Grand Prix 1961 to 1965 book review: Small can be beautiful too

Slashing F1 engine size by a litre was drastic but, as this Grand Prix 1961 to 1965 book reminds us, 1500cc racing was still great, says Gordon Cruickshank

Start of the 1963 Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort

Zandvoort 1963: Jim Clark (6) takes off for another victory in his championship year in the revolutionary Lotus 25

Grand Prix Photo

Browse pages
Current page

1

Current page

2

Current page

3

Current page

4

Current page

5

Current page

6

Current page

7

Current page

8

Current page

9

Current page

10

Current page

11

Current page

12

Current page

13

Current page

14

Current page

15

Current page

16

Current page

17

Current page

18

Current page

19

Current page

20

Current page

21

Current page

22

Current page

23

Current page

24

Current page

25

Current page

26

Current page

27

Current page

28

Current page

29

Current page

30

Current page

31

Current page

32

Current page

33

Current page

34

Current page

35

Current page

36

Current page

37

Current page

38

Current page

39

Current page

40

Current page

41

Current page

42

Current page

43

Current page

44

Current page

45

Current page

46

Current page

47

Current page

48

Current page

49

Current page

50

Current page

51

Current page

52

Current page

53

Current page

54

Current page

55

Current page

56

Current page

57

Current page

58

Current page

59

Current page

60

Current page

61

Current page

62

Current page

63

Current page

64

Current page

65

Current page

66

Current page

67

Current page

68

Current page

69

Current page

70

Current page

71

Current page

72

Current page

73

Current page

74

Current page

75

Current page

76

Current page

77

Current page

78

Current page

79

Current page

80

Current page

81

Current page

82

Current page

83

Current page

84

Current page

85

Current page

86

Current page

87

Current page

88

Current page

89

Current page

90

Current page

91

Current page

92

Current page

93

Current page

94

Current page

95

Current page

96

Current page

97

Current page

98

Current page

99

Current page

100

Current page

101

Current page

102

Current page

103

Current page

104

Current page

105

Current page

106

Current page

107

Current page

108

Current page

109

Current page

110

Current page

111

Current page

112

Current page

113

Current page

114

Current page

115

Current page

116

Current page

117

Current page

118

Current page

119

Current page

120

Current page

121

Current page

122

Current page

123

Current page

124

Current page

125

Current page

126

Current page

127

Current page

128

Current page

129

Current page

130

Current page

131

Current page

132

Current page

133

Current page

134

Current page

135

Current page

136

Current page

137

Current page

138

Current page

139

Current page

140

Current page

141

Current page

142

Current page

143

Current page

144

Current page

145

Current page

146

Current page

147

Current page

148

Current page

149

Current page

150

Current page

151

Current page

152

Current page

153

Current page

154

Current page

155

Current page

156

Current page

157

Current page

158

Current page

159

Current page

160

Current page

161

Current page

162

Current page

163

Current page

164

Current page

165

Current page

166

Current page

167

Current page

168

Current page

169

Current page

170

Current page

171

Current page

172

Current page

173

Current page

174

Current page

175

Current page

176

Current page

177

Current page

178

Current page

179

Current page

180

Current page

181

Current page

182

Current page

183

Current page

184

Current page

185

Current page

186

Current page

187

Current page

188

Current page

189

Current page

190

Current page

191

Current page

192

Current page

193

Current page

194

Current page

195

Current page

196

Current page

197

Current page

198

Current page

199

Current page

200

Current page

201

Current page

202

Current page

203

Current page

204

How would we feel if Liberty Media and the FIA announced that the 2021 season would be run for 1500cc tiddlers, with no hybrid or electrical backup systems? Short-changed, annoyed, cries of anguish about a racing slowdown, and possible rumours about conspiracies behind the scenes, offset by a vague awareness that if the aim really was to increase safety no one should be resisting that…

That’s the background for this hefty book on the 11⁄2-litre Formula 1 era and what happened after the 1958 decision to chop a litre off capacity. Power plummeted, so did speeds, but guess what – racing went on, the best drivers won, there were intense battles with rivals in similar cars. And by the close of the era speeds had caught up and overtaken previous records. It really isn’t about size; witness Formula Ford, based for years on underwhelming engines from uninspiring family saloons, yet a scene of knife-edge racing that bred future champions.

A capacity chop had happened before of course, though for different reasons: in the early 1950s when Formula 1 entries became thin on the ground, grands prix switched allegiance to Formula 2, giving us 2-litre F1 for 1952–53. The crowds still came to watch, and the best drivers still came through… And more recently, repeated changes aimed at slowing things down have been steadily overcome by skillful designers and engineers.

Despite the size of this large square-format book (360 pages and over 500 photos) there is actually relatively little text, especially as it’s split between English and German; covering the five seasons race by race the authors provide a short summary of each event and a results table (though covering only the six points positions), with a useful season round-up and a brief look at each year’s winning car. These elements are separated by large and lavish photographs including an image of the official program from each race.

Thus the photos are the major part of it, and there are some crackers: Phil Hill’s distant Ferrari looking like a go-kart on a bare corner at Aintree while marshals and photographers chat by the trackside; two Lotuses in colours that echo the autumn leaves in the background at Watkins Glen; Surtees’ scarlet Ferrari against the egg-yolk yellow of the Shell fuel tanker, an overhead of Honda’s new sideways V12 at the centre of a fascinated crowd with our Denis Jenkinson closest of all. That said, on the review copy the photos were heavily inked, blacking out shadows and losing detail. Still enjoyable to browse through, though.

Climax V8 fitted to the Cooper of Jack Brabham

Cooper of Jack Brabham fitted with Climax V8, Britain’s belated but successful 1500 engine

Wrapping the book up are biographies of all the era’s champions (Hills Phil and Graham, Clark twice, John Surtees) and also all those who made it to the podium – good to see the likes of Bob Anderson and Tony Maggs getting their due. Then there’s an assessment of each title winner’s year by German historian Hartmut Lehbrink, details of all the engines, and a discussion about the arrival of the aluminium monocoque, spearheaded in 1962 by Lotus and the 25. An overhead shot of a topless 25 in this section suggests that, thanks to Colin Chapman’s theory of the compressability of drivers’ bums, if you lifted Jim Clark’s feet up a bit he would be lying in pretty much the same position as Lewis Hamilton and his playmates today. Minus, of course, the towering protective bulwarks of today’s machines, which is why the Scottish ace isn’t sitting anywhere today.

So the information is all there, but it can’t be said that this finds any undiscovered stories or explores secret machinations in back rooms. It’s not quite a reference book thanks to those partial results; it is a useful, well illustrated summary with McKlein’s usual quality presentation.

The nearest it comes to discussing any undercurrents is in the introduction, which says when the changes were announced “the English went into a sulk, they even claimed that there was a conspiracy because the British were about to dominate Grand Prix racing”. (Pleasing discovery: the German for a sulk is schmollwinkel. I leave you to make any jokes.)

Yet that does not wholly explain the background: that the authorities did perceive a threat of mere ‘garagistes’ from Britain supplanting proper manufacturers, that this did come about once Vanwall had won the first championship for Britain, and that the imposition of a minimum weight (not I think mentioned here) would immediately benefit Ferrari and its heavier front-engined approach current at the time. Especially as Maranello’s 1500cc F2 engine was already winning and would provide a springboard.

The result was an attempt from Britain to keep the bigger 2.5-litre engines afloat with a rival series, the InterContinental Formula, hoping there would be so much support that the CSI would have to concede and re-adopt it. Shades of a more recent occasion when teams threatened to create a rival series… That sank, but it meant that the distracted home teams failed to get themselves geared up for the new formula and started on the back foot with their four-cylinder Climaxes, unlike Ferrari, which comprehensively swept up the first title. But things would change…

A Foreword by Richard Atwood, a driver who knows the period from the cockpit, reminds us of the huge progress in racing car design in this era, ready to catapult performance when big power arrived in 1966. And where was the safety argument then?


Grand Prix 1961 to 1965

Jörg-Thomas Födisch, Rainer Rossbach, Nils Ruwisch

McKlein

€99.90