The 1963 South African Grand Prix, formally titled the 10th International RAC Grand Prix of South Africa,[1] was a Formula One motor race held at East London on 28 December 1963. It was the tenth and final race in both the 1963 World Championship of Drivers and the 1963 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. The 85-lap race was won from pole position by Jim Clark in a works Lotus-Climax, the Scottish driver achieving his seventh win of the 1963 Championship. Dan Gurney finished second in a Brabham-Climax, while Graham Hill was third in a BRM. It would be the last Formula One race in December until the 2019 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.[2]
| 1963 South African Grand Prix | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 | |||
| Race details | |||
| Date | 28 December 1963 | ||
| Official name | 10th International RAC Grand Prix of South Africa | ||
| Location |
Prince George Circuit East London, South Africa | ||
| Course | Temporary road circuit | ||
| Course length | 3.920 km (2.436 miles) | ||
| Distance | 85 laps, 333.175 km (207.025 miles) | ||
| Weather | Hot, dry and windy | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Lotus-Climax | ||
| Time | 1:28.9 | ||
| Fastest lap | |||
| Driver |
 Dan Gurney | Brabham-Climax | |
| Time | 1:29.1 on lap 33 | ||
| Podium | |||
| First | Lotus-Climax | ||
| Second | Brabham-Climax | ||
| Third | BRM | ||
|
Lap leaders | |||
Classification edit
Qualifying edit
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Qualifying times | Gap | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | |||||
| 1 | 1 |  Jim Clark
|
Lotus-Climax | 1:30.2 | 1:28.9 | 1:29.7 | — |
| 2 | 8 |  Jack Brabham
|
Brabham-Climax | 1:30.1 | 1:29.0 | 1:31.3 | +0.1 |
| 3 | 9 | Dan Gurney
|
Brabham-Climax | 1:30.2 | 1:29.1 | 1:29.7 | +0.2 |
| 4 | 3 | John Surtees
|
Ferrari | 1:29.8 | 1:30.2 | 1:30.8 | +0.9 |
| 5 | 4 |  Lorenzo Bandini
|
Ferrari | 1:31.0 | 1:30.2 | 1:31.5 | +1.3 |
| 6 | 5 | Graham Hill
|
BRM | 1:31.2 | 1:30.4 | 1:30.3 | +1.4 |
| 7 | 6 | Richie Ginther
|
BRM | 1:32.6 | 1:31.2 | 1:30.4 | +1.5 |
| 8 | 2 | Trevor Taylor
|
Lotus-Climax | 1:31.4 | 1:30.4 | No time | +1.5 |
| 9 | 10 |  Bruce McLaren
|
Cooper-Climax | 1:31.3 | 1:31.2 | 1:32.2 | +2.3 |
| 10 | 11 |  Tony Maggs
|
Cooper-Climax | 1:32.4 | 1:31.5 | No time | +2.6 |
| 11 | 12 |  Jo Bonnier
|
Cooper-Climax | 1:32.4 | No time | 1:32.0 | +3.1 |
| 12 | 7 | Ernie Pieterse
|
Lotus-Climax | 1:34.5 | 1:35.0 | 1:34.6 | +5.6 |
| 13 | 19 |  John Love
|
Cooper-Climax | 1:34.6 | No time | 1:34.6 | +5.7 |
| 14 | 22 | David Prophet
|
Brabham-Ford | 1:46.4 | No time | 1:35.5 | +6.6 |
| 15 | 21 | Brausch Niemann
|
Lotus-Ford | 1:36.4 | 1:35.6 | 1:36.8 | +6.7 |
| 16 | 18 | Peter de Klerk
|
Alfa Special-Alfa Romeo | 1:35.7 | 1:36.1 | No time | +6.8 |
| 17 | 20 | Sam Tingle
|
LDS-Alfa Romeo | 1:35.8 | No time | 1:37.3 | +6.9 |
| 18 | 16 | Doug Serrurier
|
LDS-Alfa Romeo | 1:36.4 | 1:36.8 | 1:38.2 | +7.5 |
| 19 | 23 | Trevor Blokdyk
|
Cooper-Maserati | 1:36.5 | No time | 1:41.7 | +7.6 |
| 20 | 14 |  Carel Godin de Beaufort
|
Porsche | 1:37.1 | 1:36.6 | No time | +7.7 |
| 21 | 15 | Paddy Driver
|
Lotus-BRM | 1:38.7 | 1:36.9 | 1:37.5 | +8.0 |
| Source:[3] | |||||||
Race edit
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Jim Clark
|
Lotus-Climax | 85 | 2:10:36.9 | 1 | 9 |
| 2 | 9 | Dan Gurney
|
Brabham-Climax | 85 | +1:06.8 | 3 | 6 |
| 3 | 5 | Graham Hill
|
BRM | 84 | +1 lap | 6 | 4 |
| 4 | 10 | Bruce McLaren
|
Cooper-Climax | 84 | +1 lap | 9 | 3 |
| 5 | 4 | Lorenzo Bandini
|
Ferrari | 84 | +1 lap | 5 | 2 |
| 6 | 12 | Jo Bonnier
|
Cooper-Climax | 83 | +2 laps | 11 | 1 |
| 7 | 11 | Tony Maggs
|
Cooper-Climax | 82 | +3 laps | 10 | |
| 8 | 2 | Trevor Taylor
|
Lotus-Climax | 81 | +4 laps | 8 | |
| 9 | 19 | John Love
|
Cooper-Climax | 80 | +5 laps | 13 | |
| 10 | 14 | Carel Godin de Beaufort
|
Porsche | 79 | +6 laps | 20 | |
| 11 | 16 | Doug Serrurier
|
LDS-Alfa Romeo | 78 | +7 laps | 18 | |
| 12 | 23 | Trevor Blokdyk
|
Cooper-Maserati | 77 | +8 laps | 19 | |
| 13 | 8 | Jack Brabham
|
Brabham-Climax | 70 | Spun off | 2 | |
| 14 | 21 | Brausch Niemann
|
Lotus-Ford | 66 | +19 laps | 15 | |
| Ret | 18 | Peter de Klerk
|
Alfa Special-Alfa Romeo | 53 | Gearbox | 16 | |
| Ret | 22 | David Prophet
|
Brabham-Ford | 49 | Oil pressure | 14 | |
| Ret | 3 | John Surtees
|
Ferrari | 43 | Engine | 4 | |
| Ret | 6 | Richie Ginther
|
BRM | 43 | Halfshaft | 7 | |
| Ret | 7 | Ernie Pieterse
|
Lotus-Climax | 3 | Engine | 12 | |
| Ret | 20 | Sam Tingle
|
LDS-Alfa Romeo | 2 | Halfshaft | 17 | |
| DNS | 15 | Paddy Driver
|
Lotus-BRM | Practice accident | 21 | ||
| WD | 17 | Neville Lederle
|
Lotus-Climax | Driver injured | |||
| WD | Mike Hailwood
|
Lola-Climax | |||||
Source:[4]
| |||||||
Championship standings after the race edit
|
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- Notes: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. Only the best 6 results counted towards the Championship. Numbers without parentheses are Championship points; numbers in parentheses are total points scored.
References edit
- ^ "Motor Racing Programme Covers: 1963". The Programme Covers Project. Retrieved 10 July 2017.
- ^ Galloway, James (6 December 2018). "F1 2019 schedule: 21-race calendar and December finish". skysports.com. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
- ^ "1963 South African GP Qualification". chicanef1.com. Retrieved 12 August 2020.
- ^ "1963 South African Grand Prix". Formula One. Archived from the original on 6 October 2013. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
- ^ a b "South Africa 1963 - Championship". statsf1.com. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
