1961 United States Grand Prix | |||
---|---|---|---|
Race details | |||
Date | October 8, 1961 | ||
Official name | IV Grand Prix of the United States | ||
Location | Watkins Glen Grand Prix Race Course Watkins Glen, New York | ||
Course | Permanent road course | ||
Course length | 3.78 km (2.35 miles) | ||
Distance | 100 laps, 378 km (235 miles) | ||
Weather | Temperatures up to 22 °C (72 °F); Wind speeds up to 16.48 km/h (10.24 mph) [1] | ||
Pole position | |||
Driver | Cooper-Climax | ||
Time | 1:17.0 | ||
Fastest lap | |||
Driver | Jack Brabham | Cooper-Climax | |
Time | 1:18.2 on lap 28 | ||
Podium | |||
First | Lotus-Climax | ||
Second | Porsche | ||
Third | BRM-Climax | ||
Lap leaders |
The 1961 United States Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on October 8, 1961, at the Watkins Glen Grand Prix Race Course in Watkins Glen, New York. It was the eighth and final race in both the 1961 World Championship of Drivers and the 1961 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers.
The United States Grand Prix had been held at two different circuits in its previous three runnings, but subsequently remained at Watkins Glen until 1980. The season-ending race was won by British driver Innes Ireland, his only career Grand Prix win. He started eighth, took the lead when the engine in Stirling Moss' Lotus failed, and finished 4.3 seconds ahead of American Dan Gurney. The win was the first victory for Colin Chapman's Team Lotus.
By the time of the Watkins Glen event, the 1961 season had seen Californian Phil Hill crowned the first American World Champion. However, he did not take part in the race as the Scuderia Ferrari team had remained home. In the previous race, the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, Ferrari driver and team leader Wolfgang von Trips had been killed in a crash while leading the Drivers' Championship, handing victory and the Championship to Hill. Since Ferrari had clinched the Constructors' Championship as well as the Drivers', the team chose not to make the trip across the Atlantic for the season finale.
There had been considerable doubt about whether the US race would even take place, since the FIA did not grant the Watkins Glen Grand Prix Corporation final approval for the event until August 28. By October, however, the field was missing only the Ferrari team.
Howard Hughes visited the pits to meet with John Cooper about expanding his car manufacturing business. A photograph taken of Hughes in the pits and published in the May 10, 1976, issue of Time magazine was the last known photograph of him. [2]
While all but the two Porsche entries had Climax engines, only Jack Brabham of the factory Cooper team, and Stirling Moss, in Rob Walker's privately entered Lotus, had the newest developmental V8 version available to them. Moss set the pace on Saturday with a lap time of 1:18.2 in his 4-cylinder car, then posted a 1:17.2 with the V8. Brabham, the just-deposed two-time World Champion, responded by taking the pole with a 1:17.0. When Moss decided to use the older 4-cylinder in the race, saying that the car handled better with it, he dropped back to the second row of the grid, next to Brabham's teammate, Bruce McLaren. Graham Hill's BRM, a tenth quicker than the other 4-cylinder cars, was alongside Brabham on the front row, a second slower than the Australian.
Jim Clark, in one works Lotus, took fifth spot, while Ireland, his teammate, qualified eighth. On Friday, Ireland spun to the edge of the woods in the 180-degree South Loop when his steering failed. The following day, before he could put in a serious time, his gearbox broke. The back of the grid was filled largely with independent North American drivers in uncompetitive cars. Canadian Peter Ryan, in his only grand prix, led a group containing Walt Hansgen, Roger Penske, Hap Sharp, Jim Hall and Lloyd Ruby. Penske's car was one of the first instances of commercial sponsorship in F1, painted in bright DuPont Anti-Freeze yellow.
A paid crowd of 28,000 (total around 60,000) attended the race on Sunday. At the start, Brabham led the field off the grid and into the first corner, but before the end of the first lap, Moss had moved into the lead. These two were followed by Ireland (up from eighth), Hill, Dan Gurney, Masten Gregory and McLaren. On lap three, McLaren moved up to third when Ireland spun on oil at the end of the straight. "I nearly went out of the race," he said. "I went into a whirl, a 360-degree spin, cars were whipping past."[ citation needed ] He recovered and continued in eleventh.
By lap 10, Ireland had already moved up to fourth, behind McLaren's Cooper, as Moss and Brabham continued to draw away at a second a lap, swapping the lead back and forth. At about one-third distance, on lap 34, Brabham's V8 began to leak water and overheat. With puffs of smoke appearing from the left-side exhaust, the Cooper dropped back from Moss and finally entered the pits on lap 45. After taking on water and returning to the race, Brabham completed only seven more laps before retiring.
Leading now by over 40 seconds, Moss seemed on his way to a comfortable victory. However, his oil pressure was dropping, and on lap 59, the dark blue Lotus peeled off and retired suddenly, handing the lead to Ireland. Hill was right on the tail of the Scot, hounding him for 15 laps, until he, too, suddenly coasted down the pit lane with a loose magneto wire. The next challenger was Roy Salvadori, who began trimming the lead from 20 seconds down to five with only five laps left. But it was Ireland's day. With just over three laps remaining, Salvadori's privately entered Cooper blew its engine, just as his teammate John Surtees' car had done on the first lap.
Ireland came home under the waving checkered flag of Tex Hopkins, less than five seconds ahead of American Dan Gurney, as Britain's Tony Brooks finished the last GP of his career in third. "I was lucky," said Ireland. "I could not take Moss or Brabham. Their cars were too fast. I had no fuel pressure in the last ten laps, and ended up with a thimbleful of gas at the finish."[ citation needed ]
It was Ireland's only World Championship win, the first World Championship win for Team Lotus, and the first American Grand Prix to turn a profit, ensuring its return in 1962. It was Moss's last World Championship race, as his career was ended by a heavy accident during the 1962 Glover Trophy race at Goodwood the following April.
Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Qualifying times | Gap | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Q1 | Q2 | |||||
1 | 1 | Jack Brabham | Cooper-Climax | 1:17.3 | 1:17.0 | — |
2 | 4 | Graham Hill | BRM-Climax | 1:18.8 | 1:18.1 | +1.1 |
3 | 7 | Stirling Moss | Lotus-Climax | 1:18.7 | 1:18.2† | +1.2 |
4 | 2 | Bruce McLaren | Cooper-Climax | 1:18.7 | 1:18.2 | +1.2 |
5 | 5 | Tony Brooks | BRM-Climax | 1:19.4 | 1:18.3 | +1.3 |
6 | 14 | Jim Clark | Lotus-Climax | 1:20.6 | 1:18.3 | +1.3 |
7 | 12 | Dan Gurney | Porsche | 1:19.0 | 1:18.6 | +1.6 |
8 | 15 | Innes Ireland | Lotus-Climax | 1:20.0 | 1:18.8 | +1.8 |
9 | 18 | John Surtees | Cooper-Climax | 1:19.0 | 1:18.9 | +1.9 |
10 | 11 | Jo Bonnier | Porsche | 1:19.4 | 1:18.9 | +1.9 |
11 | 22 | Masten Gregory | Lotus-Climax | 1:19.1 | 1:20.5 | +2.1 |
12 | 19 | Roy Salvadori | Cooper-Climax | 1:19.6 | 1:19.2 | +2.2 |
13 | 16 | Peter Ryan | Lotus-Climax | 1:26.0 | 1:20.0 | +3.0 |
14 | 60 | Walt Hansgen | Cooper-Climax | 1:22.9 | 1:20.4 | +3.4 |
15 | 21 | Olivier Gendebien | Lotus-Climax | 1:22.7 | 1:20.5 | +3.5 |
16 | 6 | Roger Penske | Cooper-Climax | 1:22.6 | 1:20.6 | +3.6 |
17 | 3 | Hap Sharp | Cooper-Climax | No time | 1:21.0 | +4.0 |
18 | 17 | Jim Hall | Lotus-Climax | 1:22.3 | 1:21.8 | +4.8 |
19 | 26 | Lloyd Ruby | Lotus-Climax | 1:22.5 | 1:21.8 | +4.8 |
Source: [3] |
† Moss registered a laptime of 1:17.2 in Q2 using a car with a 4-cylinder engine, but decided to race with his V8-powered machine, and was placed on the grid with his best time in the V8..
|
|
The 1960 United States Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on November 20, 1960, at Riverside International Raceway in Riverside, California. It was race 10 of 10 in the 1960 World Championship of Drivers and race 9 of 9 in the 1960 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers.
The 1961 German Grand Prix was the 23rd time the German Grand Prix motor race was held. The race also held the honorary designation of the 21st European Grand Prix. It was run to Formula One regulations as race 6 of 8 in both the 1961 World Championship of Drivers and the 1961 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers It was held on 6 August 1961 over 15 laps of the giant 14.2 mile Nürburgring Nordschleife circuit for a race distance of almost 213 miles. The race also celebrated the 100th race since the establishment of the World Championship in 1950.
The 1962 French Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Rouen-Les-Essarts on 8 July 1962. It was race 4 of 9 in both the 1962 World Championship of Drivers and the 1962 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. The race was won by Dan Gurney, his first Formula One victory, driving a Porsche, that company's only win as a constructor in a Formula One championship race coming after three years of racing. It was the third time that the French Grand Prix was held at Rouen, the previous time being 1957.
The 1962 British Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Aintree on 21 July 1962. It was race 5 of 9 in both the 1962 World Championship of Drivers and the 1962 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. This was the last race at Aintree. From 1963 onwards, the race would be held at Silverstone or Brands Hatch. Scotsman Jim Clark dominated the race, driving a Lotus 25. It was considered a power track, benefitting the light and powerful Lotus and Lola cars in particular. Ferrari were still sidelined due to the Italian metal workers' strike but managed to send one car for Phil Hill.
The 1962 German Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the Nürburgring on 5 August 1962. It was race 6 of 9 in both the 1962 World Championship of Drivers and the 1962 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. The 15-lap race was won by BRM driver Graham Hill after he started from second position. John Surtees finished second for the Lola team and Porsche driver Dan Gurney came in third. The race was notable for having six different constructors taking the first six positions.
The 1962 United States Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on October 7, 1962, at the Watkins Glen Grand Prix Race Course in Watkins Glen, New York. It was race 8 of 9 in both the 1962 World Championship of Drivers and the 1962 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. The 100-lap race was won by Lotus driver Jim Clark after starting from pole position. Graham Hill finished second for the BRM team and Cooper driver Bruce McLaren came in third.
The 1963 United States Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on October 6, 1963, at the Watkins Glen Grand Prix Race Course in Watkins Glen, New York. It was race 8 of 10 in both the 1963 World Championship of Drivers and the 1963 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. The 110-lap race was won by BRM driver Graham Hill after he started from pole position. His teammate Richie Ginther finished second and Lotus driver Jim Clark came in third.
The 1964 United States Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on October 4, 1964, at the Watkins Glen Grand Prix Race Course in Watkins Glen, New York. It was race 9 of 10 in both the 1964 World Championship of Drivers and the 1964 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. The 110-lap race was won by BRM driver Graham Hill after he started from fourth position. John Surtees finished second for the Ferrari team and Brabham driver Jo Siffert came in third.
The 1966 United States Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on October 2, 1966, at the Watkins Glen Grand Prix Race Course in Watkins Glen, New York. It was race 8 of 9 in both the 1966 World Championship of Drivers and the 1966 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. The race was the ninth United States Grand Prix. It was the sixth to be held at Watkins Glen. The race was held over 108 laps of the 3.78-kilometre circuit for a total race distance of 408 kilometres.
The 1967 United States Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on October 1, 1967, at the Watkins Glen Grand Prix Race Course in Watkins Glen, New York. It was race 10 of 11 in both the 1967 World Championship of Drivers and the 1967 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. The 108-lap race was won by Lotus driver Jim Clark after he started from second position. His teammate Graham Hill finished second and Brabham driver Denny Hulme came in third.
The 1968 Formula One season was the 22nd season of the FIA's Formula One motor racing. It featured the 19th World Championship of Drivers, the 11th International Cup for F1 Manufacturers, and three non-championship races open to Formula One cars. The World Championship was contested over twelve races between 1 January and 3 November 1968.
The 1967 Formula One season was the 21st season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 18th World Championship of Drivers, the 10th International Cup for F1 Manufacturers, and six non-championship races open to Formula One cars. The World Championship was contested over eleven races between 2 January and 22 October 1967.
The 1966 Formula One season was the 20th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 17th World Championship of Drivers, the 9th International Cup for F1 Manufacturers, and four non-championship races open to Formula One cars. The World Championship was contested over nine races between 22 May and 23 October 1966.
The 1964 Formula One season was the 18th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 15th World Championship of Drivers, the 7th International Cup for F1 Manufacturers, and eight non-championship races open to Formula One cars. The World Championship was contested over ten races between 10 May and 25 October 1964.
The 1963 Formula One season was the 17th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 14th World Championship of Drivers, the 6th International Cup for F1 Manufacturers, and numerous non-championship Formula One races. The World Championship was contested over ten races between 26 May and 28 December 1963.
The 1962 Formula One season was the 16th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 13th World Championship of Drivers, the 5th International Cup for F1 Manufacturers, and numerous non-championship Formula One races. The World Championship was contested over nine races between 20 May and 29 December 1962.
The 1961 Formula One season was the 15th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 12th World Championship of Drivers, the 4th International Cup for F1 Manufacturers, and numerous non-championship Formula One races. The World Championship was contested over eight races between 14 May and 8 October 1961.
The 1960 Formula One season was the 14th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 11th World Championship of Drivers, the third International Cup for F1 Manufacturers and five non-championship Formula One races. The World Championship was contested over ten races between 7 February and 20 November 1960.
The 1959 Formula One season was the 13th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 10th World Championship of Drivers, the second International Cup for F1 Manufacturers and five non-championship Formula One races. The World Championship was contested over nine races between 10 May and 12 December 1959.
The Cooper T51 was a Formula One and Formula Two racing car designed by Owen Maddock and built by the Cooper Car Company for the 1959 Formula One season. The T51 earned a significant place in motor racing history when Jack Brabham drove the car to become the first driver to win the World Championship of Drivers with an engine mounted behind them, in 1959. The T51 was raced in several configurations by various entrants until 1963 and in all no less than 38 drivers were entered to drive T51s in Grand Prix races.