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XXXIII
AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX
Location -
Sandown
Park
Aust
Laps -
55
Distance -
169.95 km
Date -
25/02/68
Weather -
Fine |
|
ENTRY LIST |
|
No. |
DRIVER |
ENTRANT |
MAKE |
ENGINE |
|
1 |
Denny Hulme |
Racing Team S.A. |
Brabham BT23 |
Cosworth FVA |
|
2 |
Jack
Brabham |
Ecurie Vitesse |
Brabham BT23E |
Repco V8 2.5 |
|
3 |
John
Harvey |
Bob
Jane Racing |
Brabham BT11A |
Repco V8 2.5 |
|
4 |
Chris Amon |
C. Amon |
Ferrari 246T |
Ferrari V6 2.4 |
|
5 |
Graham Hill |
Gold
Leaf Team Lotus |
Lotus 49T |
Cosworth DFV 2.5 |
|
6 |
Jim
Clark |
Gold
Leaf Team Lotus |
Lotus 49T |
Cosworth DFV 2.5 |
|
7 |
Greg
Cusack |
Scuderia Veloce |
Brabham BT23A |
Repco V8 2.5 |
|
8 |
Frank Gardner |
Alec
Mildren Racing |
Brabham BT23D |
Alfa
Romeo V8 2.5 |
|
9 |
Kevin Bartlett |
Alec
Mildren Racing |
Brabham BT11A |
Climax FPF |
|
10 |
Leo
Geoghegan |
Geoghegan Racing Div. |
Lotus 39 |
Repco V8 2.5 |
|
11 |
Pedro Rodriguez |
Owen
Racing Org. |
BRM
P126 |
BRM
V12 2.5 |
|
12 |
Richard Attwood |
Owen
Racing Org. |
BRM
P126 |
BRM
V12 2.5 |
|
17 |
Fred
Gibson |
N.E.
Allen |
Brabham BT16 |
Climax FPF |
|
18 |
Piers Courage |
Piers Courage |
McLaren M4A |
Cosworth FVA |
|
24 |
Geoff Vercoe |
Don
Fraser |
Cicada |
BRM
2.5 |
|
 After
an incredible race long duel, Jim Clark beat Chris
Amon in the sprint to the line to win the 33rd
Australian Grand Prix by half a length. Amon was
unrelenting in his pursuit of Clark, the gap only
getting as large as one second at the start and
later when Amon was held up while lapping Piers
Courage. Clark and Amon thrilled the crowd after the
disappointing early retirement of Jack Brabham, who
after making a bad start chased the leaders for 21
laps.
The meeting was run in above century heat, giving
the international teams a chance to apply lessons
learned at Kyalami in January. During the week-end
cars sprouted fuel radiators, open sides and
external tubular water pipes.
Sandown Park was very hot for the opening of
practice on Friday but the session was cut short
when the stewards stopped practice to allow the
promoters time to complete repairs to the circuit.
The session proved little apart from the fact that
the surface had deteriorated markedly since last
year and that the high temperatures were going to
cause overheating troubles to both cars and drivers.
After one-two's at Surfers Paradise and Warwick Farm
the Lotus team were well pleased with the form of
the Lotus 49s. The cars were brought to Sandown
exactly as they had run at the Farm, and Clark and
Hill's only task was to select the right gear ratios
for the circuit.
Similarly Amon's Ferrari was in "Farm Trim". The
4-valve motor had performed satisfactorily at
Warwick Farm after its post Surfers overhaul and
Amon was most keen to use it on the fast Sandown
Circuit. He now had two spares as the second 3-valve
motor arrived from its factory rebuild in Italy.
Jack Brabham was all set to win his fourth
Australian Grand Prix.
Since Warwick Farm his new tyres and new motor had
arrived. The motor was still the single overhead-cam
type but the block was 11.4 inches shorter and was
cast in magnesium. It made the Brabham look much
neater as the exhaust system was of the "old
fashioned" type, coming out low on the outside of
the Vee.
Goodyear had finally got their latest rubber out of
Australian Customs so Brabham was welcomed back to
the fold
after his defection to Firestone. The tyres were
those used in the South African Grand Prix but were
not quite as wide as the Lotus Firestones.
Pedro Rodriguez was another 'Goodyear
man' to return to the
fold. The BRM team brought three cars, two V12s and
one V8 but Pedro very quickly proved the V8 was not
competitive. The V12s were unchanged,
Attwood's gearbox had been overhauled but the fuel
system troubles seemed to be solved.
When Frank Gardner's Alfa V8 motor was examined
after Warwick Farm it was found to be severely
damaged so the replacement was fitted during the
week.
Denny Hulme had continued his programme of chassis
development in an effort to make the 1600cc Brabham
as quick as Piers Courage's similarly powered
McLaren. He had not been outstandingly successful as
his equal slowest on Saturday morning showed.
Amon was quickest in the shortened Friday practice
session. His best was 1m 6.9s, well outside the 1m
5.7s. record of Jack Brabham. After Amon were Clark,
Harvey, Rodriguez and Frank Gardner. The condition
of the circuit prevented fast laps and eventually
practice.
On Saturday morning Clark improved to 1m 6.9s. but
Amon was slower with 1m 7.2s. Despite not having run
on Friday, Brabham got down to 1m 7.4s very quickly.
Leo Geoghegan was far quicker than his local rivals
with 1m 7.6s. Behind Geoghegan were Gardner, 1m
8.2s.; Rodriguez, 1m 8.8s.; Hill, 1m 9.2s.; Attwood,
1m 9.4s.; Courage, 1m 9.5s.; Harvey, 1m 9.6s.; and
Hulme, Cusack and Bartlett with 1m 10.2s.
Brabham and Amon got going very quickly in the
second session. Pole position was obviously going to
be disputed between these two and Clark, but before
the latter could get down to his morning times he
had a tyre go down. Although Brabham could not equal
his lap record of 1m 5.7s. he was quickest with 1m
6.7s. Amon was one-tenth slower but by the time
Clark got going again the circuit was very slippery
and he could not reply. Courage was able
 to
knock one second off his previous best, getting down
to 1m 8.5s.
Brabham did not go out during the last session, but
Amon, Clark and Hill were all determined to bump him
from pole.
The two Lotus Ford drivers attempted to tow each
other around but the condition of the circuit beat
them. All they could do was improve Graham Hill's
best time to 1m 7.3s. Clark's best in this session
was 1m 7.2s. while Amon's was 1m 7.4s.
Leo Geoghegan was surprisingly quickest during the
last session. His most competitive 1m 7.0s put him
ahead of Graham Hill on the pole side of the second
row. When practice closed 0.3 seconds covered
Brabham, Amon, Clark and Geoghegan.
As the start-finish line at Sandown is half-way
along the main straight, the first quarter mile of
the race becomes a drag race into Shell Corner. It
is doubtful whether the man on pole has the better
position, having the shorter ; run to the
left-hander, or whether the man on the outside has
the advantage, being closer to the right line.
After a briefing on the dummy grid the 13 drivers
completed three-quarters of a lap to the grid
proper. From the start Clark was marginally ahead of
Amon, Hill overwhelmed Brabham. Amon followed Clark
through Shell and was himself followed by Hill,
Brabham, Gardner and Geoghegan.
Amon immediately gave warning to Clark that if he
was going to win the 33rd Australian Grand Prix he
would have to
fight for it. As Clark led around the kink, called
Mobil Corner, for the first time Amon put the
Ferrari in the Lotus' slipstream. The cars roared up
long hill at the back of the circuit nose to tail
and as they neared the crest Amon pulled out to
overhaul the Lotus. The cars were level at the top
but Jim kept his foot down and forced Amon to drop
back as they raced down toward Dandenong Road.
Brabham was overtaken by Gardner on the first lap.
Across the line for the first time the order was
Clark, Amon, Hill, Gardner, Brabham, Geoghegan,
Rodriguez, Cusack, Courage, Bartlett, Attwood, Hulme
and Harvey.
Clark and Amon quickly detached themselves from
Graham Hill, the gap between the Lotus-Ford and the
Ferrari being almost non-existent as they completed
lap two.
Frank Gardner pulled out of Hill's slipstream at the
end of the straight for the second time and grabbed
third. Graham replied immediately by using Gardner's
slipstream to snatch back third as they raced up the
hill.
After two laps Denny Hulme dropped to last when he
pitted to have a loose spark plug refitted in the
FVA Ford motor.
On the completion of two laps Clark's Lotus-Ford led
by two cars' lengths from Chris Amon's Ferrari.
Graham Hill's Lotus was five seconds behind Amon and
was leading Gardner by one second and Brabham by
two. Brabham really got going on the third lap and
moved past Gardner and set out after Hill. He caught
the Londoner and slipped by on the straight after
four laps.
Cusack had moved by Rodriguez and got by Geoghegan
into sixth on lap six. When Brabham took third he
was five seconds behind Clark, by lap nine he was
four seconds down. Amon was still in Clark's
slipstream but the Lotus and Ferrari could not hold
their lead on the Brabham-Repco. Brabham continued
his chase and got to within 0.6 seconds of Amon on
lap 16. He was unable to close this gap any further.
As Clark drove down the straight Amon followed
directly behind but Brabham elected to keep to the
inside of the circuit. He found that his motor was
overheating and the trouble was aggravated by
following Amon closely.
 Much
to the disappointment of the spectators it was the
gap between Amon and Clark which began to close, not
the gap between Brabham and the leaders.
Brabham began to lose ground on the 20th lap and
pulled into the pits after 21. He decided it was not
worth risking the motor to continue so the crowd saw
yet another Brabham retirement.
By this stage the gap between Amon and Hill was half
a minute. Clark and Amon were still in close company
while Hill and Gardner were actively disputing the
place vacated by Brabham.
Hill's Lotus-Ford led Gardner's yellow Alec Mildren
Brabham Alfa from laps 5
to 18. Gardner got through but led only three laps
until Hill went down the straight.
Amon became more daring with Brabham's retirement,
and began to examine all the places on the circuit
where he might get by. The Ferrari had more
mid-range acceleration on the uphill back straight
so Amon was repeatedly able to rush up in Clark's
slipstream and pull out alongside as they neared the
top. Each time the Lotus' top end power came in just
soon enough to allow Clark to outspeed Amon over the
crest.
The pattern was similar on the main straight. Amon's
approach from behind was so rapid he gave the
appearance Clark could not keep him behind. Each
time the Ferrari would be alongside the Lotus,
either a little ahead or a little behind, when the
V8 Ford was able to take the Lotus ahead.
Amon tried to pull out early, as they crossed the
start-finish line and as they approached the braking
area but each time Clark was able to precariously
hold his position.
On lap 33 the officials credited Amon with leading
across the start-finish line but as ever, it was
Clark who led into Peters.
The gap between Clark and Amon was not more than 0.3
seconds at any point of the circuit. Graham Hill's
Lotus Ford trailed the Ferrari by 46 seconds while
Gardner's Brabham Alfa was one second behind Hill.
Piers Courage in the McLaren FVA was six seconds
further behind and was leading Leo Geoghegan's Lotus
Repco, by 11 seconds.
In very nearly heart-stopping performance, Chris
Amon maintained this incredible pressure on Clark.
Lap charts showed Clark's No. 6 monotonously holding
first place, but they were of course incapable of
telling the true story of the race.
Gardner got by Hill again on the back straight on
lap 52 but Graham only followed him for one lap
before retaking
third.
As Clark led on to the straight for the last time,
Amon was a few lengths behind. As they raced towards
the line the Ferrari rushed up in the Lotus'
slipstream. Amon pulled out and made his final bid
for the race. He was alongside, about two feet
behind and gaining rapidly when Clark was five
lengths from the line.
In the last few yards the power from the Ford motor
was able to check the advance of the Ferrari and
open the lead of the Lotus to half a length. The
officials gave Clark's margin as one-tenth of a
second. Hill and Gardner were 50.2 behind, the
Brabham being 0.2 behind
the Lotus.
Piers Courage drove a lonely race into fifth place
one lap behind Clark. Leo Geoghegan lost his sixth
place to Dickie Attwood late in the race when he was
slowed by his misfiring and a lack of fuel. |
|
RACE RESULTS |
|
POSITION |
LAPS |
TIME |
|
1.
Clark |
55 |
1:02'40.3 |
|
2.
Amon |
55 |
1:02'40.4 FL:1'07.0 |
|
3.
Hill |
55 |
1:03'39.6 |
|
4.
Gardner |
55 |
1:03'39.8 |
|
5.
Courage |
54 |
. |
|
6.
Attwood |
53 |
. |
|
7.
Geoghegan |
53 |
. |
|
8.
Bartlett |
53 |
. |
|
9.
Hulme |
50 |
. |
|
Brabham |
21 |
DNF:Engine |
|
Cusack |
21 |
DNF:? |
|
Harvey |
16 |
DNF:Gearbox |
|
Rodriguez |
10 |
DNF:Engine |
|
Written
by M.G.P.A for Motoring News. Article
submitted by Milan Fistonic
Every
effort has been made to trace the owners of
copyright and we apologise to any we have been
unable to contact |
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