1963 Australian Grand Prix

  1963 Australian Grand Prix

Race details
Race 1 of 6 in 1963 Australian Drivers' Championship
Date	10 February 1963
Location	Warwick Farm Raceway, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Course	Permanent racing facility 3.621 km (2.25 mi)
Distance	45 laps, 162.945 km (101.25 mi)
Weather	Sunny
Pole position
Driver	Bruce McLaren	Cooper-Climax
Time	1'38.8
Fastest lap
Driver	John Surtees	Lola-Climax
Time	1'40.2
Podium
First	Jack Brabham	Brabham-Climax
Second	John Surtees	Lola-Climax
Third	Bruce McLaren	Cooper-Climax

The 1963 Australian Grand Prix was a motor race held at Warwick Farm Raceway on 10 February 1963. The race had 16 starters.

It was the twenty eighth Australian Grand Prix. The race was a final prelude prior to the formation of the Tasman Series later that year. It featured the circuit that was so much a symbol of the series, and the entry list featured the strongest yet field of European based teams, with team entered by Brabham, Bruce McLaren Motor Racing (running factory Coopers), Rob Walker Racing Team with the Ferguson 4WD project and Bowmaker-Yeoman Racing Team bringing their Lola-Climaxes and a Cooper-Climax as a spare.

Jack Brabham won his second AGP after a battle with John Surtees and was greeted with a standing ovation from the Warwick Farm grandstands. It had been the first victory for a self-developed car since Doug Whiteford won in his "Black Bess Ford V8 Special" in 1950.

Stirling Moss, who was recovering from a near-fatal crash at the Goodwood Circuit was the special guest at the grand prix. Moss, who had driven a Maserati 250F to victory in the 1956 Australian Grand Prix at the original Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit in Melbourne, also provided guest commentary for Australian television station the ABC alongside Doug Woodward, Bill Reynolds and pit reporter Norman May.

Classification

Results as follows.^[1]

Pos	No.	Driver	Team	Car	Laps	Time
1	4	Jack Brabham	Ecurie Vitesse	Brabham BT4 / Climax FPF 2.7L	45	1h 16m 34.1s
2	2	John Surtees	Bowmaker Racing Team	Lola Mk.4 / Climax FPF 2.7L	45	1h 16m 42.1s
3	10	Bruce McLaren	Bruce McLaren Motor Racing	Cooper T62 / Climax FPF 2.7L	45	1h 17m 284.1s
4	5	David McKay	Scuderia Veloce	Brabham BT4 / Climax FPF 2.7L	45	1h 18m 01.1s
5	6	Bib Stillwell	B.S. Stillwell	Brabham BT4 / Climax FPF 2.7L	44
6	1	Graham Hill	Rob Walker Racing Team	Ferguson P99 / Climax FPF 2.5L	44
7	16	Tony Shelly	Independent Motors Ltd.	Lotus 18/21 / Climax FPF 2.5L
8		Frank Matich	Team Total	Elfin WR275 / Ford 1.5L
9	17	Leo Geoghegan	Team Total	Lotus 20B / Ford 1.5L
10	19	Bob Holden	Calara Motor Garage	Lynx / Peugeot 1.5L
11	8	Lex Davison	Ecurie Australia	Cooper T53 / Climax FPF 2.7L
Ret	15	John Youl	John Youl	Cooper T55 / Climax FPF 2.5L		Black Flagged
Ret	14	Chris Amon	Scuderia Veloce	Cooper T53 / Climax FPF 2.5L		Fuel Pump
Ret	3	Tony Maggs	Bowmaker Racing Team	Lola Mk.4 / Climax FPF 2.7L		Exhaustion
Ret		Jim Palmer	Bowmaker Racing Team	Cooper T55 / Climax FPF 2.7L
Ret	11	Frank Gardner	Alec Mildren	Cooper T55 / Maserati 2.9L	0	Broken Axle

Notes

• Pole position: Bruce McLaren - 1'38.8
• Fastest lap: John Surtees - 1'40.2

References