1963 Australian Grand Prix
The 1963 Australian Grand Prix was a motor race held at Warwick Farm Raceway in New South Wales, Australia on 10 February 1963. Open to Formula Libre cars, it was the opening heat of the 1963 Australian Drivers' Championship. The race, which was the twenty eighth Australian Grand Prix, had 16 starters.
The race featured a strong representation of international competitors, with entries from Ecurie Vitesse for Jack Brabham, Bruce McLaren for himself, R.R.C. Walker Racing Team for Graham Hill and from the Bowmaker Racing Team for John Surtees, Tony Maggs and Jim Palmer. Jack Brabham won the race, his second Australian Grand Prix victory, after a battle with John Surtees. It was the first AGP victory by a driver in 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 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.Pos | No. | Driver | Entrant | Car | Laps | Time / Reason |
1 | 4 | Jack Brabham | Ecurie Vitesse | Repco 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 | B. McLaren | Cooper T62 / Climax FPF 2.7L | 45 | 1h 17m 284.1s |
4 | 5 | David McKay | Scuderia Veloce | Repco Brabham BT4 / Climax FPF 2.7L | 45 | 1h 18m 01.1s |
5 | 6 | Bib Stillwell | B.S. Stillwell | Repco Brabham BT4 / Climax FPF 2.7L | 44 | |
6 | 1 | Graham Hill | R.R.C. Walker Racing Team | Ferguson P99 / Climax FPF 2.5L | 44 | |
7 | 16 | Tony Shelly | Independent Motors | Lotus 18/21 / Climax FPF 2.5L | 44 | |
8 | 18 | Frank Matich | Total Team | Elfin Catalina / Ford 1.5L | 43 | |
9 | 17 | Leo Geoghegan | Total Team | Lotus 20B / Ford 1.5L | 42 | |
10 | 19 | Bob Holden | Killara Motor Garage | Lynx / Peugeot 1.5L | 42 | |
11 | 8 | Lex Davison | Ecurie Australie | Cooper T53 / Climax FPF 2.7L | 36 | |
Ret | 3 | Tony Maggs | Bowmaker Racing Team | Lola Mk.4 / Climax FPF 2.7L | 31 | Exhaustion |
Ret | 15 | John Youl | J. Youl | Cooper T55 / Climax FPF 2.5L | 25 | Black Flagged |
Ret | 14 | Chris Amon | Scuderia Veloce | Cooper T53 / Climax FPF 2.5L | 24 | Fuel Pump |
Ret | 12 | Jim Palmer | Bowmaker Racing Team | Cooper T55 / Climax FPF 2.7L | 9 | Broken steering arm |
Ret | 11 | Frank Gardner | Alec Mildren Pty. Ltd. | Cooper T51 / Maserati 2.9L | 0 | Broken Axle |