Silverstone April 10th/11th
The annual Springtime motoring garden party at Silverstone, organised by the BRDC with the help of the Daily Express, this year took on a new role, as it was named the Graham Hill International Trophy, in memory of that very popular figure who tragically lost his life last year, along with five members of his racing team. The two-day programme of events covered numerous races, displays and parades and included an innovation for the paying customer in that he (or she) was allowed access to the pit lane for a limited period of time on Sunday morning before all the activity began. This allowed people to approach the precious jewels of the Formula One Constructors Association, who had graciously allowed a handful of their members to perform before the public in return for a fee of £70,000, so it was not surprising that it cost upwards of £7 to take part in the garden party as a spectator. For a mere £175 the amateur world of Clubmans Sports Car racing put on an uninhibited 12-lap thrash on Saturday afternoon, which they all enjoyed. At times I wonder if our priorities are wrong. Ferrari changed his mind some days before the event and withdrew his single entry of Niki Lauda.
The main event of the weekend was the Formula One demonstration of Grand Prix driving, which produced a popular win for James Hunt in a McLaren, and while leading for all 40 laps he notched up a new outright lap record for the revised Silverstone circuit with its fast ess-bend on the apex of Woodcote corner. For the very first time the McLaren raced with its new compressed-air starter motor fitted, this allowing a much smaller electrical battery to be used for the other ancillaries. Previously this new starter mechanism had only been tried in practice, the worry being not so much in starting the car on the grid, but restarting out on the circuit if the driver should make an error and spin to a stop, stalling the engine in the process. The McLaren team need not have worried for Hunt never put a foot wrong and though his win was unchallenged, only Brambilla being able to keep him in sight, he was not hanging about as evidenced by his new outright lap record of I min. 18.81 sec. 133.93 m.p.h. (215.54 k.p.h.). The McLaren was running with its six-speed McLaren/Hewland gearbox, as usual. Brambilla, in a pure white works March instead of his normal orange one, did his best in second place but lost a bit of ground when slower cars had to be lapped, and towards the end lost more distance on Hunt for some obscure technical reason like the rotating nut on the gimbal pin of the swivel bearing housing, slacked off due to the thread having been cut at 47 deg. instead of 46.5 deg. Or it might have been something simple like the March people making the wrong choice of Goodyear tyres. Whatever it was it would not have affected the outcome of the race, for Hunt was in complete command and Scheckter was too far back to worry Brambilla even if he was having trouble with his March. The South African Tyrrell driver had a bad time in practice, with an impressive blow-up in the Cosworth engine, as a result of which you could look right through the crankcase at the rear, where the two rear connecting rods had done the damage. With another engine installed Scheckter continued on Saturday afternoon, only to be delayed again by the front exhaust pipe on the left of the engine breaking. However, during all these trials and tribulations Tyrrell found time to try out a new air collector box for the engine, ready for the new-rule Spanish GP on May 2nd. This was a fiat affair with ears sticking out on each side of the driver's head, the orifice in each "car" being very small indeed, air speed and flow recovery being regained by the shape inside the duct. Very scientific. Scheckter appeared to be going well in the rather mediocre field of mid-runners, and made a cracking start from the third row of the grid to snatch third place ahead of Pryce and Jarier in Shadows, Alan Jones in the Suttees TS19, Andretti in Frank Williams' latest car and Nilson in the lone Lotus 77.
