1964 Round 4
Teretonga

Driving the Tasman Cooper-Climax, Bruce McLaren notched up his fourth Teretonga win and his third in succession, as well as his third successive victory for the 1964 season. His time for the 75 miles was 58 min 24.5 sec, just 0.1 sec faster than that of his team-mate Timmy Mayer, who finished next. Third home was Jim Palmer (2.5 Cooper-Climax) and then came Tony Shelly (2.5 Lotus-Climax), Bill Thomasen (2.5 Cooper-Climax) and Roly Levis (1.65 Lotus-Ford). For a while the race looked as though it would be a repetition of Levin for Denny Hulme, the sole Brabham-Climax representative, dominated the first eight of the fifty laps, building up a lead of nearly 10 sec over McLaren. But the newly-resealed track was slippery and Hulme came unstuck at the exit from the sweeping loop which is a feature of the 1.5-mile circuit and damaged the front suspension of his car. With Hulme out of the way McLaren and Mayer turned on a high-speed driving demonstration, and as they were driving as a team and were not pressed neither race nor lap records were established.

Chris Amon spun his Lola-Climax into a ditch

In the unofficial training session McLaren and Mayer soon found to their discomfort that the new sealing was inclined to bleed and make the circuit slippery and the coating of small stones whipped up into the drivers' faces. Because of these unpleasant conditions no spectacular times were registered at the official session later in the day. Hulme was fastest with 1 min 6.3 sec, using the Repco-developed twin-ignition Coventry-Climax engine in his Brabham that his team-leader had raced at Wigram the previous Saturday. Next came Mayer with 1 min 7.5 sec, Youl with 1 min 8.0 sec in his older and heavier Cooper-Climax, and McLaren with a 1 min 8.2. These qualifying times determined grid positions for the two preliminary six-lap heats on race day which, in turn, determined positions for the start of the feature race.

Before the main event Hulme brought out the Brabham-Climax fitted with a pair of wide-section tyres on the rear wheels and put in two very quick laps, considering the state of the circuit, to the consternation of the other competitors.

McLaren had pole position, with Hulme, Mayer and Amon outside him. Youl was a last-minute defection. A broken fuel line was discovered as the car was about to be wheeled out. Thomasen and Shelly had the second row to themselves, while at the rear were Palmer, Flowers, Levis, and Sager and Boyd. Barry Porter was also a non-starter.

McLaren on his way to his fourth Teretonga victory

McLaren was now a surprised leader 3 sec ahead of Mayer, who was followed by Amon, Palmer, Thomasen, Shelly, Levis, Flowers, Boyd and Sager. Amon made his bid, driving magnificently in a car that was handling badly, but he came to an end in the nineteenth lap when he spun off to finish in a ditch. His departure enabled McLaren and Mayer to circulate in tight formation at about 1 min 10 sec per lap. Palmer, Thomasen, Shelly, Levis and Flowers followed, with Boyd a long way back.

7th Teretonga International

Date: 25th January 1964
Venue: Teretonga Park

50 laps of 2.4138kms (120.69kms)