Grand Prix Gold: Jo Siffert's 1968 British GP win

Jo 'Seppe' Siffert, driving the brand new Rob Walker/Jack Durlacher Lotus 49B, scored his first Grande Epreuve victory at Brands Hatch last Saturday when he won the RAC British Grand Prix by 4.4 seconds from Chris Amon's Ferrari. The race was Lotus-dominated; for 20 laps Graham Hill's works 49B led, only to retire with a repetition of the familiar driveshaft trouble, and then the older ex-Siffert 49 of Jackie Oliver went in front. Oliver had in fact led in the opening laps and had no difficulty in staying with Hill - his best lap was fractionally quicker - but his impressive drive ended with suspected transmission failure just after half-distance.

Amon (Saturday was his 25th birthday) had a race-long battle with Siffert, first for third place, then for second place, then for the lead, and his fine second position was backed up by his team-mate Jacky Ickx, who by finishing third moved into second place in the world championship. Fourth was Denny Hulme's McLaren, ahead of John Surtees in the Honda, which slowed after its aerofoil fell off; Jackie Stewart nearly caught him on the finishing line in the V8 Matra.

Tyres played a significant part in the race, for a brief shower as the grid was forming up frightened several drivers into donning wet-weather tyres. In fact the first three cars all used the same tyre compound, although Ickx was using a wet-weather tread pattern. Siffert set a record fastest lap, and his race average speed was faster than the old lap record.

Dan Gurney was back with engine upgrades on his Eagle � LAT

Entry

Although some of the teams experienced a singular lack of communication with organiser the RAC, the 21st British Grand Prix, round seven in the 1968 Formula 1 World Championship, had the best entry so far in the series. Nobody of note was missing, and even that rare bird the Eagle had risked the flight to Brands Hatch.

Immaculate, the All-American Racers Eagle looked outwardly, very little changed since its last public appearance at Monaco. It had the same chassis although the fuel system had been extensively redesigned, the fuel pickups and a brand new pump, driven off the back of the gearbox, in its own little housing protruding out into the airstream. This is to reduce unnecessary plumbing and keep the fuel as cool as possible, and these modifications have increased the fuel pressure to 120psi at idle.

The engine is now completely Eagle; the new block has the same bore and stroke, although slightly longer rods and different pistons are used. For the first time the AAR people are using 14-inch wide rear wheels, and the driveshafts now have Detroit joints in place of the BRD universals. A more obvious change is the use of aerofoil stabilisers fore and aft.

McLaren Motor Racing got into the three-car act by bringing along both the cars it used at Rouen, plus the original Race of Champions-winning M7A/1, the car Bruce McLaren has shunted a couple of times. This chassis has been entirely re-skinned, but sported the original front suspension without the raised rollcentres; but the most apparent difference was the revision to 13 inch front wheels. The other two McLarens were virtually unchanged since Rouen, although Denny Hulme's car was still fitted with a Wiesmann limited-slip diff and higher ratio steering.

After Oliver's nasty accident during practice for the French Grand Prix, Lotus found itsef reduced to one 49B for Hill, with Oliver finding a seat in Rob Walker's ex-Tasman 49. Hill's car had stronger driveshafts and an even taller aerofoil than at Rouen to keep it out of the turbulence, with the larger front wings off Oliver's car crashed 49B; Oliver's car was now back in the Gold Leaf colours but, apart from being reset up at the factory and aquiring wings like Hill's, was unchanged since Siffert last drove it. Siffert himself had the brand-new Lotus 49B that the Rob Walker team has been so eagerly awaiting. The new car was identical to Hill's apart from the wing - which wasn't quite as tall - and the front fins - which weren't as wide.

Ickx's Ferrari had modified exhausts and different dampers at Brands � LAT

The works Ferraris for Amon and Ickx were virtually as before; both drivers had their usual mounts, and 0007 was there as usual as a spare. Different Koni dampers and a slightly modified exhaust system were the only changes. Needless to say, the preparation of the red cars was first class.

Fresh from some recent tests at Goodwood, where Surtees had got down to 1m13s, Honda brought along the same RA301 that the ex-motorcycle champion has used all season. Surtees had joined the wing brigade, the aerofoil on the Honda operating on the rear uprights as on the Lotus. Bigger front brakes had also been fitted, these being similar to the rear brakes of a Ford Mirage.

Ken Tyrell decided to delay changing the rear suspension on Stewart's Matra MS10 until after the bumps of Brands and the roughness of the 'Ring; consequently the Ford-engined Matra appeared to the same specification as at Rouen. Tyrell also brought along his spare car, which looked very old-fashioned without the new top wishbones. Stewart's car had also been caught up in the aerofoil epidemic, the small stabiliser on the Matra being mounted above the engine. Jean-Pierre Beltoise's Matra Sports V12 was also unchanged, even having the same engine as at Rouen, but this car also now sported a wing.

The Brabham Racing Developmets team arrived with a pair of BT26 four-cammers for Jack Brabham and Jochen Rindt, with the third BT24 as a spare. The Brabhams were unchanged since we last saw them, except for a few detailed suspension modifications to suit the circuit. The BRMs too were as was, with Pedro Rodriguez and Richard Attwood both in their usual cars, and the only visible signs of changes were in the area immediately behind the radiator, which had been tidied-up for better airflow. Piers Courage's Parnell car was also unchanged, still with it's old-type nose and wheels.

The Cooper Car Company had a pair of T86Bs for Vic Elford and newcomer Robin Widdows. Elford's was the same car he drove so well at Rouen, which had since grown a fin on the front and now had the air exiting from the top of the nose behind the radiator instead of at the side, while Widdows had the car that Johnny Servoz-Gavin crashed in France, also with a modified nose. The Cooper-Alfa still did not appear, and is now not expected until the German Grand Prix, when Lucien Bianchi will drive it.

After all his trials and tribulations in F1, Jo Bonnier has aquired some new mechanics to sort out the McLaren-BRM, which remains unchanged. Silvio Moser was also there to drive Charles Vogele's rather antique Brabham-Repco. An entry for a certain Tom Jones in a Cooper-Maserati fortunately failed to materialise, and the addition to the programme of a fourth BRM for Tony Lanfranchi would seem to have been a figment of John Webb's imagination.

Elford had a new team-mate at Cooper � LAT

Practice

There were four practice sessions in all, two on Thursday and the same on Friday, although the last of these was untimed. The track was dry on every occasion. Hill was quick to dominate the first session, getting the Lotus 49B round in 1m29.5s, over 2s quicker than McLaren's existing lap record. Hill tried a new compound tyre, the YB11, which seemed to suit his car perfectly, and he was throwing it around with gay abandon. Amon was also very fast in the Ferrari, and his time was only 0.3s slower. Right at the end of this session, Amon's header tank burst, covering the driver with boiling water and depositing enough on the road to send Courage's BRM spinning into the bank.

Oliver amazed the critics with a time of 1m29.9s despite spending the first hour stopped out in the country when the fuel valves stuck on the Lotus 49. Stewart did a few fairly gentle laps, and then had a go and recorded the fourth fastest time, 0.3s slower than Oliver.

Surtees was first out on the track, driving with characteristic determination, and was soon down to 1m30.3s, but from then on he seemed to go slower. At the end of practice the Honda's gas-filled front shock absorbers were found to be inoperative, the damping effect of the new stabilisers disguising the symptoms for the driver. The Eagle seems to have gathered strength from it's rest, and Gurney roared around in 1m31.2s.

Brabhams were once again in trouble, Rindt having difficulty with his brakes and Brabham with a sticking fuel relief valve which was causing the throttles to stick open. Brabham tried Rindt's car when the latter complained that the front brakes were locking up, and promptly locked up the rear. Despite these problems Rindt was eighth fastest, although 'Black Jack' never got in a fast lap. The BRM team were very unhappy, with only Attwood's car on song. Rodriguez's engine seemed to have no power and Courage had handling problems.

Ickx complained that his rear suspension was throwing the Ferrari all over the road, and also confided that he is not too fond of Brands, but his time of 1m32.7s was only 0.1s slower than JPB in the Matra, who was three-wheeling through Druids and down to Bottom Bend. Siffert spent most of his time settling down the springs and dampers of the new Lotus and contented himself with a few laps just to familiarise himself with the car and the course.

Of the Cooper-BRM drivers, Elford was the faster, recording 1m33.1s; Widdow's practice came to a grinding halt when his BRM engine threw a rod. Moser's time in the old Brabham was governed by the vintage of his machinery, for he certainly tried hard enough. Bonnier never did a lap, for the clutch on his McLaren-BRM was rusted up and wouldn't free.

Stewart was quick early in Friday morning's session in Ken Tyrrell's Matra � LAT

In the second session Amon used his training car, 0007, to record fastest time of 1m29.7s, faster than he had gone in the morning and on this occasion 0.1s quicker than Hill's Lotus. Gurney, having made various adjustments in the morning, got down to 1m30s in the Eagle. Once again both Hulme and McLaren recorded identical times in the McLaren-Fords, both improving by 0.8 s.

Surtees changed both his steering ratio and his suspension to try to get the Honda handling better, but was unable to improve on his morning's best. Oliver and Stewart both tried hard but were unable to go any faster, but Ickx, whose Ferrari was now handling more to his liking, knocked 1.6s off his time. Siffert too was going a lot better, improving by about the same amount. The BRMs were still in trouble, Attwood's car having its rear suspension damaged by a post in the paddock as a mechanic was driving it up the pits, and Rodriguez, after going a good deal quicker than he had in the morning, had nasty moment when a top front pick up point broke coming into clearways. Courage missed the first part of the session because of repairs to his rear suspension, and was still unhappy with the car's handling, saying the car was sliding all over the road. Rindt was still having break trouble, with team-mate Brabham still plagued by a sticking throttle.

Friday

It was on Friday morning that the fireworks really started, with the drivers perhaps further inspired by the hundred bottles of Champagne presented by the Evening News that would go with the fastest lap. Hill, spurred on by the thought of how much the champagne would help his after-race party, went out and progressively worked his way down to 1m28.9s to win the pole position and the champers.

Oliver went out immediately behind Hill; the lesson was obviously a good one, for after Hill came in, Stewart got down to 1m29.4s, making Lotus first and second fastest. Hill, perhaps feeling his bottles were in danger, was heard to comment to Colin Chapman: "Isn't it time you called him in?" and when Oliver did come into the pits Chapman grasped his new boy by the hand, saying "I don't know whether to be delighted or worried."

Amon took third place on the front row with a time of 1m29.7s set in the low-line Ferrari, and rather surprisingly seemed disappointed with his performance. Rob Walker was all smiles when Siffert broke 1m30s, producing a lap of 1m 29.7s on his last lap for a place on the inside of the second row, his best grid position since Monaco.

His brakes sorted at last, Rindt tried all he knew and was rewarded with 1m29.9s and a place on the second row with Siffert. Brabham was black flagged for dropping oil, yet he still managed to go fast enough to find himself alongside Stewart and Gurney on the third row. As usual the Matra International team found time to scrub tyres, bed-in brakes and check fuel consumption.

Surtees' Honda started from the fourth row, alongside McLaren � LAT

The Honda refused to go any faster, and Surtees' time in the first session put him on the fourth row with McLaren, who also tried his original M7A, but decided to use his later car with the new front suspension. Hulme spent most of his time helping his mechanics change a driveshaft after the cross had broken once again, and more than a few well-informed people were blaming the recurring failure on his Wiesmann diff, which would appear to be too ineffective. Ickx, improving all the while, found himself between Hulme and Rodriguez on the fifth row; the Mexican was having wretched luck with the BRM and, despite an engine change, the car was still down on power

JPB equalled his previous day's best and the existing lap record, yet still found himself nearer the back than the front of the field. Stewart tried the car and went no faster, so it was obviously no fault of the driver. Both Attwood and Courage continued to have problems with their BRMs, and Elford felt that if he could sort out the handling of his Cooper-BRM, it could go a lot better. Widdows' final time was only a second slower than Vic. Towards the end of the session Moser spun the old Brabham into the bank at Druids when he missed a gear, the only apparent damage being to the fuel tanks.

The untimed session on Friday afternoon featured a great deal of activity in the pits, most of it surrounding Amon's Ferrari, which was busy being used as a set for Champion ads, featuring a transparently-clad and very attractive female. Right at the end of practice Gurney's Eagle suffered severe engine damage when a stone was thrown up through the inlet trumpets and held a valve open, which was hit by a piston. Fortunately the AAR men had a spare engine waiting at Ashford.

Race

Although Moser and Bonnier didn't manage to get within the bogey qualifying time of 5s slower than the third man in practice (Amon's 1m29.5s), the organisers in their wisdom eventually decided that both could start. As the cars went out to assemble on the grid before their warming-up lap the sky had clouded over, and after their one exploratory tour as they formed up on the dummy grid, a few spots of rain fell and umbrellas began to sprout among the dense 50,000 spread round the circuit and stacked in the grandstands-including the splendid new viewpoint above Paddock Hill Bend.

Pandemonium ensued as first one team manager, then another, grappled with the agonising decision of whether to run on wet or dry tyres. Tyrell was first off, and had Stewart's Matra up and channelled Dunlops on in a twinkling. Perhaps this was purely to un-nerve the rest, for with minutes to go and as other cars were bounced up and down on their jacks, off came Stewart's wet tyres and on went the dries as the rainspots diminished and the umbrellas came down.

This left a dry track and a field on a mixture of rubber. None of the front row, who were all on dual-purpose YB11s, had changed. Nor had either of the Lotuses, Amon's Ferrari or Siffert, but Goodyear-shod Rindt had wet tyres. In fact most two-car teams played a two-way bet, for Brabham stayed on dries, while Amon's team-mate Ickx had ultra-wet grooved YB11s. In the orange McLarens, Hulme was dry and McLaren was wet, while Rodriguez's BRM went onto the wettest Goodyear there is, Attwood and Courage sticking to dry Dunlops. Both the Coopers stayed on dries, as did the Honda and the V12 Matra.

As the cars rolled forward from the dummy grid Elford's Cooper was reluctant to start and was surrounded by mechanics. Down swept the flag, and the field got cleanly away, except for poor Gurney, for the Eagle's fuel system was playing up, and he rolled to a halt at the side of the road.

Graham Hill on pole position poured on the power and produced tremendous smoking wheelspin, and it was Oliver who made the best start from the middle of the front row, rocketing into paddock with Siffert, who had made a phenomenal start from the second row, slotting into second place ahead of Hill, Amon, Stewart and Surtees. Going up towards Hawthorn's, Hill roared past the blue Lotus to settle in behind his young team-mate, so it was Lotus 1-2-3 as the whole field streamed through round the back

After losing some 12s, Elford's engine burst into life and the Cooper set off through the haze of smoke still hanging over the start line. Gurney was not so fortunate, and the field completed a good half-lap before the AAR mechanics got the Eagle underway.

Amon was at his brilliant best in the Ferrari. Note the position of his hands � LAT

As they burst into view out of Stirlings and into Clearways, the first six were almost impossibly close. The three tall wings of the Lotuses were at the front, but Ferrari, Matra and Honda were tucked in behind. Then, after a small gap, came Rodriguez in the first BRM, Rindt, McLaren, Attwood, Ickx, Hulme, Beltoise, Courage, Widdows - well up with them on the first lap of his first F1 race - and Moser and Bonnier, with Elford making up ground fast, and finally a still unhappy Gurney.

On the second lap there was a puff off smoke near the left-hand exhaust pipe of Oliver's Lotus, but he was still commanding the race like a real number one rather than a new boy, and showing no inferiority complex whatsoever in his first British Grand Prix. Hill held station a couple of lengths behind, with Siffert under pressure from Amon and Stewart under pressure from Surtees. Rindt had dropped four places after a bit of a moment, while at the back Elford had already caught and passed Bonnier. Brabham had already retired, coming in at the end of the first lap with a broken exhaust camshaft.

Rindt dropped another place on the following lap as Beltoise slipped by, and Elford made up another place by picking off Moser. Oliver's car was now smoking very noticeably, but he continued to lead at an undiminished rate; he had already broken the lap record - on full tanks and in the old ex-Siffert car - with a time of 1m30.9s. But as they came round to start their fourth lap Hill was in front, and both red and gold Lotuses were pulling out another length or two from Siffert and Amon, who were already locked in the battle that was to occupy them for the rest of the race. Behind them Stewart was still in front of the Honda, despite furious efforts by 'Big John'.

There was now a perceptible gap before seventh man McLaren, followed by Attwood, both of whom had had passed Rodriguez, while Hulme had got by Ickx. Gurney came in after a total of three laps, and his mechanics started on a 54-minute rebuild of the fuel system. He eventually appeared on the circuit to do another four laps around half-distance before finally calling it a day.

The wet and dry tyres were now starting to sort out the rest of the field. Rodriguez dropped another couple of places behind Hulme and Ickx, and the next lap McLaren - who was perhaps having to try harder than anybody else on the circuit - with great handfuls of lock to pull the under-steering M7A round Paddock and Druid, was caught by the Hulme-Ickx battle. Attwood was up with this group, going well, and he was the next to pass McLaren.

Hill retired from second with driveshaft failure. Oliver would be next � LAT

Lap 10 and still the Lotuses were in front, with Siffert and Amon dicing away, and a now really angry Surtees still searching for a way past Stewart, shaking a fist as they dived into Paddock, for the Honda was losing its chance of catching the leaders.

The second group now had Hulme-Ickx air firmly at its head, with Attwood ninth, but on the following tour a stone pierced Tatty Atty's radiator, putting the best-placed BRM out. Thus McLaren was now ninth from Beltoise, Rindt and Courage, who two laps earlier had passed Rodriguez. Next up was Elford, who had just disposed of Widdows; at the tail of the field Moser had stopped at his pit to adjust his gear linkage, no doubt damaged in his practice shunt, while 'JoBo's' McLaren had already retired with a suspected dropped valve.

Next retirement was that of Beltoise on lap 12, when the V12 Matra lost oil pressure suddenly as he came past the pits, and he coasted around to his pit by the bottom straight slip road; it was later thought that a main bearing had begun to pick up. The car still had its Rouen engine installed, although a new V12 had been specially brought over from Velizy.

On the next lap Surtees finally made it and hurled the white and red Honda past Stewart's Matra on the inside at Paddock, pulling away almost immediately. But the third place battle in which 'Big John' was so eager to participate was now the length of the Top straight ahead, with the Lotus convoy several lengths more in front. The pace was still very hot, and on lap 15 Hill equalled Oliver's new lap record, with Jackie still smoking in his slipstream.

BRM were having an unhappy race, for Courage had stopped for six minutes to investigate overheating on the Parnell car, and Rodriguez came in to change to dry weather tyres after finding his car a bit of a handful on wet equipment. Elford was fairing much better despite his tardy start, and on lap 18 he passed the wet-tyred Rindt going into Paddock for 10th place.

By lap 20 the first four cars were still running in close company, Oliver losing no ground to Hill and Amon still tailing Siffert, with the Honda and the Matra spread out behind. Surtees was driving with all his usual verve to try to close on the Ferrari in front; a red car ahead of 'Big John' must be worth an extra 500rpm. Stewart was not displaying his usual form, the Matra seeming perhaps not well suited to the bumpy twists of Brands.

Ickx nipped by Hulme as the race wore on � LAT

Still a good 14s behind came the second group, with Hulme now coming under extreme pressure from Ickx, despite the Belgian's wet weather tyres. On lap 22, after getting the Ferrari's red nose alongside the orange McLaren at Paddock, he slipped past the New Zealander coming out of Bottom Bend for seventh place, and in fact began to close the long gap between himself and Stewart, taking Hulme with him. McLaren was a fairly lonely ninth, followed by Elford, Rindt and Widdows, whose engine sounded distinctly rough. Rodriguez had lost three laps because of his tyre change, with Courage another couple adrift. Moser had started another lengthy pitstop with further gear change maladies, although he later reappeared for further lappery.

Then on lap 26 drama struck, and Hill, the pre-race favourite and darling of the crowd, suddenly slowed on the bottom of the straight and coasted up the slip road to his pit as the rest of the field galloped by. The outer left hand driveshaft universal had broken yet again, flailing round and damaging the suspension, despite the adoption since Rouen of new heftier shafts as used on the old H16 BRM-engine Lotus. Thus Oliver was once again in the lead and pit signals flashed out to tell Siffert and Amon the glad tidings.

The Cooper-BRMs were the next to run trouble, in contrast to their recent record of reliability. Tenth man Elford pulled off at Westfield Bend with a conrod ventilating the block, having left a tell tale trail of oil from Hawthorn Bend down the Portobello Straight. Widdows was in the pits with misfiring after sounding off-song for many laps, and he lost a further lap while the ignition system was examined. After eight more unhappy laps he retired for good.

With 30 laps completed Oliver was still driving as smoothly as ever and had a comparatively comfortable lead, and the oil smoke caused by the engine breather blowing onto the hot exhaust pipe had diminished. Amon was still Siffert's constant competition, but the Swiss refused to be ruffled, never putting a wheel wrong, although his goggles were now very dirty from Oliver's oil. Still the pace was unrelenting, and Surtees, trying as hard as ever was now 18s behind the Siffert-Amon duo, while further back Stewart had now been caught by Ickx and Hulme, who were trying everything to get by.

On lap 31 Stewart was busy making sure that he occupied the piece of road that Ickx was after, and Hulme saw his chance and went by both of them. Then a lap later Ickx found a gap and was on Hulme's tail again.

Rindt rounding Druids before his Brabham caught fire � LAT

Everyone had been waiting for an aerofoil to fall off, and on lap 35 it happened. The Honda's suspension-mounted wing broke and tore itself adrift at Dingle Dell, clattering to the ground right in front of McLaren, whom Surtees had just lapped. McLaren narrowly avoid the errant flipper, and marshals rushed forward to pull the remains off the track. This obviously did nothing to improve the Honda's handling, and Ickx - who had finally succeeded in re-passing Hulme's McLaren on the same lap - began to whittle away the gap between the Honda and his Ferrari, which was now down to 9s.

Just before half distance Amon, tired of playing second fiddle to Siffert, slotted the Ferrari past the blue Lotus on the inside under braking for Westfield to split the one-two. But there seemed nothing that anyone could do about Oliver's superbly smooth drive, and, just to show he was driving as quickly as ever, he had broken his own lap record with a time of 1m30.3s on lap 34. Surtees was obviously suffering severe handling troubles, and the Honda was weaving dramatically over the bumps on the Top Straight as Ickx's Ferrari got closer and closer. Hulme, meanwhile, had lost second gear and with it the contact with Ickx.

Siffert was not letting Amon get away with second place, and the two of them were as close as ever. On lap 40, half distance, he pushed the Ferrari man into setting a new lap record and breaking the 90s barrier for the first time in a race with a time of 1m29.9s, and Siffert equalled this time himself. Meanwhile the Ferrari of Ickx had been catching the Honda at a rate of 2s per lap, and along the bottom straight the Ferrari went ahead of the unstable Honda.

Then on lap 42 Amon, still under tremendous pressure from Siffert's blue Lotus, got the Ferrari very slightly sideways for a split second: it was all 'Seppe' needed to take Rob Walker's car into second place. But no sooner had the commentator imparted this information than Oliver, by now a reasonable distance ahead of the Swiss-Kiwi pair, changed down for South Bank - and the old Lotus 49 Achilles heel which dogged Siffert all season when he drove this car manifested itself. The crown wheel and pinion had chewed each other up, and a bitterly disappointed Oliver coasted under the bridge and onto the verge.

Amon gave chase, but couldn't deny Siffert his maiden F1 World Championship win � LAT

On the same lap Hulme also got past Surtees, so the positions at 44 laps were Lotus, Ferrari, McLaren, Honda, Matra. Seventh man McLaren had long since been lapped, an indignity which Stewart suffered on lap 48. Rindt had had a pitstop to adjust fuel mixture, but was still soldiering on with his wet tyres, despite additional trouble from a fuel metering unit. Ten laps later as he passed the pits a gasp went up from the crowd, for flames could clearly be seen licking round the back of the Brabham. Rindt was completely unaware of this, and it was two laps before he was black-flagged. He then stopped at Westfield, where the marshals put out the fire, and one of this season's unlucky Formula 1 drivers was left with a long walk back to the pits.

BRM fortunes took another knock when Rodriguez, now four laps behind the leaders, came into the pits with the V12 sounding very sick indeed. At first a broken camshaft was diagnosed, but the trouble eventually proved to be a broken timing chain. Courage, in the sole surviving BRM-engined car, had had a second pitstop with an elusive misfire, but was still going in eighth place several laps in arrears.

With 20 laps to go even Hulme had been lapped by the eternal battle for the lead. The blue Lotus was still being shadowed at every corner by the red Ferrari, and Siffert was driving the race of his life. He had further reduced the lap record to 1m29.7s and trick for trick matched every move the persistent Amon made. Ickx was going as well as ever in third place, although he too was lapped on the 68th tour, leaving the leaders out on their own.

All eyes were on the gap between Siffert and Amon, and in fact, the blue Lotus had now pulled out a 2s advantage, but Amon was still hanging on grimly. The tension in the Walker-Durlacher pit reached fever pitch, but none of this emotion disturbed Rob Walker's sang froid, although the last time a Walker car had won a Grand Epreuve was when Stirling Moss scored that incredible victory at the Nurburgring seven years ago - also in a blue Lotus with a white noseband.

With only four laps to go poor Stewart, whose injured wrist was now badly swollen and very painful after almost 800 corners in two hours, was lapped again (although he was closing on Surtees), and now Amon had lost another second to Siffert. There was nothing the Ferrari driver could do about it, and when 'Seppe' finally took the flag he was 4.4s behind after a very gallant chase. Ickx, still driving as smoothly as he had done the first lap, was third, while Hulme's fourth place was the reward of a very consistent drive despite his gearbox problems.

Fifth and Sixth were Surtees in the Honda, whose handling had got progressively worse, and Stewart in the Matra, who, despite his discomfort, pulled some extra speed out of the bag in the very closing laps as Surtees slowed. In the final spurt to the flag the blue Matra was almost alongside the white Honda, but the extra championship point was Surtees' by 0.1s.

As the victorious driver and entrant mounted the winner's rostrum, the crowed showed that this was a very popular result with a tumultuous reception, and then when car, driver, entrant and mechanics rode around on the Ford trailer the car parks resounded with the traditional fanfare of horns.

For birthday boy Amon, for Ickx and for Ferrari it was a fine result, putting Ickx into second place in the championship and showing once again the speed and reliability of the Mauro Forghieri/Franco Gozzi charges. Their performance on the twisty Kent circuit bodes well for the next world championship round a week on Sunday at the Nurburgring, where Amon has already become the first man to lap in under 8 mins in private practice.