen in South African sports history. We can remember 90,000 packing themselves into Ellis Park for the first rugby test against the British Lions in 1955, but they didn't start appearing 48 hours early! It was not surprising that this Grand Prix crowd became one of the largest sports gatherings ever in South Africa.

To handle this huge crowd, the organizers left nothing to chance; in all there were over 1,000 voluntary workers in action on the big day, with many more having made their contribution before then. Some of these were made up of the following: 240 track marshals, 80 track observers, 22 dispatch riders, 60 lap scorers and 40 timekeepers.

At 10 a.m. there were already an estimated 70,000 people lining the route, the car park enclosed by the track was already packed. Besides these there were still 12 special flights to arrive at the nearby airport and several special trains were also expected. The weather was fine with a steady onshore wind of 22 m.p.h. gusting up to 33 m.p.h. However the weather bureau said they anticipated that the wind would drop considerably by 3 p.m. so making for ideal racing conditions and futhermore they assured that rain was not expected until 8 p.m. The curtain raisers soon got under way; Peter de Klerk won the Daily Dispatch Trophy from Bob van Niekerk after a splendid duel which certainly set the crowd in the right mood for the Grand Prix to come. It was a tight fight between these fine young drivers with never more than five seconds between them; Van Niekerk spun off at Cocobana while leading to let De Klerk into the lead but he held off Sam Tingle, who finished third.

Just before the warm-up lap for the Grand Prix, Lotus announced that Trevor Taylor had elected to drive the conventional car and would therefore move back on the strating grid behind Brabham and Ireland as his practice time in the car was not as fast as in the fuel-injection machine.

Stirling Moss led a motorcade of the drivers seated in sports cars, this serving as their introduction to the crowd which by now was over 90,000 and still growing. The wind had not dropped and in fact had risen to 34 m.p.h. but at 2.50 p.m. -- just ten minutes before the scheduled start -- the cars went around for their warm up lap.

Pieterse, instead of taking his place on the grid went straight back to his pit with some unknown derangement and as he hadn't returned by the time the flag came down they shot away without him.

Clark got away beautifully, leading Hill into Potter's Pass and Rifle Bend. As they went into The Esses Maggs, who had shot through at the start, suddenly appeared in third position folowed by Surtees, McLaren and Ginther. Clark's first lap took him 1 minute 40.0 seconds and he had a lead of 0.9 second over Hill.

Pieterse had joined the race with a leeway of quite a few seconds to make up, but bad luck struck him again and he was forced into the pits. While the order among the leaders remained exactly the same for the first nine laps, De Beaufort and Johnstone were having their own private scrap at the other end, passing and repassing ad infinitum.

On lap six, Clark turned in the very quick time of 1 minute 31.4 seconds, an average of 96.35 m.p.h.; the pace of this race was certainly going to be sizzler! Meanwhile Pieterse had come back into the fray with a huge gap to make up and by this time he was not only one in trouble for Johnstone visited the pits a couple of times with various maladies.

The fast pace was being maintained by the leaders: Clark's time for the ninth lap was 1 minute 33.1 seconds, Hill's 1 minute 33.9 seconds, the Lotus at this stage holding a lead of 10 seconds.

Taylor was making little headway with the slower Lotus and at Cox's Corner, he signalled to the marshal that he was in difficulty. The car stopped but Taylor managed to get it going again, while the leaders raced away for two further laps, he put-putted slowly for a lap and then retired along The Sweep with transmission failure. This left Clark out on his own with a pack chasing at his heels and nobody to ward them off. His 12th lap was completed in 1 minute 33.3 seconds with Hill a second slower.

The same order of Clark, Hill, Maggs, Surtees, McLaren and Brabham continued until the 15th lap when Maggs inexplicably lost ground and Surtees and McLaren moved past. Never-say-die Pieterse came out of the pits again while Clark was doing 1 minute 33.1 seconds for his 17th lap and Hill clocking 1 minute 33.8 seconds. Third placed Surtees made it in 1 minute 34.4 seconds.

Next change in order came on the 23rd lap when Clark was 13 seconds ahead of Hill; McLaren came into third, having taken Surtees at Cocobana. Ginther visited the pits while lying eight and was there for an agonizing 22 minutes while an ignition fault was sorted out. The Brabham-Climax was at last making its presence felt for Brabham's time for 24th lap was 1 minute 33.8 seconds compared to 1 minute 33.5 seconds by Clark, 1 minute 34.7 by Hill and 1 minute 34.5 by Surtees.

Ireland mobed up to sixth when Surtees went into the pits on lap 26 and it was soon revealed that a piston had collapsed and so he withdrew, leaving the two Coopers in third and fourth spots.

The first six were now Clark, Hill, McLaren, Maggs, Brabham and Ireland with Clark going magnificently, moving through The Esses smoother than anyone else and taking Cocobana and Beacon Bend like a champion. He was building up seconds on Hill with every lap and the B.R.M. ace must have been a very worried man at this stage. On the 33rd lap, Clark set up a new record for the track when he whipped round in 1 minute 31.0 seconds, while times for other leaders on this lap were: 1 minute 33.6 seconds by Hill, 1 minute 34.1 seconds by McLaren, 1 minute 34.0 seconds by Maggs and 1 minute 34.3 seconds by Brabham. Clark had now built up a lead of 23.2 seconds on Hill.

Among the rest of the field the Cooper-Alfa of Mike Harris had been going well and he had been making a good impression on the more potent V8s when he struck bearing trouble and retired.

Local boy Maggs was driving superbly and he got a rousing reception from all quarters along the trackside as he went by. The Coopers were both going strongly with no sign of strain whatever and were keeping within yards of each other.

The 41st lap signalled the halfway stage and Clark was timed at 1 minute 32.7 seconds with Hill 1.8 seconds slower. The times for the leaders over the first half were: 63 mins. 44.2 secs. for Clark, 64 mins. 11.4 secs. for Hill, 64 mins. 37.5 secs. for McLaren.

Clark was still circulating at a splendidly teady pace, doing 1 minute 31.6 seconds exactly, for the 46th, 47th and 48th lap; he had already lapped Ireland, who was sixth, and was hard on Brabham's heels. The 60th lap was reached with no change in the order but the Lola had disappeared from the scene completely when Salvadori, who was well back, withdrew with a serious fuel leak. Clark was now over half-a-minute ahead of Hill and seemed poised to become the new world champion.

But such is motor racing that the unpredicted so often takes over when least expected: suddenly, on the 61st lap, Clark's Lotus began streaming blue smoke. He tried to extinguish it by speeding up, but after a further two laps, he was forced into the pits. The 30-second lead ticked away inexorably and Hill streaked past into the lead with the fault not yet discovered. After a few nerve-wracking seconds for the young Scot and some head-shaking by the distraught mechanics, Clark was told that an oil leak had developed due to an absent washer on one of the screwed plugs in the engine. This "rear jackstaff bearing retaining pin" had worked loose and caused oil to gush all over the exhaused system. What a crushing disappointment!

It must have come as a tremendous relief to the dashing Hill, but as he said afterwards he was an extremely lucky man. Although he would have liked to beat Clark in a straight fight, these things happened and he had to accept the next best thing.

The B.R.M. was sounding beautiful as it tore down the straight at over 150 m.p.h. and up the winding course at over 96 m.p.h. All Hill had now to do was finish ahead of both Coopers and the Manufacturers' Championship would go to B.R.M. As they went round for the 66th lap, he led from McLaren, Maggs, Brabham and Ireland. Far back, Doug Serrurier found his radiator leaking slowly and was in and out of the pits until he decided to call it quits on the 71st lap.

By then, it was virtually all over bar the shouting. Hill had a lead over a minute on McLaren with Maggs about ten yards behind his team-leader; Brabham led Ireland who in turn was well clear of the rest of the field.

So at last Graham Hill was flagged in as the new world champion after 82 gruelling laps in which he hardly put a foot wrong; happy B.R.M. chief Sir Alfred Owen joining him as he received the victor's laurels.

Neville Lederle was again the first South African entry home, this success giving him a world point and a further eight points towards the South African Drivers' Championship for 1963. He had maximum 24 points and this splendid start was to be his springboard to securing the honor later in the year.

As the excitement of this most exciting championship decider slowly died down, the race organizers throughout the country were already considering the next season's events...