Being the first of the Grand Prix classics for 1964 all the leading teams had hopes of fielding their latest cars all ready, tried and proven, but in fact only BRM and Brabham were in this happy state of affairs. The Bourne team had their two 1964 cars, with stressed-skin chassis, simplified front suspension with inboard-mounted coil springs, compressed by rocker-arm top wishbones, rear suspension with single top transverse strut and twin radius arms and lower wishbones, with external coil spring units, all very simple and Lotus or Brabham like in layout, while the engines were the usual V8-cylinder units with Lucas fuel injection, and the drivers were Graham Hill and Richie Ginther, the latter now recovered from his Aintree practice crash.
Brabham and Gurney had the two 1964 works Brabham cars, with Climax V8 engines and Hewland 5-speed gearboxes, and both were using 13 in. wheels with the latest wide-tread Dunlop tyres. Brabham’s car was using a new type of solid drive shaft with “bungy ring” universal joints, while Gurney’s car was using the old-fashioned Hardy Spicer splined shafts, though later they were changed for the new pattern shafts. The Cooper team had two 1964 cars for McLaren and Phil Hill, though the American driver’s car was so new that it had yet to turn a wheel.
These cars follow the pattern of the Type 72 Formula Three cars, with tubular space frame strengthened by welded-on sheet steel panels, with rocker-arm front suspension and single radius arm rear suspension with lower wishbones and transverse struts, coil springs being used all round. The engines remain Climax V8 units and Cooper gearboxes are used, while both cars were on the latest 13in diameter tyres. They had their 1963 car as a spare.
