XII NEW ZEALAND GRAND PRIX
 Location - Pukekohe NZ  Laps - 50  Distance - 177.00 km  Date - 09/01/65  Weather - Fine
ENTRY LIST
No. DRIVER ENTRANT MAKE ENGINE
2 Graham Hill Scuderia Veloce Brabham BT11A Climax FPF
5 Lex Davison Ecurie Australie Brabham BT4 Climax FPF
9 Bill Thomasen Corsair Racing Team Brabham BT4 Climax FPF
11 Frank Gardner Alec Mildren Racing Brabham BT11A Climax FPF
41 Jim Palmer George Palmer Brabham BT7A Climax FPF
8 Andy Buchanan Andy Buchanan Brabham BT6 Ford 1.5
12 Roly Levis R.A. Levis Brabham BT6 Ford 1.5
7 Ken Sager J.H. Sager Brabham BT6 Ford 1.5
21 Graeme Lawrence Graeme Lawrence Brabham BT6 Ford 1.5
47 Bruce McLaren Bruce McLaren Racing Cooper T79 Climax FPF
48 Phil Hill Bruce McLaren Racing Cooper T70/79 Climax FPF
4 Bruce Abernethy Rothmans Driver Scheme Cooper T66 Climax FPF
6 Arnold Glass Capitol Motors Cooper T55 Climax FPF
15 Red Dawson Red Dawson Cooper T53 Climax FPF
? Bill Stone Bill Stone Cooper T52 Ford 1.5
25 Rex Flowers Rex Flowers Lola T4 Climax FPF
1 Jim Clark Team Lotus Lotus 32B Climax FPF
14 Kerry Grant Lesco Racing Lotus 22 Ford 1.5
17 John Riley John Riley Lotus 18/21 Climax FPF
16 Leo Geoghegan Total Team Lotus 32 Ford 1.5
10 Dene Hollier Dene Hollier Ltd. Lotus 20B Ford 1.5
18 Bryan Thomas Bryan Thomas Lotus 27 Ford 1.5
19 Frank Turpie Frank Turpie Lotus 20 Ford 1.5
20 Ken Smith Ken Smith Lotus 22 Ford 1.5
23 Colin Ngan Colin Ngan Valour Ford 1.5

Driving with the skill and polish that has made him one of the world's finest drivers, Graham Hill won the 1965 New Zealand Grand Prix at Pukekohe with ease after the withdrawal of his greatest opposition early in the event. Brabhams took the first three placings, with Australian Frank Gardner second and Jim Palmer third, the first Kiwi home. One of the best drives of the day was that of John Riley who took his Lotus inconspicuously into fourth position.

At the first practice session on the Wednesday, Graham Hill quickly made it apparent that he was well at home in the Scuderia Veloce Brabham and made the fastest time of day with 1m 26.7s. The McLaren Coopers were running on the huge 15-inch Firestone tyres, while Gardner's Brabham was prominent with its Goodyears. It is satisfying to see some variety in covers. Bryan Thomas was soon in trouble with a broken crankshaft in his 1.5 Lotus. Both the McLaren cars were suffering with handling problems which was to continually dog the cars, but Bruce managed 1m 27.2s to be second fastest on the first practice day.

Jim Clark did have a run in the initial practice session but did not have the Lotus really into gear until day two when he was second fastest to G. Hill. Phil Hill's Cooper was having handling problems under braking and the car left the main straight at the Hairpin on a number of occasions. A brake booster failed on Arnold Glass's Cooper and the car left the end of the main straight at high speed. It careered down a gully, straight through a fence and finished at the side of the main road outside the circuit. The Australian was cut about the face and the car only lightly damaged. Kerry Grant managed a Im 27.8s time in the 2.5 Brabham, giving him the fourth fastest time.

Fastest times among the single seaters were: G. Hill, 1m 25s; Clark, 1m 25.5s; McLaren, 1m 25.6s; Grant, 1m 27.8s; Gardner, 1m 28.4s; P. Hill, 1.28.6s; Palmer, 1m 28.9s.

Clark, McLaren and Gardner occupied the front row for the first preliminary heat for the G.P., and it was the Scot who led Gardner, McLaren and Lex Davison (Brabham) into the Elbow at the start. The green and yellow Lotus had five seconds on Davison, McLaren, Palmer and Thomasen at the end of the first lap but one circulation later Thomasen was out with a broken driveshaft. McLaren began to harry Davison and by the third lap was in second position behind Clark. One lap later there was near tragedy. Considerable oil made the surface dicey at the start of the Esses and Bryan Thomas came to grief in his new Lotus 27. The car left the circuit and smashed into a bank before overturning and landing on a spectator's car. It then bounced off and finished 35 feet away in a ditch after hitting three people, all of whom suffered only minor injuries. An ambulance moved onto the scene to attend the injured and soon after Bruce McLaren's Cooper came unstuck on the same patch of oil. His car struck the rear of the ambulance before ending up in a ditch badly damaged, close to the wreck of the Thomas Lotus. Thomas suffered minor injuries while McLaren was unscathed. Clark continued on to an easy win ahead of Davison, Palmer, Riley and Geoghegan.

At the start of the second heat Phil Hill led Bruce Abernethy (Cooper), Graham Hill and Dean Hollier into the Elbow. G. Hill took Phil at the Elbow one circulation later, while Abernethy spun at Lion Hairpin. By lap 4 the former world champion had six seconds on Phil Hill, with Roly Levis (1.5 Brabham) and Red Dawson (2.5 Cooper) fighting honours for third position. Dawson managed to take the Putaruru driver and finish in third place.

Jimmy Clark leads into the ElbowJimmy Clark led the Grand Prix at the drop of the flag from McLaren (who was now driving Phil Hill's car), Davison, Graham Hill and Jim Palmer. There was excitement on the grid when Abernethy spun the Cooper striking the Levis Brabham which in turn left the circuit and hit a photographer. Abernethy was push-started to rejoin the field at the tail-end, while Levis started in the race a couple of laps later after some hurried taping of the smashed fibreglass.

By the end of the first lap Clark led McLaren, Davison, G. Hill, Palmer and then a gap to John Riley, Gardner, Geoghegan and Glass. McLaren momentarily took the lead down the back straight but the two leaders touched, and a rear suspension upright on the Lotus broke, thus putting Clark out of the race. As they came round on completion of lap three Hill was in the lead from Davison, McLaren, Palmer and then a 14 second gap to Riley who was leading the rest of the bunch. On the fifth lap McLaren moved into second place as the leaders began to lap the tail-enders. Arnold Glass was in the pits with damage to the Cooper's suspension. By the seventh circulation leader Hill had 5.5 seconds on McLaren and then Davison, Palmer with Gardner having moved up to fifth position.

Rex Flowers moved past Geoghegan with his Lola, but could not challenge Riley. By lap 12 the two leaders were 9.5 seconds ahead of Davison in third place and Palmer, but on the next round McLaren retired with an ailing gearbox, putting the Australian into second position. The race now settled into a pattern with little happening, now that the main rivals were eliminated from the grind. By lap 16 Abernethy had moved up through the field to challenge Flowers, and three laps later Davison called into the pits, losing his comfortable second place. His red Brabham had a blown water hose which was to dog him throughout the event. On lap 28 he again called at the pits for more water and a further stop was made on lap 41. Gardner challenged Jim Palmer and, after passing the New Zealander, began to draw slowly away.Graham Hill on the way to Victory

Graham Hill continued to drive impeccably and on lap 23 had 36 seconds on Gardner, Palmer, Riley, Flowers, Thomasen and Geoghegan. On lap 30 Geoghegan passed Thomasen while Kenny Smith made a pit stop with fuel problems. The leader increased his margin to 50 seconds by lap 34, while Palmer had more than two minutes over his nearest rival, Riley in the Lotus. Little else happened. Andy Buchanan managed to keep ahead of Dawson's Cooper and Thomasen lost ground when his Brabham began to ail. Only Hill and Gardner finished the complete course.
 
RACE RESULTS
POSITION LAPS TIME
1. Hill (G) 50 1:13'43.4 FL:1'26.3
2. Gardner 50 1:15'06.3
3. Palmer 49 .
4. Riley 47 .
5. Flowers 47 .
6. Geoghegan 47 .
7. Buchanan 46 .
8. Dawson 46 .
9. Grant 46 .
10. Thomasen 45 .
11. Hollier 45 .
12. Smith 41 .
13. Levis 40 .
14. Stone 39 .
Davison 33 DNF:Radiator
Abernethy 32 DNF:Gearbox
McLaren 13 DNF:Gearbox
Glass 3 DNF:Suspension
Clark 2 DNF:Accident
Written by Donn Anderson for Motorman Magazine. Article submitted by Milan Fistonic

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