1961 United States Grand Prix

August 2023 F1 United States United States Watkins Glen International Track Map-1960-1970.svg IV Grand Prix of the United States October 8 1961 Watkins Glen Grand Prix Race CourseWatkins Glen, New York Permanent road course 2.35 3.78 100 235 378 Temperatures up to 72 F C flip;Wind speeds up to 10.24 mph km/h fliphttp://www.almanac.com/weather/history/NY/Watkins%20Glen/1961-10-08 Weather information for the "1961 United States Grand Prix" The Old Farmers' Almanac 2013-06-26 AUS Jack Brabham Cooper-Climax 1:17.0 AUS Jack Brabham Cooper-Climax 1:18.2 28 GBR Innes Ireland Lotus-Climax USA Dan Gurney Porsche GBR Tony Brooks BRM-Climax USA The 1961 United States Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on October 8, 1961, at the Watkins Glen Grand Prix Race Course in Watkins Glen, New York. It was the eighth and final race in both the 1961 World Championship of Drivers and the 1961 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. The United States Grand Prix had been held at two different circuits in its previous three runnings, but subsequently remained at Watkins Glen until 1980. The season-ending race was won by British driver Innes Ireland, his only career Grand Prix win. He started eighth, took the lead when the engine in Stirling Moss' Lotus failed, and finished 4.3 seconds ahead of American Dan Gurney. The win was the first victory for Colin Chapman's Team Lotus. Background By the time of the Watkins Glen event, the 1961 season had seen Californian Phil Hill crowned the first American World Champion. However, he did not take part in the race as the Scuderia Ferrari team had remained home. In the previous race, the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, Ferrari driver and team leader Wolfgang von Trips had been killed in a crash while leading the Drivers' Championship, handing victory and the Championship to Hill. Since Ferrari had clinched the Constructors' Championship as well as the Drivers', the team chose not to make the trip across the Atlantic for the season finale. There had been considerable doubt about whether the US race would even take place, since the FIA did not grant the Watkins Glen Grand Prix Corporation final approval for the event until August 28. By October, however, the field was missing only the Ferrari team. Howard Hughes visited the pits to meet with John Cooper about expanding his car manufacturing business. A photograph taken of Hughes in the pits and published in the May 10, 1976, issue of Time magazine was the last known photograph of him.Rear View Mirror http://atlasf1.autosport.com/2000/mal/mirror.html Autosport https://web.archive.org/web/20080820052336/http://atlasf1.autosport.com/2000/mal/mirror.html 2008-08-20 live 2009-04-26 Qualifying While all but the two Porsche entries had Climax engines, only Jack Brabham of the factory Cooper team, and Stirling Moss, in Rob Walker's privately entered Lotus, had the newest developmental V8 version available to them. Moss set the pace on Saturday with a lap time of 1:18.2 in his 4-cylinder car, then posted a 1:17.2 with the V8. Brabham, the just-deposed two-time World Champion, responded by taking the pole with a 1:17.0. When Moss decided to use the older 4-cylinder in the race, saying that the car handled better with it, he dropped back to the second row of the grid, next to Brabham's teammate, Bruce McLaren. Graham Hill's BRM, a tenth quicker than the other 4-cylinder cars, was alongside Brabham on the front row, a second slower than the Australian. Jim Clark, in one works Lotus, took fifth spot, while Ireland, his teammate, qualified eighth. On Friday, Ireland spun to the edge of the woods in the 180-degree South Loop when his steering failed. The following day, before he could put in a serious time, his gearbox broke. The back of the grid was filled largely with independent North American drivers in uncompetitive cars. Canadian Peter Ryan, in his only grand prix, led a group containing Walt Hansgen, Roger Penske, Hap Sharp, Jim Hall and Lloyd Ruby. Penske's car was one of the first instances of commercial sponsorship in F1, painted in bright DuPont Anti-Freeze yellow. Race summary A paid crowd of 28,000 (total around 60,000) attended the race on Sunday. At the start, Brabham led the field off the grid and into the first corner, but before the end of the first lap, Moss had moved into the lead. These two were followed by Ireland (up from eighth), Hill, Dan Gurney, Masten Gregory and McLaren. On lap three, McLaren moved up to third when Ireland spun on oil at the end of the straight. "I nearly went out of the race," he said. "I went into a whirl, a 360-degree spin, cars were whipping past."March 2021 He recovered and continued in eleventh. By lap 10, Ireland had already moved up to fourth, behind McLaren's Cooper, as Moss and Brabham continued to draw away at a second a lap, swapping the lead back and forth. At about one-third distance, on lap 34, Brabham's V8 began to leak water and overheat. With puffs of smoke appearing from the left-side exhaust, the Cooper dropped back from Moss and finally entered the pits on lap 45. After taking on water and returning to the race, Brabham completed only seven more laps before retiring. Leading now by over 40 seconds, Moss seemed on his way to a comfortable victory. However, his oil pressure was dropping, and on lap 59, the dark blue Lotus peeled off and retired suddenly, handing the lead to Ireland. Hill was right on the tail of the Scot, hounding him for 15 laps, until he, too, suddenly coasted down the pit lane with a loose magneto wire. The next challenger was Roy Salvadori, who began trimming the lead from 20 seconds down to five with only five laps left. But it was Ireland's day. With just over three laps remaining, Salvadori's privately entered Cooper blew its engine, just as his teammate John Surtees' car had done on the first lap. Ireland came home under the waving checkered flag of Tex Hopkins, less than five seconds ahead of American Dan Gurney, as Britain's Tony Brooks finished the last GP of his career in third. "I was lucky," said Ireland. "I could not take Moss or Brabham. Their cars were too fast. I had no fuel pressure in the last ten laps, and ended up with a thimbleful of gas at the finish."March 2021 It was Ireland's only World Championship win, the first World Championship win for Team Lotus, and the first American Grand Prix to turn a profit, ensuring its return in 1962. It was Moss's last World Championship race, as his career was ended by a heavy accident during the 1962 Glover Trophy race at Goodwood the following April. Classification Qualifying +PosNoDriverConstructorQualifying timesGapQ1Q21 1 AUS Jack Brabham Cooper-Climax1:17.3 1:17.0—2 4 GBR Graham Hill BRM-Climax1:18.8 1:18.1 +1.13 7 GBR Stirling Moss Lotus-Climax1:18.7 1:18.2† +1.24 2 NZL Bruce McLaren Cooper-Climax1:18.7 1:18.2 +1.25 5 GBR Tony Brooks BRM-Climax1:19.4 1:18.3 +1.36 14 GBR Jim Clark Lotus-Climax1:20.6 1:18.3 +1.37 12 USA Dan Gurney Porsche1:19.0 1:18.6 +1.68 15 GBR Innes Ireland Lotus-Climax1:20.0 1:18.8 +1.89 18 GBR John Surtees Cooper-Climax1:19.0 1:18.9 +1.910 11 SWE Jo Bonnier Porsche1:19.4 1:18.9 +1.911 22 USA Masten Gregory Lotus-Climax1:19.1 1:20.5 +2.112 19 GBR Roy Salvadori Cooper-Climax1:19.6 1:19.2 +2.213 16 CAN 1957 Peter Ryan Lotus-Climax1:26.0 1:20.0 +3.014 60 USA Walt Hansgen Cooper-Climax1:22.9 1:20.4 +3.415 21 BEL Olivier Gendebien Lotus-Climax1:22.7 1:20.5 +3.516 6 USA Roger Penske Cooper-Climax1:22.6 1:20.6 +3.617 3 USA Hap Sharp Cooper-ClimaxNo time 1:21.0 +4.018 17 USA Jim Hall Lotus-Climax1:22.3 1:21.8 +4.819 26 USA Lloyd Ruby Lotus-Climax1:22.5 1:21.8 +4.8 Source:http://www.chicanef1.com/race.pl?year=1961&gp=United%20States%20GP&r=1&type=qual 1961 United States GP Qualification www.chicanef1.com 2 August 2020 † Moss registered a laptime of 1:17.2 in Q2 using a car with a 4-cylinder engine, but decided to race with his V8-powered machine, and was placed on the grid with his best time in the V8.. Race Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 15 GBR Innes Ireland Lotus-Climax 100 2:13:45.8 8 9 2 12 USA Dan Gurney Porsche 100 +4.3 secs 7 6 3 5 GBR Tony Brooks BRM-Climax 100 +49.0 secs 5 4 4 2 NZL Bruce McLaren Cooper-Climax 100 +58.0 secs 4 3 5 4 GBR Graham Hill BRM-Climax 99 +1 Lap 2 2 6 11 SWE Jo Bonnier Porsche 98 +2 Laps 10 1 7 14 GBR Jim Clark Lotus-Climax 96 +4 Laps 6 8 6 USA Roger Penske Cooper-Climax 96 +4 Laps 16 9 16 CAN 1957 Peter Ryan Lotus-Climax 96 +4 Laps 13 10 3 USA Hap Sharp Cooper-Climax 93 +7 Laps 17 11 21 BEL Olivier GendebienUSA Masten Gregory Lotus-Climax 92 +8 Laps 15 Ret Retired 19 GBR Roy Salvadori Cooper-Climax 96 Engine 12 Ret Retired 17 USA Jim Hall Lotus-Climax 76 Fuel Leak 18 Ret Retired 26 USA Lloyd Ruby Lotus-Climax 76 Magneto 19 Ret Retired 7 GBR Stirling Moss Lotus-Climax 58 Engine 3 Ret Retired 1 AUS Jack Brabham Cooper-Climax 57 Overheating 1 Ret Retired 22 USA Masten Gregory Lotus-Climax 23 Gearbox 11 Ret Retired 60 USA Walt Hansgen Cooper-Climax 14 Accident 14 Ret Retired 18 GBR John Surtees Cooper-Climax 0 Engine 9WD Withdrawn8USA Phil HillFerrariTeam withdrewWD Withdrawn9USA Richie GintherFerrariTeam withdrewWD Withdrawn10MEX 1934 Pedro RodríguezFerrariTeam withdrew DNA Did not arrive 23GBR Ken MilesLotus-ClimaxNot presentSource:http://www.formula1.com/results/season/1961/661/ 1961 United States Grand Prix formula1.com 20 September 2015 https://web.archive.org/web/20141222213507/http://www.formula1.com/results/season/1961/661/ 22 December 2014 Notes This was the Formula One World Championship debut for American drivers Roger Penske and Hap Sharp and Canadian driver Peter Ryan. It was also the first race for a Canadian driver. This was the second win of a United States Grand Prix by a Lotus, breaking the old record set by Cooper. Final Championship standings Bold text indicates the World Champions. Drivers' Championship standings PosDriverPoints 10px 1 USA Phil Hill 34 (38) 10px 2 DEU Wolfgang von Trips 33 10px 3 GBR Stirling Moss 21 10px 1 4 USA Dan Gurney 21 10px 1 5 USA Richie Ginther 16Source:https://www.statsf1.com/en/1961/etats-unis/championnat.aspx United States 1961 - Championship • STATS F1 www.statsf1.com 21 March 2019 Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 10px 1 ITA Ferrari 40 (52) 10px 2 GBR Lotus-Climax 32 10px 3 DEU Porsche 22 (23) 10px 4 GBR Cooper-Climax 14 (18) 10px 5 GBR BRM-Climax 7 Notes: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. Only the best 5 results counted towards the Championship. Numbers without parentheses are Championship points; numbers in parentheses are total points scored. References 30em Further reading James T. Crow (January, 1962). "U.S. Grand Prix". Road & Track, 68–72. Doug Nye (1978). The United States Grand Prix and Grand Prize Races, 1908-1977. B. T. Batsford. 0-7134-1263-1 J.J. O'Malley and Bill Green (1998). Watkins Glen, From Griswold to Gordon: Fifty Years of Competition At the Home of American Road Racing. External links Don Capps. "Rear View Mirror." (Archived 2009-05-04) Atlas F1: Volume 6, Issue 43. Retrieved on April 26, 2009. United States Grand Prix 1961 1961 Italian Grand Prix 1962 Dutch Grand Prix 1960 United States Grand Prix 1962 United States Grand Prix United States Grand Prix Category:United States Grand Prix Category:1961 in sports in New York (state) Category:1961 in American motorsport Category:October 1961 sports events in the United States