“The Shy Champion: Phil Hill”

As the 1961 season drew to a close, Ferrari's Wolfgang von Trips was leading team mate Phil Hill and only needed a podium to claim the crown. In the end, death betrayed the German – with von Trips dead in the circuit’s medical unit and Sir Stirling Moss eleven points adrift; Hill became the first American World Champion with one race to spare.

Reflections: “Clark dominates at Clermont-Ferrand – 1965 French Grand Prix (Rd 4)”

Before the 1965 French Grand Prix, Lotus driver Jim Clark was quietly confident. After three rounds, the legendary Scot had a three-point advantage over BRM's Graham Hill when they arrived at Clermont-Ferrand. With skill and smoothness a premium at the French circuit, Clark possessed an advantage that often superseded the superb engineering of his nimble Lotus 33. In the race, he would made it look so easy.

“This Charming Man: Carlos Pace”

Something that is often lost in the grey, highly corporate world of modern motor racing is charm – that ability to please and appeal to all people with neither effort or force. It was inevitable that as Bernie Ecclestone helped reshape Formula 1 into the mammoth global entity that it is today, much of the … Continue reading “This Charming Man: Carlos Pace”

AVUS – The Fastest Circuit on the Planet

The Automobil-Verkehrs und Übungs-Straße circuit - otherwise known as AVUS - probably stands as one of the most striking and unusual tracks in the history of Grand Prix motor racing. With its two 6-mile long adjacent straights hooked together by hairpins at either end, the pin-shaped AVUS was easily the fastest closed circuit in the world.