1963 South African Grand Prix: F1 Race, Qualifying & Winners

Jim Clark ended his championship season with a seventh victory, beating Dan Gurney at East London. Graham Hill completed the podium in the final round.

Result	Driver / Time	Team
Pole position	Jim Clark	Lotus
Pole time	1:28.9
Fastest lap	Dan Gurney	Brabham
Fastest-lap time	1:29.100 on lap 33
First	Jim Clark	Lotus
Second	Dan Gurney	Brabham
Third	Graham Hill	BRM

Weekend Schedule

Date	Session	Local Time
26 December 1963	Thursday timed practice	13:30; finish unconfirmed
27 December 1963	Friday morning timed practice	06:00; finish unconfirmed
27 December 1963	Friday afternoon final qualifying	Start time unconfirmed
28 December 1963	Race	15:00

All times are local. The race time is the scheduled start; weather delays and interruptions are described below.

Championship background

Jim Clark arrived at round 10 leading the 1963 F1 World Championship on 54 points, with Richie Ginther on 29. Lotus – Climax headed the constructors’ standings after the preceding race with 54 points.

Race entries

The major teams sent two drivers each, joined by local entrants. Ferrari brought Surtees and Bandini, while de Beaufort gained a late entry in his Porsche. Every starter had to satisfy the organisers’ qualifying standard.

Thursday timed practice

Surtees was fastest despite handling difficulties. Both Lotus drivers encountered gear-selection trouble, and Hill’s engine required replacement. Teams also worked on cooling and gearing in the heat.

Friday morning timed practice

Clark took pole with a strong run before another selector fault stopped him. Brabham and Gurney were close behind. De Beaufort met the qualifying threshold, while Prophet lost running to a damaged valve.

Friday afternoon final qualifying

Wind and heat limited improvements. Prophet qualified, but Driver crashed after a steering failure and could not race. Clark’s gearbox finally worked satisfactorily; McLaren needed transmission repairs, and Ferrari remained unhappy with low-speed response.

Qualifying Classification

Three timed sessions preceded Saturday’s race. The required qualifying lap was 1:37.

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Timed session 1	Timed session 2	Timed session 3	Best Time
1	1	Jim Clark	Lotus	1:30.2	1:28.9	1:29.7	1:28.9
2	8	Jack Brabham	Brabham	1:30.1	1:29.0	1:31.3	1:29.0
3	9	Dan Gurney	Brabham	1:30.2	1:29.1	1:29.7	1:29.1
4	3	John Surtees	Ferrari	1:29.8	1:30.2	1:30.8	1:29.8
5	4	Lorenzo Bandini	Ferrari	1:31.0	1:30.2	1:31.5	1:30.2
6	5	Graham Hill	BRM	1:31.2	1:30.4	1:30.3	1:30.3
7	6	Richie Ginther	BRM	1:32.6	1:31.2	1:30.4	1:30.4
8	2	Trevor Taylor	Lotus	1:31.4	1:30.4	No time	1:30.4
9	10	Bruce McLaren	Cooper	1:31.3	1:31.2	1:32.2	1:31.2
10	11	Tony Maggs	Cooper	1:32.4	1:31.5	No time	1:31.5
11	12	Jo Bonnier	Cooper	1:32.4	No time	1:32.0	1:32.0
12	7	Ernie Pieterse	Lotus	1:34.5	1:35.0	1:34.6	1:34.5
13	19	John Love	Cooper	1:34.6	No time	1:34.6	1:34.6
14	22	David Prophet	Brabham	1:46.4	No time	1:35.5	1:35.5
15	21	Brausch Niemann	Lotus	1:36.4	1:35.6	1:36.8	1:35.6
16	18	Peter de Klerk	Alfa Special	1:35.7	1:36.1	No time	1:35.7
17	20	Sam Tingle	LDS	1:35.8	No time	1:37.3	1:35.8
18	16	Doug Serrurier	LDS	1:36.4	1:36.8	1:38.2	1:36.4
19	23	Trevor Blokdyk	Cooper	1:36.5	No time	1:41.7	1:36.5
20	14	Carel Godin de Beaufort	Porsche	1:37.1	1:36.6	No time	1:36.6
21	15	Paddy Driver	Lotus	1:38.7	1:36.9	1:37.5	1:36.9

What happened in the 1963 South African Grand Prix?

Clark led the opening lap and steadily pulled clear. Gurney emerged as his closest pursuer, while Surtees and Brabham encountered mechanical trouble.

Surtees retired, Ginther lost a driveshaft and Taylor needed gearbox attention. Brabham later spun and split a fuel tank.

Clark won ahead of Gurney and Hill, with McLaren, Bonnier and Maggs completing the points. His seventh victory rounded off an outstanding title-winning campaign.

After the race, Jim Clark headed the drivers’ standings with 54 points, followed by Graham Hill on 29. Lotus – Climax led the constructors’ table on 54, with BRM on 36.

1963 South African Grand Prix race results

The 1963 South African Grand Prix was held on 28 December 1963, with a scheduled start of 15:00 local time.

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Laps	Time / Retired	Pts.
1	1	Jim Clark	Lotus	85	2:10:36.9	9
2	9	Dan Gurney	Brabham	85	+1:06.8	6
3	5	Graham Hill	BRM	84	+1 lap	4
4	10	Bruce McLaren	Cooper	84	+1 lap	3
5	4	Lorenzo Bandini	Ferrari	84	+1 lap	2
6	12	Jo Bonnier	Cooper	83	+2 laps	1
7	11	Tony Maggs	Cooper	82	+3 laps	0
8	2	Trevor Taylor	Lotus	81	+4 laps	0
9	19	John Love	Cooper	80	+5 laps	0
10	14	Carel Godin de Beaufort	Porsche	79	+6 laps	0
11	16	Doug Serrurier	LDS	78	+7 laps	0
12	23	Trevor Blokdyk	Cooper	77	+8 laps	0
13	8	Jack Brabham	Brabham	70	Spun off	0
14	21	Brausch Niemann	Lotus	66	+19 laps	0
Ret	18	Peter de Klerk	Alfa Special	53	Gearbox	0
Ret	22	David Prophet	Brabham	49	Oil pressure	0
Ret	3	John Surtees	Ferrari	43	Engine	0
Ret	6	Richie Ginther	BRM	43	Halfshaft	0
Ret	7	Ernie Pieterse	Lotus	3	Engine	0
Ret	20	Sam Tingle	LDS	2	Halfshaft	0
DNS	15	Paddy Driver	Lotus		Practice accident	0
WD	17	Neville Lederle	Lotus		Driver injured	0

1963 South African Grand Prix Fastest Laps

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Lap	Time
1	9	Dan Gurney	Brabham	33	1:29.100

Only drivers with a recorded lap time appear. No fastest-lap bonus point was awarded.

1963 Post-Race F1 Championship Standings

Championship standings after the 1963 South African Grand Prix.

1963 Post-Race F1 Drivers' Championship Standings

POS	Driver	Nationality	Car	PTS
1	Jim Clark	British	Lotus	54
2	Graham Hill	British	BRM	29
3	Richie Ginther	American	BRM	29
4	John Surtees	British	Ferrari	22
5	Dan Gurney	American	Brabham	19
6	Bruce McLaren	New Zealander	Cooper	17
7	Jack Brabham	Australian	Lotus / Brabham	14
8	Tony Maggs	South African	Cooper	9
9	Innes Ireland	British	Lotus / BRP	6
10	Lorenzo Bandini	Italian	BRM / Ferrari	6
11	Jo Bonnier	Swedish	Cooper	6
12	Gerhard Mitter	German	Porsche	3
13	Jim Hall	American	Lotus	3
14	Carel Godin de Beaufort	Dutch	Porsche	2
15	Jo Siffert	Swiss	Lotus	1
16	Trevor Taylor	British	Lotus	1
17	Ludovico Scarfiotti	Italian	Ferrari	1
–	Chris Amon	New Zealander	Lola / Lotus	0
–	Hap Sharp	American	Lotus	0
–	Peter Broeker	Canadian	Stebro	0
–	Maurice Trintignant	French	Lola / Lotus / BRM	0
–	Mike Hailwood	British	Lotus / Lola	0
–	Tony Settember	American	Scirocco	0
–	John Love	Rhodesian	Cooper	0
–	Bernard Collomb	French	Lotus	0
–	Phil Hill	American	ATS / Lotus	0
–	Masten Gregory	American	Lotus / Lola	0
–	Moisés Solana	Mexican	BRM	0
–	Doug Serrurier	South African	LDS	0
–	Bob Anderson	British	Lola	0
–	Trevor Blokdyk	South African	Cooper	0
–	John Campbell-Jones	British	Lotus / Lola	0
–	Mike Spence	British	Lotus	0
–	Brausch Niemann	South African	Lotus	0
–	Giancarlo Baghetti	Italian	ATS	0
–	Willy Mairesse	Belgian	Ferrari	0
–	Lucien Bianchi	Belgian	Lola	0
–	Mário de Araújo Cabral	Portuguese	Cooper	0
–	Rodger Ward	American	Lotus	0
–	Pedro Rodríguez	Mexican	Lotus	0
–	Ian Burgess	British	Scirocco	0
–	Peter de Klerk	South African	Alfa Romeo	0
–	David Prophet	British	Brabham	0
–	Ian Raby	British	Gilby	0
–	Ernie Pieterse	South African	Lotus	0
–	Sam Tingle	Rhodesian	LDS	0
–	Peter Arundell	British	Lotus	0
–	Paddy Driver	South African	Lotus	0
–	Walt Hansgen	American	Lotus / Lotus	0
–	Frank Dochnal	American	Cooper	0
–	Neville Lederle	South African	Lotus	0
–	Nasif Estéfano	Argentine	De Tomaso	0
–	Ernie de Vos	Dutch	Stebro	0
–	Thomas Monarch	American	Lotus	0
–	Günther Seiffert	German	Lotus	0
–	Carlo Abate	Italian	Porsche	0
–	Gaetano Starrabba	Italian	Lotus	0

1963 Post-Race F1 Constructors' Championship Standings

POS	Car	PTS
1	Lotus – Climax	54
2	BRM	36
3	Brabham – Climax	28
4	Ferrari	26
5	Cooper – Climax	25
6	BRP – BRM	6
7	Porsche	5
8	Lotus – BRM	4
—	Lola – Climax	0
—	Stebro – Ford	0
—	Scirocco – BRM	0
—	ATS	0
—	LDS – Alfa Romeo	0
—	Cooper – Maserati	0
—	Lotus – Ford	0
—	Gilby – BRM	0
—	Lotus – Borgward	0
—	De Tomaso – Ferrari	0
—	Alfa Special – Alfa Romeo	0

Drivers and constructors counted their best 6 results. Only the highest-placed eligible car for each constructor could score constructor points.

1963 Formula 1 Race Calendar

Round	Grand Prix	Circuit	Date
1	1963 Monaco Grand Prix	Circuit de Monaco, Monte Carlo	26 May
2	1963 Belgian Grand Prix	Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot	9 June
3	1963 Dutch Grand Prix	Circuit Zandvoort, Zandvoort	23 June
4	1963 French Grand Prix	Reims-Gueux, Reims	30 June
5	1963 British Grand Prix	Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone	20 July
6	1963 German Grand Prix	Nürburgring, Nürburg	4 August
7	1963 Italian Grand Prix	Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, Monza	8 September
8	1963 United States Grand Prix	Watkins Glen International, Watkins Glen, New York	6 October
9	1963 Mexican Grand Prix	Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Mexico City	27 October
10	1963 South African Grand Prix	Prince George Circuit, East London	28 December