Belgian GP 1964
JUNE 14, 1964
Belgian GP, 1964
With the British Racing Partnership having rebuilt its cars, the full field was back in action in Belgium (BRP having missed the Dutch GP three weeks earlier). Team Lotus had the new 33 ready for Jim Clark, the car having been rebuilt after Clark's crash at Aintree in April, but this was not very competitive in practice at Spa and it was Dan Gurney who set the pace in his Brabham, sharing the front row of the grid with Graham Hill's BRM and Jack Brabham. Clark's team mate Peter Arundell was on the second row with the Ferrari of John Surtees while Clark shared the third row with Bruce McLaren's Cooper and Ritchie Ginther in the second BRM. The fourth row consisted on Lorenzo Bandini in the second Ferrari and an impressive Peter Revson in his privately-entered Lotus-BRM, which was being run under the wing of the Reg Parnell Racing organization.
The race began with Arundell making a great start to take the lead but in the course of the first lap Gurney, Surtees and Clark were all able to get ahead of the second Lotus driver. On the second lap Surtees took the lead from Gurney while G Hill overtook Arundell to take fourth place. Surtees's moment of glory was short-lived as the Ferrari slowed with engine trouble and so Gurney went back into the lead with Clark and G Hill chasing him while Bruce McLaren moved up to fourth ahead of Arundell and Brabham. As Gurney pulled away Clark and Hill battled for second and were joined by McLaren. Eventually Hill managed to get clear of the fight and then Clark slipped away from McLaren. On lap 28 the Lotus pitted for some more water and so dropped to third. On the next lap Gurney suddenly began to slow down, his car having run of fuel. Hill took the lead and McLaren moved to second place. Gurney rejoined without fuel because the team had none ready and he chased after McLaren who was in trouble as his engine was cutting out. Just as Gurney was about to catch McLaren the Brabham's fuel finally ran out. Then Hill's BRM rolled to halt with fuel pump trouble, leaving McLaren stuttering towards the line. The engine died just before the La Source hairpin and the car coasted around the turn and down towards the finish line as Clark approached at full speed. Clark was able to get across the line a couple of seconds ahead of the Cooper. He then ran out of fuel on the slowing down lap...
Brabham finished third.
POS | NO | DRIVER | ENTRANT | LAPS | TIME/RETIREMENT | QUAL POS |
1 | 23 | Jim Clark | Lotus-Climax 25 | 32 | 2h06m40.500s | 6 |
2 | 20 | Bruce McLaren | Cooper-Climax T73 | 32 | 2h06m43.900s | 7 |
3 | 14 | Jack Brabham | Brabham-Climax BT7 | 32 | 2h07m28.600s | 3 |
4 | 2 | Richie Ginther | BRM P261 | 32 | 2h08m39.100s | 8 |
5r | 1 | Graham Hill | BRM P261 | 31 | Out Of Fuel | 2 |
6r | 15 | Dan Gurney | Brabham-Climax BT7 | 31 | Out Of Fuel | 1 |
7 | 4 | Trevor Taylor | BRP-BRM MK 2 | 31 | 12 | |
8 | 6 | Giancarlo Baghetti | BRM P57 | 31 | 17 | |
9 | 24 | Peter Arundell | Lotus-Climax 25 | 28 | 4 | |
10 | 3 | Innes Ireland | BRP-BRM MK 1 | 28 | 16 | |
dq | 29 | Peter Revson | Lotus-BRM 24 | 27 | Push Start After Engine Cut | 10 |
r | 17 | Jo Siffert | Brabham-BRM BT11 | 13 | Engine | 13 |
r | 21 | Phil Hill | Cooper-Climax T73 | 13 | Engine | 15 |
r | 11 | Lorenzo Bandini | Ferrari 158 | 11 | Engine | 9 |
r | 28 | Andre Pilette | Scirocco-Climax SP | 10 | Engine | 18 |
r | 16 | Jo Bonnier | Brabham-BRM BT11 | 7 | Driver Ill | 14 |
r | 27 | Chris Amon | Lotus-BRM 25 | 3 | Engine | 11 |
r | 10 | John Surtees | Ferrari 158 | 3 | Engine | 5 |
ns | 7 | Tony Maggs | BRM P57 | Engine | 19 | |
ns | 18 | Bob Anderson | Brabham-Climax BT11 | Ignition | 20 |