THE RISE OF RINDT
1964, MALLORY PARK AND CRYSTAL PALACE
10Sometimes two events gel into a double-header. The moveable Christian festival of Whitsun in
1964 started on Sunday 17 May with the Grovewood Trophy at short Mallory Park, 30 laps giving 40.5 miles. Lotus entered Jim Clark and Peter Arundell, with Tony Maggs making it three from F1.
New to Britain was Austrian Jochen Rindt, in his third F2 race in his Brabham. He asked works Brabham driver Denny Hulme to show him around, which Hulme sportingly accepted for a newcomer on foreign territory. Rindt then claimed pole!
A clutch problem ruined Rindt’s start, but he climbed from the back to snatch third from Alan Rees at the flag, just 8.2 seconds behind winner Clark. What would have happened but for the clutch?
The London Trophy took place the next day at Crystal Palace. Graham Hill appeared in John Coombs’s Cooper, making two world champions (including Clark) in the field. Heat one went to Hill from Clark and Hulme, but the ‘Austrian Interloper’ took heat two from Rees, both given identical times just 0.4s slower than Hill’s.
That gave Hill pole for the final. While Rees took an early lead, Hill passed him on lap two. Then the Cooper began understeering, and Rindt moved to the front. The battle between Rindt, Hill and Rees ran all the way, and they finished in that order. Clark pitted from fourth with loose plug leads and never recovered.
“New star shines at the Palace,” said the headline on Autosport’s report, which concluded: “It will be a long time before we see such a surprising or closely fought race.”