23 replies to this topic

[Tmeranda]

Just got a fantastic hand painted 1/18th model from Russia, but it looks a little tall. I'd like to check their scale.

[Doug Nye]

Quite tall - maybe 6ft to 6ft 1in Imperial.

DCN

[garyfrogeye]

I can check and see if John Sprinzel remembers as he's (was) about 6'3" or 6'4'' himself.

Edited by garyfrogeye, 08 December 2012 - 18:37.

[kayemod]

I can check and see if John Sprinzel remembers as he's (was) about 6'3" or 6'4'' himself.

I know the feeling.

I only met Graham once, as a fairly junior member of a seat fitting team at Specialised Mouldings. A TV programme was being made at the same time, I never saw it, but my mum said that I was on-screen for several seconds, no way of recording it back then, at least not in our house. We didn't really speak, GH was very much the star, and didn't he know it, but I was a gangly 6'2" back then, and he seemed to be several inches shorter than me. I tried sitting in the car after the excitement had died down, and the pedals were too close for my lanky legs, even in a bare tub with no seat shell. I'd guess at slightly under 6', though he would have been wearing his race boots, so no heels.

[David McKinney]

Funny you should say that, Rob

I would have said, from personal observation, 5'11 (1.8m)

[garyfrogeye]

John (quick as a flash) has replied

"No question is really daft - although the answers may be. Graham was just a shade under my height, but much stockier that skinny me, so I guess around six two. Bette would surely know."

Aloha John

[RS2000]

I would guess 5' 10.5'' to 5' 11'' (as I am/was) from standing next to him on the Brands airfield (emphasis on field) in 1968.

[BRG]

I'm 6'3" and, straining my brain to recall a brief meeting in the Kentagon, I think Graham was several inches shorter than me. I also struggled to sit in one of his GLTL 49s in a Ford dealership in Croydon* and indeed struggled even more to get out. Of course, although it SAID Graham Hill on the side, it may not have been one of his in truth. But I was too tall and too broad for it, even back then when I was young and slim.

* and nary a sign of Lewis there...

[Robin Fairservice]

I went to post # 4802 whic has a series of pictures of Graham and a photographer's model. One picture shows Bette Hill in the background and I measured Graham's height on my screeen as 5.875 inches. There is a low concrete block wall in the backround, and if those blocks are each 8 inches high, then I estimate Graham to be 6 foot 3 inches tall. There is another picture of him by the front of the Brabham lobster claw car, but I don't know how tall the front wheels are.

[Joe Bosworth]

I stood next to him on many occassions over several years.

I was 6 foot 2 inches back then, (before I started shrinking).

The first time I sttod next to him I was most surprised to find him to be much shorter than I imagined from photos of the day. I judged then that he was 5 foot 11 inches or a tad shorter.

Regards

Joe

[Marc Sproule]

This doesn't answer the question, but at least he's smiling.

http://www.flickr.co...157626135973193

[Doug Nye]

I was 5ft 11in in my normal slovenly posture and Graham's eyeline I seem to recall was slightly above mine. But he did limp from his old motor-cycling injury and some days he'd slouch too.

Honest DCN

[GD66]

I was 5ft 11in in my normal slovenly posture and Graham's eyeline I seem to recall was slightly above mine. But he did limp from his old motor-cycling injury

And presumably the Watkins Glen crash of 1969, Doug ?

Edited by GD66, 09 December 2012 - 10:10.

[kayemod]

I stood next to him on many occassions over several years.

I was 6 foot 2 inches back then, (before I started shrinking).

The first time I sttod next to him I was most surprised to find him to be much shorter than I imagined from photos of the day. I judged then that he was 5 foot 11 inches or a tad shorter.

Regards

Joe

If you change the first line to 'once in the same room as him and exchanged nods', my experience exactly, to the very last inch.

On Graham's leg injuries affecting his walking, having suffered major leg trauma myself, I've taken a particular interest in this, though studying old film & TV was as close as I could get. As far as I could tell, a year or two after his Watkins Glen crash, he was walking pretty normally, certainly more normally than I was at that time, and no-one is better at spotting a limper than a fellow limper.

[Ian G]

I stood next to him on many occassions over several years.

I was 6 foot 2 inches back then, (before I started shrinking).

The first time I sttod next to him I was most surprised to find him to be much shorter than I imagined from photos of the day. I judged then that he was 5 foot 11 inches or a tad shorter.

Regards

Joe

Yep,5'11" would be his max. height,probaly 5-9 or 5-10,i got his autograph and was speaking to him at the 1968 Warwick Farm Tasman event,i asked him why his Gold Leaf car sat higher than Jim's,he jokeingly replied "because his mechanics didn't know how to set up a car".

[Doug Nye]

And presumably the Watkins Glen crash of 1969, Doug ?

Indeed - but before that too, as long as he was racing.

DCN

[GD66]

I see, thanks mate.

[Dave Ware]

I only saw him once, in the pits at the 1973 Canadian Grand Prix. He was walking down the pits, on his way to somewhere, and I caught up with him and presented my program and pen. He accepted them, signed, and handed them back without pausing or breaking stride. It was my observation then and my memory now that he was a bit shorter than I, shorter by an inch or a bit more. But certainly not a lot shorter.

My driver's license says 5' 10", although I like to think I'm 5' 11". That puts him at 5' 9"-ish, 5' 8"-ish. Of course we were walking at the time, not standing perfectly upright.

I've seen pics of Graham standing next to JYS, perhaps his height could be determined from one of those.

[Ian G]

I only saw him once, in the pits at the 1973 Canadian Grand Prix. He was walking down the pits, on his way to somewhere, and I caught up with him and presented my program and pen. He accepted them, signed, and handed them back without pausing or breaking stride. It was my observation then and my memory now that he was a bit shorter than I, shorter by an inch or a bit more. But certainly not a lot shorter.

My driver's license says 5' 10", although I like to think I'm 5' 11". That puts him at 5' 9"-ish, 5' 8"-ish. Of course we were walking at the time, not standing perfectly upright.

I've seen pics of Graham standing next to JYS, perhaps his height could be determined from one of those.

I agree,the only time i spoke to him he had racing boots on and was shorter than my 5'11",i guess with proper heeled shoes on he would be closer to the six foot mark mentioned.

[raceannouncer2003]

I spoke to Graham Hill's brother, Brian Hill, tonight. I asked him how tall Graham Hill was. He said it depended which leg he was standing on ! Apparently one leg was half an inch shorter after his motorcycle accident. Brian said Graham was about 5'10, and Brian is 6'.

Vince H.

[Jerry Entin]

Vince: Floyd Clymer's 1966 Indianapolis 500 Yearbook has the physical details of all 33 drivers that year. Graham Hill is described as 6 feet in height, 175 pounds in weight. They could be wrong and his brother right however.

[Frank S]

I'm going to guess the Clymer folks weren't as thorough as this group, and unless they had measured and weighed each driver, they were either taking some crewman's word as represented on the entry form (if available) or filling their own blanks the same way we are.

Probably not a contribution to the OP's desired answer, but here is a video of Hill in a car I hadn't seen him attached to (starts at about 2:15) :

[Vitesse2]

I'm going to guess the Clymer folks weren't as thorough as this group, and unless they had measured and weighed each driver, they were either taking some crewman's word as represented on the entry form (if available) or filling their own blanks the same way we are.

Probably not a contribution to the OP's desired answer, but here is a video of Hill in a car I hadn't seen him attached to (starts at about 2:15) :

That would be so much better if the film had been loaded the right way round ...

[Frank S]

The guy sells original 8mm films on eBaY and all his digitisations are presented that way. Probably an attempt to discourage the acquisition of "useful" downloads. Might have worked last week, but by now I have found "Free Video Flip and Rotate".

Edited by Frank S, 13 December 2012 - 21:42.