1963 Australian Grand Prix

The 1963 Australian Grand Prix was a motor race held at Warwick Farm Raceway in New South Wales, Australia on 10 February 1963. Open to Formula Libre cars,[2][3] it was the opening heat of the 1963 Australian Drivers' Championship. The race, which was the twenty eighth Australian Grand Prix, had 16 starters.

1963 Australian Grand Prix
Race 1 of 6 in 1963 Australian Drivers' Championship
Race details
Date 10 February 1963
Location Warwick Farm Raceway, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 3.621 km (2.25 miles)
Distance 45 laps, 162.945 km (101.25 miles)
Weather Hot and sunny[1]
Pole position
Driver Cooper-Climax
Time 1'38.8
Fastest lap
Driver United Kingdom John Surtees
Jack Brabham
Lola-Climax
Repco Brabham-Climax
Time 1'40.2
Podium
First Repco Brabham-Climax
Second Lola-Climax
Third Cooper-Climax
Jack Brabham won the race driving a Repco Brabham BT4, similar to the example pictured above

The race featured a strong representation of international competitors, with entries from Ecurie Vitesse for Jack Brabham, Bruce McLaren for himself, R.R.C. Walker Racing Team for Graham Hill and from the Bowmaker Racing Team for John Surtees, Tony Maggs and Jim Palmer. Jack Brabham won the race, his second Australian Grand Prix victory, after a battle with John Surtees. It was the first AGP victory by a driver in a self-developed car since Doug Whiteford won in his "Black Bess" Ford V8 Special in 1950.

Stirling Moss, who was recovering from a near-fatal crash at the Goodwood Circuit, was the special guest at the Grand Prix. Moss, who had driven a Maserati 250F to victory in the 1956 Australian Grand Prix at the Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit in Melbourne, also provided guest commentary for Australian television station the ABC alongside Doug Woodward, Bill Reynolds and pit reporter Norman May.

Classification

Results as follows.[4]

Pos No.[5] Driver Entrant[5] Car Laps[6] Time / Reason
1 4 Australia Jack Brabham Ecurie Vitesse Repco Brabham BT4 / Climax FPF 2.7L[7] 45 1h 16m 34.1s
2 2 United Kingdom John Surtees Bowmaker Racing Team Lola Mk.4 / Climax FPF 2.7L 45 1h 16m 42.1s
3 10 New Zealand Bruce McLaren B. McLaren Cooper T62 / Climax FPF 2.7L 45 1h 17m 284.1s
4 5 Australia David McKay Scuderia Veloce Repco Brabham BT4 / Climax FPF 2.7L[7] 45 1h 18m 01.1s
5 6 Australia Bib Stillwell B.S. Stillwell Repco Brabham BT4 / Climax FPF 2.7L[7] 44
6 1 United Kingdom Graham Hill R.R.C. Walker Racing Team Ferguson P99 / Climax FPF 2.5L 44
7 16 New Zealand Tony Shelly Independent Motors Lotus 18/21 / Climax FPF 2.5L 44
8 18 Australia Frank Matich Total Team Elfin Catalina / Ford 1.5L[6] 43
9 17 Australia Leo Geoghegan Total Team Lotus 20B / Ford 1.5L 42
10 19 Australia Bob Holden Killara Motor Garage Lynx / Peugeot 1.5L 42
11 8 Australia Lex Davison Ecurie Australie Cooper T53 / Climax FPF 2.7L 36
Ret 3 South Africa Tony Maggs Bowmaker Racing Team Lola Mk.4 / Climax FPF 2.7L 31 Exhaustion
Ret 15 Australia John Youl J. Youl Cooper T55 / Climax FPF 2.5L 25 Black Flagged
Ret 14 New Zealand Chris Amon Scuderia Veloce Cooper T53 / Climax FPF 2.5L 24 Fuel Pump
Ret 12 New Zealand Jim Palmer Bowmaker Racing Team Cooper T55 / Climax FPF 2.7L 9 Broken steering arm[1]
Ret 11 Australia Frank Gardner Alec Mildren Pty. Ltd. Cooper T51 / Maserati 2.9L[8] 0 Broken Axle

Notes

References

  1. Jack wins in the old home town, Australian Motor Sports, March 1963, pages 26 to 28 & 38
  2. Motor Sport, March 1963, page 150
  3. The Official 50-race history of the Australian Grand Prix states that a 3-litre engine limit applied, however this is not supported by the AGP entry list in the Official Programme which includes a BRM Buick with a capacity of 3900cc
  4. White, Des (1986). "1963". In Howard, Graham (ed.). The Official 50-race history of the Australian Grand Prix. Gordon, NSW: R & T Publishing. pp. 286–292. ISBN 0-9588464-0-5.
  5. Official Programme, Warwick Farm, Australian International Grand Prix, Sunday, February 10, 1963
  6. 1963 Gold Star Round 1 Australian Grand Prix, members.optusnet.com.au/dandsshaw, as archived at web.archive.org
  7. Each "Brabham" was entered as a "Repco Brabham" in the Official Programme
  8. Australian Grand Prix, Warwick Farm, 10 Feb 1963, www.oldracingcars.com Retrieved 21 January 2018
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