The 1961 Rand Grand Prix was a non-championship race, held on December 9, 1961 at the brand new Kyalami Raceway Park. The race was run to South African rules, which included Formula One cars, but also allowed full-bodied sports cars that met the engine and weight regulations. The race was won by Jim Clark in a Lotus, who took the pole and led from start to finish. Teammate Trevor Taylor finished less than a second behind Clark, and Jo Bonnier took third in a Porsche.
Background[]
Entry List[]
The full entry list for the 1961 Rand Grand Prix is outlined below, arranged by car number:
| No. | Driver | Entreat | Constructor | Chassis | Engine | Model | Tyre |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Jim Clark
|
Team Lotus
|
Lotus | 21 | Climax | FPF L4 1.5 | D |
| 2 | Trevor Taylor
|
Team Lotus
|
Lotus | 21 | Climax | FPF L4 1.5 | D |
| 3 |  Syd van der Vyver
|
Privateer
|
Lotus | 18 | Alfa Romeo | Giulietta L4 1.5 | D |
| 4 |  Edgar Barth
|
Porsche System Engineering
|
Porsche | 718 | Porsche | 547/6 F4 1.5 | D |
| 5 |  Jo Bonnier
|
Porsche System Engineering
|
Porsche | 718 | Porsche | 547/6 F4 1.5 | D |
| 6 |  Masten Gregory
|
UDT Laystall Racing Team
|
Lotus | 18/21 | Climax | FPF L4 1.5 | D |
| 7 | Ernie Pieterse
|
Scuderia Alfa
|
Heron | Special | Alfa Romeo | Giulietta L4 1.5 | ? |
| 8 | Tony Maggs
|
Yeoman Credit Racing Team
|
Cooper | T53 | Climax | FPF L4 1.5 | D |
| 9 | Bruce Johnstone
|
Yeoman Credit Racing Team
|
Cooper | T56 | Climax | FPF L4 1.5 | D |
| 10 | Neville Lederle
|
Privateer
|
Lotus | 18 | Ford | 109E L4 1.5 | D |
| 11 |  John Love
|
A.H. Pillman
|
LDS | Mk1 | Porsche | 547/6 F4 1.5 | ? |
| 12 | Doug Serrurier
|
Scuderia Lupini
|
Cooper | T51 | Maserati | 6-1500 L4 1.5 | ? |
| 14 | Don Philp
|
Privateer
|
Quodra | 1 | Climax | FPF L4 1.5 | ? |
| 15 | Sam Tingle
|
Privateer
|
LDS | Mk1 | Alfa Romeo | Giulietta L4 1.5 | D |
| 16 | Helmut Menzler
|
Ecurie Wolman
|
Lotus | 18 | Borgward | 1500 RS L4 1.5 | ? |
| 17 | Jack Holme
|
Privateer
|
Lotus | 18 | Climax | FPF L4 1.5 | ? |
| 18 | Clive Trundell
|
Privateer
|
Cooper | T52 | Climax | FPF L4 1.5 | ? |
| 19 | Bruce Jennings
|
Privateer
|
Jennings | Mk1 | Porsche | 547/6 F4 1.5 | ? |
| 20 | Fanie Viljoen
|
G.E. Mennie
|
LDS | Mk1 | Climax | FPF L4 1.5 | ? |
| 21 | Adrian Pheiffer
|
Privateer
|
Cooper | T52 | Alfa Romeo | Giulietta L4 1.5 | ? |
| 22 | Bob van Niekerk
|
Privateer
|
Lotus | 18 | Ford | 109E L4 1.5 | ? |
| 23 | Bernard Podmore
|
Privateer
|
Lotus | 18 | Ford | 109E L4 1.5 | ? |
| 24 | John Guthrie
|
Ecurie Rhodes
|
Cooper | T51 | Alfa Romeo | Giulietta L4 1.5 | ? |
| 25 | Trevor Blokdyk
|
Privateer
|
Cooper | T52 | Ford | 109E L4 1.5 | D |
| 26 | Gene Bosman
|
Scuderia Alfa
|
Lotus | 15 | Alfa Romeo | Giulietta L4 1.5 | ? |
| 27 | Dawie Gous
|
Privateer
|
Porsche | RSK | Porsche | 547/6 F4 1.5 | ? |
| 28 | Bill Dunlop
|
Privateer
|
Cooper | T45 | Alfa Romeo | Giulietta L4 1.5 | ? |
| 29 | Rauten Hartmann
|
Privateer
|
Netuar | Mk1 | Peugeot | L6 1.5 | ? |
Practice Overview[]
Qualifying[]
Report[]
Qualifying Results[]
The full qualifying results for the 1961 Rand Grand Prix are outlined below:
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Constructor | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Jim Clark
|
Lotus-Climax | 1:38.5 | — |
| 2 | 2 | Trevor Taylor
|
Lotus-Climax | 1:38.8 | +0.3s |
| 3 | 6 | Masten Gregory
|
Lotus-Climax | 1:38.9 | +0.4s |
| 4* | 5 | Jo Bonnier
|
Porsche | 1:39.8 | +1.3s |
| 5 | 8 | Tony Maggs
|
Cooper-Climax | 1:40.5 | +2.0s |
| 6 | 3 | Syd van der Vyver
|
Lotus-Alfa Romeo | 1:40.8 | +2.3s |
| 7 | 7 | Ernie Pieterse
|
Heron-Alfa Romeo | 1:41.1 | +2.6s |
| 8 | 9 | Bruce Johnstone
|
Cooper-Climax | 1:41.3 | +2.8s |
| 9 | 4 | Edgar Barth
|
Porsche | N/A | — |
| 10 | 16 | Helmut Menzler
|
Lotus-Borgward | 1:43.7 | +5.2s |
| 11 | 14 | Don Philp
|
Quodra-Climax | 1:44.1 | +5.6s |
| 12† | 21 | Adrian Pheiffer
|
Cooper-Alfa Romeo | 1:44.8 | +6.3s |
| 13 | 22 | Bob van Niekerk
|
Lotus-Ford | 1:46.8 | +8.3s |
| 14 | 15 | Sam Tingle
|
LDS-Alfa Romeo | 1:47.5 | +9.0s |
| 15 | 12 | Doug Serrurier
|
Cooper-Maserati | 1:48.4 | +9.9s |
| 16 | 20 | Fanie Viljoen
|
LDS-Climax | 1:48.5 | +10.0s |
| 17 | 24 | John Guthrie
|
Cooper-Alfa Romeo | 1:48.5 | +10.0s |
| 18 | 25 | Trevor Blokdyk
|
Cooper-Ford | N/A | — |
| 19 | 19 | Bruce Jennings
|
Jennings-Porsche | 1:48.5 | +10.0s |
| 20 | 26 | Gene Bosman
|
Lotus-Alfa Romeo | 1:48.7 | +10.2s |
| 21 | 23 | Bernard Podmore
|
Lotus-Ford | 1:49.4 | +10.9s |
| 22 | 17 | Jack Holme
|
Lotus-Climax | 1:49.7 | +11.2s |
| 23 | 28 | Bill Dunlop
|
Cooper-Alfa Romeo | 1:50.3 | +11.8s |
| 24 | 29 | Rauten Hartmann
|
Netuar-Peugeot | 1:52.1 | +13.6s |
| 25 | 18 | Clive Trundell
|
Cooper-Climax | 1:52.1 | +13.6s |
| DNA | 10 | Neville Lederle
|
Lotus-Ford | Did not arrive | |
| DNA | 11 | John Love
|
LDS-Porsche | Did not arrive | |
| DNA | 27 | Dawie Gous
|
Porsche | Did not arrive | |
- *Bonnier was on a warm-up lap before the race has started, but he finished half a lap at the start.
- †Pheiffer was unable to take the start.
Grid[]
| Pos | Pos | Pos | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Driver | Driver | Driver | |||
| ______________ | |||||
| 1 | ______________ | ||||
| Jim Clark | 2 | ______________ | |||
| Trevor Taylor | 3 | ||||
| Masten Gregory | |||||
| ______________ | |||||
| 4 | ______________ | ||||
| Jo Bonnier | 5 | ||||
| Tony Maggs | |||||
| ______________ | |||||
| 6 | ______________ | ||||
| Syd van der Vyver | 7 | ______________ | |||
| Ernie Pieterse | 8 | ||||
| Bruce Johnstone | |||||
| ______________ | |||||
| 9 | ______________ | ||||
| Edgar Barth | 10 | ||||
| Helmut Menzler | |||||
| ______________ | |||||
| 11 | ______________ | ||||
| Don Philp | 12 | ______________ | |||
| 13 | |||||
| Bob van Niekerk | |||||
| ______________ | |||||
| 14 | ______________ | ||||
| Sam Tingle | 15 | ||||
| Doug Serrurier | |||||
| ______________ | |||||
| 16 | ______________ | ||||
| Fanie Viljoen | 17 | ______________ | |||
| John Guthrie | 18 | ||||
| Trevor Blokdyk | |||||
| ______________ | |||||
| 19 | ______________ | ||||
| Bruce Jennings | 20 | ||||
| Gene Bosman | |||||
| ______________ | |||||
| 21 | ______________ | ||||
| Bernard Podmore | 22 | ______________ | |||
| Jack Holme | 23 | ||||
| Bill Dunlop | |||||
| ______________ | |||||
| 24 | ______________ | ||||
| Rauten Hartmann | 25 | ||||
| Clive Trundell |
| ||||
Race[]
Report[]
Results[]
The full results for the 1961 Rand Grand Prix are outlined below:
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Constructor | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Jim Clark
|
Lotus-Climax | 75 | 2:06:26.27 | 1 |
| 2 | 2 | Trevor Taylor
|
Lotus-Climax | 75 | +0.14s | 2 |
| 3 | 5 | Jo Bonnier
|
Porsche | 75 | +23.16s | 4 |
| 4 | 4 | Edgar Barth
|
Porsche | 74 | +1 lap | 9 |
| 5 | 9 | Bruce Johnstone
|
Cooper-Climax | 73 | +2 laps | 8 |
| 6 | 7 | Ernie Pieterse
|
Heron-Alfa Romeo | 72 | +3 laps | 7 |
| 7 | 3 | Syd van der Vyver
|
Lotus-Alfa Romeo | 72 | +3 laps | 6 |
| 8 | 20 | Fanie Viljoen
|
LDS-Climax | 70 | +5 laps | 16 |
| 9 | 22 | Bob van Niekerk
|
Lotus-Ford | 70 | +5 laps | 13 |
| 10 | 12 | Doug Serrurier
|
Cooper-Maserati | 69 | +6 laps | 15 |
| 11 | 19 | Bruce Jennings
|
Jennings-Porsche | 67 | +8 laps | 19 |
| Ret | 6 | Masten Gregory
|
Lotus-Climax | 42 | Overheating | 3 |
| Ret | 15 | Sam Tingle
|
LDS-Alfa Romeo | 35 | Gearbox | 14 |
| Ret | 23 | Bernard Podmore
|
Lotus-Ford | 25 | Accident | 21 |
| Ret | 16 | Helmut Menzler
|
Lotus-Borgward | 24 | Overheating | 10 |
| Ret | 24 | John Guthrie
|
Cooper-Alfa Romeo | 18 | Water pipe | 17 |
| Ret | 8 | Tony Maggs
|
Cooper-Climax | 14 | Overheating | 5 |
| Ret | 28 | Bill Dunlop
|
Cooper-Alfa Romeo | 14 | Engine | 23 |
| Ret | 14 | Don Philp
|
Quodra-Climax | 11 | Overheating | 11 |
| Ret | 29 | Rauten Hartmann
|
Netuar-Peugeot | 11 | Engine | 24 |
| Ret | 26 | Gene Bosman
|
Lotus-Alfa Romeo | 7 | Engine | 20 |
| Ret | 17 | Jack Holme
|
Lotus-Climax | 5 | Accident | 22 |
| Ret | 25 | Trevor Blokdyk
|
Cooper-Ford | 5 | Accident | 18 |
| Ret | 18 | Clive Trundell
|
Cooper-Climax | 2 | Puncture | 25 |
| DNS | 21 | Adrian Pheiffer
|
Cooper-Alfa Romeo | Engine | ||
| DNA | 10 | Neville Lederle
|
Lotus-Ford | |||
| DNA | 11 | John Love
|
LDS-Porsche | |||
| DNA | 27 | Dawie Gous
|
Porsche | |||
Milestones[]
- First race for Rhodesian drivers.