VI SOUTH PACIFIC TROPHY
 Location - Longford Aust  Laps - 25  Distance - 181.05 km  Date - 02/03/64  Weather - Fine
ENTRY LIST
NO. DRIVER ENTRANT MAKE ENGINE
? Graham Hill Scuderia Veloce Brabham BT4 Climax FPF
? Jack Brabham Ecurie Vitesse Brabham BT7A Climax FPF
? Frank Matich Total Team Brabham BT7A Climax FPF
? Bib Stillwell B.S. Stillwell Brabham BT4 Climax FPF
? Frank Gardner Alec Mildren Racing Brabham BT6 Ford 1.5
? Greg Cusack Scuderia Veloce Brabham BT6 Ford 1.5
? David Walker David Walker Brabham BT2 Ford 1.5
? Bruce McLaren Bruce McLaren Motor Racing Cooper T70 Climax FPF
? Timmy Mayer Bruce McLaren Motor Racing Cooper T70 Climax FPF
? John Youl John Youl Cooper T55 Climax FPF
? Lex Davison Ecurie Australie Cooper T62 Climax FPF
? Bill Patterson Bill Patterson Motors Cooper T53 Climax FPF
? Jim Palmer George Palmer Cooper T53 Climax FPF
? Tony Osborne Tony Osborne Cooper T53 Climax FPF
? Jack Hobden Louise Hobden Cooper T51 Climax FPF
? Mel McEwin Mel McEwin Elfin FJ Ford 1.5
? Tony Shelly Shelly Motors Ltd. Lola T4 Climax FPF
? Arnold Glass Capitol Motors Lotus 27 Ford 1.5

Hill noses ahead off the line but its Brabham into the leadDespite the difficulties in transporting the cars 1300 miles from Lakeside on Sunday to Melbourne in time to board the Princess of Tasmania by 2 p.m. on Wednesday, the 1964 Longford meeting saw an excellent representation of top-line drivers. Bruce McLaren and Tim Mayer were there with their low, low Coopers, Jack Brabham, Graham Hill, Bib Stillwell and Frank Matich had their Repco-Brabhams whilst Davison, Youl, Patterson, Osborne and local driver Jack Hobden had entered Cooper Climaxes. New Zealand was represented by Tony Shelly's Lola and Jim Palmer's Cooper Climax, and the 1.5L class featured Greg Cusack and Frank Gardner on Brabham, Arnold Glass on Lotus and Mel McEwin on Elfin.

Practice brought tragedy when Tim Mayer's Cooper crashed into some trees and the 26 year old driver diedThe field streaks off towards the Water Tower instantly. It seems that the car left the road, as often happens, on the last hump before the township and perhaps it landed with the brakes on. The car was so badly wrecked that we shall probably never be entirely sure of the cause.

There were two 50 mile heats on the Saturday to decide grid positions for the main event on Monday, Bruce McLaren deciding not to start. The first race, sponsored by The Examiner newspaper, saw Brabham lead off the grid, but his race finished when the brakes locked going into the Viaduct and the car escaped so far up the escape road that it was impossible to turn it round. Matich took over the lead but was forced to retire with a slipping clutch and Stillwell went on to take the flag 2.2 seconds ahead of Graham Hill in the Through the Viaduct on the first lapScuderia Veloce car. Davison was third with Patterson fourth.

Hill and Matich were non starters in the second heat, sponsored by the Hobart Mercury, and Brabham went into the lead on lap four with Stillwell second and Youl in third place. The grid for the South Pacific Championship looked like this:

J. Brabham, G. Hill, F. Matich
B. Stillwell, L. Davison
J. Youl, W. Patterson, T. Shelly
J. Palmer, G. Cusack
A. Glass, F. Gardner, A. Osborne
J. Hobden, M. McEwen, B. McLaren

As the flag dropped it was Brabham who streaked away from the grid with Hill and Matich close behind. At the endThe leaders about to lap the camera car of three laps Brabham had a 2 second lead over Hill, Matich was leading Stillwell by about 3 seconds, and Bruce McLaren was lying fifth after rapid progress from the back of the grid. Brabham and Hill opened a tiny gap from Matich with McLaren only feet from the back of Matich's car by lap 7. Stillwell was taking things a little easier, but still had a comfortable lead over Davison, Youl and Shelly, and Gardner was leading the 1.5L litre class. Patterson was well out of the running, having broken a half-shaft on the first lap and called at the pits for repairs. He was not to re-enter the race until the leaders were on the twelfth lap.

Graham Hill excepts the winners laurelsMcLaren went into third place on lap 9 when Matich's motor developed a miss which gradually became worse as the race went on. By lap 21, just four laps from home, Hill had closed the gap on Brabham and was trailing by only two seconds with McLaren a further 10 seconds behind and seemingly unable to make any improvement. Matich had dropped back considerably and led Stillwell by only 14 seconds; it was useless for Frank to call at his pit for assistance as he had had a disagreement with the pit crew the previous evening and, after fully preparing the car, they had gone on strike.

The following lap was the last for Brabham when the crown wheel and pinion went going up Newry Hill, and Hill accelerated into the lead. With McLaren looking a safe second, interest centred on Stillwell's somewhat belated attempt to catch Matich before the flag fell, an endeavour which failed by one tenth of a second! Youl finished fifthBruce McLaren Winner of the first ever Tasman Cup and Davison sixth. Shelly was seventh despite a clutch which started slipping on lap 15, and Palmer came home in eighth place. Gardner was ninth and first in the Under 1500cc class, followed by Cusack, Hobden and McEwin.

Bruce McLaren had the fastest lap at 2:23.3, an average of 113.05mph, and Frank Gardner set a new 1.5L litre class lap record of 2:33.0 (105.88mph). Frank Matich had the highest speed through the flying mile, 167mph.

 
RACE RESULTS
POSITION LAPS TIME
1. Hill 25 1:00'25.8
2. McLaren 25 1:00'35.1 FL:2'23.3
3. Matich 25 1:01'03.3
4. Stillwell 25 1:01'03.4
5. Youl 25 1:01'26.0
6. Davison 25 1:01'30.7
7. Shelly 25 1:01'33.1
8. Palmer 25 1:01'51.8
9. Gardner 24 .
10. Cusack 24 .
11. Hobden 23 .
12. McEwin 23 .
- Brabham 21 Differential
13. Glass 18 .
14. Patterson 13 .
Osborne 06 DNF:?
Walker ? DNF:?
Article Submitted by Ray Bell

Every effort has been made to trace the owners of copyright and we apologise to any we have been unable to contact