1965 Round 1
Pukekohe

Round One: PUKEKOHE     12th New Zealand Grand Prix

The worth of Jack Brabham as a racing car constructor was convincingly demonstrated when three of his Coventry-Climax engined Tasman Formula cars, driven by Graham Hill, Frank Gardner and Jim Palmer, representing Britain, Australia and New Zealand respectively, emerged triumphant in an incident studded New Zealand Grand Prix at Pukekohe. Hill, driving the Australian entered Scuderia Veloce car, led from lap two to the finish in impeccable style to set a new race record of about 90 mph, while Gardner, the only other to go the full distance, came in 1 min 22.9 sec later. Bereft of a mount after his team leader Bruce McLaren had made an off-course excursion in his 2.5 Cooper-Climax in a preliminary heat, 1961 world champion Phil Hill was among the spectators and was quickly joined by 1963 world champion Jim Clark, whose Lotus-Climax was shunted by McLaren in the second lap. McLaren, the 1964 GP winner, completed a disconsolate trio when his gearbox packed up in lap thirteen. With his major adversaries out, Hill romped away with the race, but at unabated pace. He put in his 47th lap in 1 min 26.3 sec, a mere 0.1 sec outside the lap record jointly set by Frank Matich and Denny Hulme in 1964.

Jim Clark was entered by Colin Chapman in a special Lotus 32 based on a F2 27/32 monocoque but with a spaceframe rear to house the Climax FPF, which left the whole car only 8 cm longer than the F2 version. The engine in Clark's Lotus was, in fact, a reduced 2.7 bought from Innes Ireland and this was mated to a ZF gearbox.

Phil Hill going off during practice.                              Frank Gardner (Brabham-Climax).

For the first lap of the second heat Phil Hill led Graham Hill, but he did not look happy, and the Londoner surged to the front to win in a slow 19 min 2.4 sec from Phil Hill, Red Dawson (2.5 Cooper-Climax), Roly Levis (1.5 Brabham-Ford), Bruce Abernethy (2.5 Cooper-Climax) and Kerry Grant (1.5 Lotus-Ford). Phil Hill surrendered his car to McLaren so the crowd's idol would be seen in the grand prix.

Clark leading McLaren into the Elbow just after the start.

In the meantime Clark, going like the wind, led McLaren, Davison, Graham Hill, Riley and Gardner. In the second lap McLaren attempted to take Clark, under braking for the hairpin at the end of the back straight. The Cooper clipped the green and yellow Lotus and put it out of the race with damaged suspension. Hill came round in first spot with Davison, Palmer and McLaren following. Two laps later McLaren, running second, made a bid to move in on Hill, closing the gap to 4 sec. But by the 14th lap he was out with gearbox failure. At the end of lap 2 Glass pitted to have his suspension looked at. Palmer got a bump from Riley in the back at the elbow on the next lap and was without fourth gear from that point on.

McLaren, showing evidence of his shunt with Clark. Andy Buchanan (Brabham) in rear.

Davison could make no impression on Hill and had Palmer and Gardner at his rear wheels. This trio had drawn well clear of Riley and his followers. With eighteen laps completed, Davison made the first of a series of stops to remedy overheating and Gardner took advantage of the situation to pass Palmer. Davidson pitted again on lap 28 for a water top-up while two laps later Smith came in with fuel pick-up problems. Geoghegan pushed the Lotus ahead of Thomasen's now rather sick sounding Brabham. Abernethy's splendid drive came to an end on lap 32 when the gearbox gave out. Davison finally called it a day on the next lap.

Race winner Graham Hill (Brabham-Climax).

Fastest lap: Graham Hill, 1 min 26.3 sec.