1969 Round 2
Levin

Frank Williams turned up at Levin with a spare car for Malcolm Guthrie, a Brabham BT23 F2 car powered by an FVA. It was almost needed by his number one driver Courage as his DFW let go in a big way and had to be immediately flown back to Britain to be repaired in time for Wigram. It looked as though Courage would be put into Guthrie's car but Gold Leaf Team Lotus came to the rescue with a loan of one of their spare DFW's.

Rindt found the short, tight course to his liking and returned 45.2 sec (93.5 mph) by mid afternoon. Amon, who served his apprenticeship at Levin, tried hard to better that but had to be content with 45.6 sec, and Bell, tucked in behind his team-mate, came up with a creditable 45.8 sec. Gardner, who goes well at this circuit, was given 46.0 sec and this engendered doubts about time-keeping efficiency as his own crew and private watches had recorded some consistent 45.6 sec laps. Courage managed 46.3 sec, but looked faster, and Hill, whose car was still troublesome, managed 46.4 sec and was embarrassed by McRae who shadowed him through the twisty bits in his home-built car for lap after lap to be next qualifier with 47.0 sec. Roly Levis and Geoghegan shared 47.4 sec, while Lawrence and David Oxton came up with 48.2 sec and 49.0 sec. The rest were out of the picture with Englishman Malcolm Guthrie, making his New Zealand debut, perhaps the slowest of the lot. As the day drew to a close Courage blew his engine, so his borrowed engine was fitted overnight, while leaky fuel cells in the Hill Lotus also received attention.

In marked contrast, the second heat for 1.5-litre cars was prosaic. McRae drove away from the factory-built runners to set a 48.1 sec class lap record and win as he liked from Oxton, Hawthorne and Allan McCully in their Brabham-Ford twin-cams. The heats did not take their usual toll of cars although Radisich and Brownlie collided during a frantic battle, eliminating the HCM. Brownlie's crew managed to ready his Brabham in time for the start only to have the motor catch fire while it was being warmed up. Peter Hughes also had his Daimler V8 stop and he did not start.

Amon shaded poleman Rindt from the front of the main race grid, but was taken by the Austrian almost immediately. Gardner, Hill and Bell were in close attendance. Rindt led Amon by a whisker in lap 2. There were a few lengths to Gardner, Bell, Hill, Geoghegan, the enterprising McRae, Courage and Lawrence.

Next time round Rindt had opened his lead on Amon to 1.8 sec, while the gap to Gardner had widened; Bell had taken Hill. Then came Courage, McRae, Geoghegan, Lawrence, Levis and Hawthorne. Marwood stopped on the back straight with a blown piston. A spin on lap 4 dropped Rindt to sixth behind Courage and he had not improved two laps later when he repeated his error in, more costly fashion, finishing upside-down over the top of a safety embankment, petrol-soaked but unhurt and securely strapped in his wrecked Lotus. Now the order was Amon, well clear; Gardner, with Bell and Hill tied to his tail; Courage, on his own; Geoghegan, Lawrence and McRae next, the punctured Levis having temporarily fallen by the wayside. Gardner held his place into the tenth lap when he spun and let Bell through, as well as Hill and Courage. Geoghegan and Lawrence were tied together behind Gardner, and McRae was still in striking distance. Bell closed to within 3 sec of Amon, but spun on lap 14 to hand his place to Courage, who had effortlessly moved to third when Hill abandoned with driveshaft failure a lap earlier. Clutch problems forced Dawson to abandon his race on lap 14.

Courage in his distinctive double-winged Brabham.

Courage relegated himself to second, 15 sec behind Amon, with a spin on lap 32, but stayed 26 sec ahead of Bell who was just clear of Gardner. Bell's race ended on lap 41 due to an oil leak and the order became Amon, Courage, Gardner, Geoghegan, Lawrence, McRae, Hawthorne, Levis and Guthrie. On lap 42 Oxton blew his twin cam. Amon doubled Gardner at the end of lap 43 and Courage, gaining a second a lap, did likewise at the end of lap 50. Ten laps later it appeared that Courage, only 3.1 sec behind Amon, might feature in a grandstand finish, but he dropped a pair of wheels in the rough at the hairpin's exit thereby letting Amon win under reduced pressure.

10th Levin International

Date: 11th January 1969
Venue: Levin

63 laps of 1.92kms (120.69kms)