Heats
1963 Oulton Park GC 
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Snetterton

Snetterton, Great-Britain

Date: 28/9/1963
Track length: 4.361 m
Attendance:
Entries accepted:
Starters:
Finishers:

Pole position: Olthoff in 1.45,8
Fastest lap: Brabham in 1.46,4 = 147,56 kmh

Distance: 20 laps
Average speed: 141,70 kmh
Weather: Dry
Ruleset: Group 2
Car info:  

 

Jack Sears practised in the Willment Galaxie, knocking 5 seconds off his own lap record and getting down to 1 min 45 seconds - faster than lots of GT cars. The Lotus Cortinas were also very quick, Jim Clark turning in a lap of 1 min 48.4 seconds. However, in the race, Olthoff drove the Galaxie and Sears drove a Lotus Cortina.
Olthoff got ahead at the start and led for the first couple of laps, but Brabham (also in a Galaxie), using all the road, caught and passed him. Brabham then stayed comfortably ahead for the remainder of the 20 laps. Not so far behind came Jim Clark in his Lotus Cortina pursued by Mike Salmon's Jaguar, Trevor Taylor (Lotus Cortina), Jack Sears (Lotus Cortina), Chris McLaren (Jaguar 3.8) and the works Mini Cooper Ss of Tim Mayer and John Whitmore, who completed the race in close company; Whitmore took command of the 1300 cc division after seven laps.
Salmon's Jaguar, overheating, succumbed to the Lotus Cortinas of Taylor and Sears on the fifth and eight laps respectively, while Clark's car, in third position, sounded dreadful at times, although the speed didn't seem to diminish as a new class record of 1:47.8 was recorded by the 1963 World Champion - only 1.4 seconds slower than Brabham's best lap in the Galaxie, which was also a class record. Mayer's lap in 1:55.0 was a 1300 cc record.
Hottest dice of the day was fought between three Minis - the S type Coopers of Peter Clarke and John Lewis and the ordinary 997 cc Cooper of Harry Martin; they slipstreamed each other for laps, always swapping positions, until Clarke's car came to a sudden halt at Coram Curve on lap 13 when the engine went solid after throwing a rod.
Although some expected Clark's bag-of-nails-sounding Cortina to come into the pits, the race continued its course, the Galaxies walking away with it, as is their custom these days; they lapped the slowest car, an 850 Mini, every 2 1/2 laps. With second place seemingly in his pocket, poor Olthoff's Galaxie died at Sear with transmission failure, so the South African's exciting and hair-raising ride terminated.
Brabham won comfortably, just failing to lap Salmon's Jaguar, and Clark staged a mock dead heat with Taylor for second place; although their race times were identical, the Scotsman got the verdict by a couple of feet. Sears, the 1963 Saloon Car Champion, was fourth in the Willment Lotus Cortina.
Source : Autosport

Class A-D
Pos Pos in class # Team / Entrant
Car- Engine		 Drivers, Nationality Engine
vol. (cc)		 Engine
Type		 Group Distance,
time		 Qualifying position Qualifying time Fastest lap Reason out
1 1   Alan Brown
Ford Galaxie		 Jack Brabham, AUS
 6997 V8 D 20 laps, 36.05,6 2 1.48,0 1.46,4  
2 1   Team Lotus
Ford Lotus Cortina		 Jim Clark, GB
 1594 L4 B 20 3 1.48,4 1.47,8  
3 2   Team Lotus
Ford Lotus Cortina		 Trevor Taylor, GB
 1594 L4 B 20        
4 3   John Willment Automobiles
Ford Lotus Cortina		 Jack Sears, GB
 1594 L4 B 20        
5 2 106 Atherstone Engineering
Jaguar Mk II 3.8		 Mike Salmon, GB
 3781 L6 D 20 4 1.51,4    
6 3    
Jaguar Mk II 3.8		 Chris McLaren, GB
 3781 L6 D 19        
7 1 90 Cooper Car Co.
Austin Mini Cooper S		 John Whitmore, GB
 1071 L4 A 19        
8 2 89 Cooper Car Co.
Austin Mini Cooper S		 Timmy Mayer, USA
 1071 L4 A 19     1.55,0  
9 3   Superspeed Conversions Ltd.
Ford Anglia Super		 Mike Young, GB
 1198 L4 A          
10 4   Fibrepair Ltd
Ford Cortina GT		 Mike Donegan, GB
 1498 L4 B          
11 4    
Austin Mini Cooper S		 John Lewis, GB
 1071 L4 A          
12 5    
Austin Mini Cooper		 Harry Martin, GB
 997 L4 A          
13 6    
Ford Anglia Super		 Rod Mansfield, GB
 1198 L4 A          
14 5   Lawrencetune Engines
Vauxhall VX 4/90		 Bill Blydenstein, GB
 1548 L4 B          
15 7    
Austin Mini Cooper		 Michaelle Burns-Grieg, GB
 997 L4 A          
16 6    
Isuzu Bellel 2000 Special		 Alistair Stewart, GB
 1991 L4 B          
17 8    
Morris Mini 850		 Stan Biles, GB
 848 L4 A          
DNF      
Morris Mini Cooper S		 Peter Clarke, GB
 1071 L4 A 13       Engine
DNF   104 John Willment Automobiles
Ford Galaxie		 Bob Olthoff, ZA
 6997 V8 D   1 1.45,8   Transmission
DNS     John Willment Automobiles
Ford Galaxie		 Jack Sears, GB
 6997 V8 D     1.45,0