1964 Belgian Grand Prix

When practice began late on Friday afternoon the sun was still burning down on the wooded slopes of the Francorchamps circuit and, apart from the two works BRMs of Hill and Ginther, there seemed to be a reluctance for anyone to start practice, or perhaps it was that they were not ready. Ginther had his regular car, but now with a new gearbox, the casing being smaller and more compact, while Hill had the choice of two cars, that used at Zandvoort, also now fitted with the new type of gearbox, and a brand new car with the old type of 6-speed gearbox but new steering arms of beautifully machined H-section.

Since the fuel system trouble at Zandvoort more air has been ducted to the pump and fuel pipes that were near hot oil and water pipes have been re-routed. The BRP drivers were soon going round, Ireland in the original “monocoque” car that made its debut at this race last year, and Taylor in a brand new one with a slightly lower nose cowling. Both cars were fitted with BRM V8 engines and 1963-type BRM 6-speed gearboxes, and they started practice with full fuel tanks, to try the handling, and then stopped and had most of the petrol removed in order to make comparisons.

Team Lotus were late in getting going, Arundell appearing with his Zandvoort Type 25C, but now back on 15in wheels, and Clark being late due to having two cars to choose from and neither being as he wanted them. One was his Zandvoort car, also converted back to 15-in, wheels, and having Type 25 rear suspension instead of the later type and the other car was the 1964 Type 33 that he had crashed at Aintree. The Type 33 has the same chassis construction as the Type 25 but numerous detail changes, many of which have already appeared on the modified Type 25 cars. After a lap on the Type 33 Clark stopped and changed over to the modified Type 25, while Arundell had no choice and got on with learning his way round the high-speed Spa-Francorchamps circuit.