1967 Round 2
Levin

In a 43-lap duel that kept patrons on their toes from start to finish, Jim Clark maintained the slightest of edges over Jackie Stewart to win the 50.5-mile Wills Levin International race on 14 January by 3 sec. Averaging 85.6 mph in the Lotus-Climax V8, Clark made amends for his defeat by Stewart in the GP the previous Saturday and again had the satisfaction of making the fastest lap by circulating the revised 1.175-mile circuit on laps 20 and 30 in 47.5 sec, an average speed of fractionally more than 89 mph. The Scots soon outstripped the rest of the 17-car field to leave the third and fourth men home, Richard Attwood and Frank Gardner, a lap in arrears at the finish. Retirements included Denny Hulme in the Formula I based Repco-Brabham V8, Jim Palmer and Dennis Marwood. Hulme went out with ignition troubles at about half distance. Palmer, in the second lap, struck oil, clouted a bank and damaged the rear suspension which forced him to retire after 12 laps. Marwood held a tenuous ninth place when forced to abandon in his 18th lap. Unluckiest of all was Australian Kevin Bartlett. A minor fire broke out in his Alec Mildren entered Brabham-Climax as the field was coming to the dummy grid and he did not make the start.

The heats, to determine the grid positions, got under way on race day in overcast warm conditions, the Tasman Formula drivers performing first. Clark, Stewart and Hulme had the front row, while Attwood, Gardner and Bartlett shared the second, with Palmer, Marwood and Red Dawson at the back.

Clark established his main race pattern by hitting the front from the start, closely attended by Stewart. These two constantly whittled down their times to the low 'forty-eights'. Attwood and Bartlett finished third and fourth respectively, a spin in the course of this sprint relegating Gardner from fourth to fifth spot. Hulme, lying third, disappeared in his seventh lap and Palmer abandoned with gearbox trouble.

Grid positions in the feature event were allocated on the basis of the fastest lap by each driver in the heats, so when they lined up Clark had pole position with Stewart and Attwood outside him. Bartlett failed to fill the outside of the second row, as a small fire had just broken out in his car, and this left Gardner by himself. Next in line were Levis, Lawrence and Hollier; then Marwood and Dawson; followed by Stone; Harvey and Weston; then Brownlie and Boyd; with Hulme and Palmer at the rear.

In their tenth lap Clark and Stewart doubled Palmer, who was then eighth behind Marwood. Attwood put in a bid for third place and was successful five laps later when Gardner overdid it, had a spin and lost ground. It was also on the 15th lap that both Clark and Stewart doubled Lawrence, in sixth place, for the first time. Palmer had a spin a short time later and damaged his suspension. On lap 20 Clark, now with the bit between his teeth, returned his first 47.5 sec lap and in the process took himself and Stewart past Hulme, whose engine sounded ragged. Marwood then went out when a rod went through the block and soon afterwards Hulme left the stage with engine misfire and that let Lawrence, who was going great guns, into fifth place and well clear of Hollier and Levis.

From then on main interest centred on the Clark-Stewart duel. The slightest indiscretion on Clark's part was all that was needed to let Stewart repeat his GP run. But Clark was in fine fettle and looked much more at home on the circuit than Stewart. In any event, after 30 laps, when Clark repeated his 47.5 sec effort, the two lapped Attwood and Gardner. At that stage Stewart seemed to tire a little, for Clark managed to gain some ground. However, Stewart rallied and drew in close again. Clark, with the V8 Climax sounding as crisp as ever, finally took the flag narrowly ahead of Stewart. Then came Attwood and Gardner, a lap behind, and Lawrence, who had driven a magnificent race, another lap back.

8th Levin International

Date: 14th January 1967
Venue: Levin

43 laps of 1.93kms (83.03kms)

Fastest lap: Jim Clark  47.5 sec (89.05 mph).