When Grand Prix drivers also raced in Hillclimbs

Just imagine McLaren letting Lando Norris drive one of their GT cars in a European Hillclimb!   Here is a McLaren MP4 12C driven by Pierre Courroye in a European Championship Hillclimb at Mont Dore in France.

There was a time when many would be Grand Prix drivers started racing in local hillclimbs; Denny Hulme is a good example and he went on to become a World Champion!  Before the second World War almost every Grand Prix driver also drove in Hillclimbs and they drove the same cars as they drove on the circuits!   Even up to the early seventies, some Grand Prix drivers raced on the hills.  In August 1970 for instance, Silvio Moser took his Formula One Bellasi-Cosworth to Saint Ursanne - Les Rangiers and won the International Hillclimb on that Swiss mountain.  He had done the same the year previously with his Brabham BT24.  An even more famous Swiss driver had won on this hill in F1 cars previously.  So, I got thinking, how many Grand Prix drivers could I name that had also claimed success in Hillclimbs.  To restrict myself, I only counted drivers who had won World Championship GP, European Championship GP from the thirties or recognized Grandes Epreuves from other years.   You may find some drivers on this list surprising.  Certainly, not an exhaustive list but a reminder of different times before hillclimbs became a reserve for specialists in the mid-seventies.

Today's hillclimbers will never race in Grand Prix and today's F1 stars are unlikely to drive Hillclimb cars such as this Norma.  This was not always the case......

1. Hans Stuck von Villiez.   Perhaps the greatest Mountain Hillclimb racer of all time, Hans Stuck
competed in Grand Prix for the Auto Union team and won the 1935 Italian Grand Prix.  He also won over thirty major hillclimbs and many hillclimb championships.  In particular he was 1930 European Hillclimb Racing Car Champion and 1932 European Hillclimb Sports Car Champion.  With Auto Union Grand Prix cars he took the German Mountain championship in 1934, 1935, 1937 and 1938.  He continued winning hillclimbs after the war and also competing in GP.
2. Rudolf Caracciola.  The only real challenger to Hans Stuck's position at the top of this list is another German driver, and one who was one of the greatest Grand Prix drivers of all time - Rudolf Caracciola.  He was European Grand Prix Champion in 1935, 1937 and 1938, winning eleven Grandes Epreuves in that period.  A versatile driver who also won the Mille Miglia, he won three European titles on the hills - In 1930 and 1931 in Mercedes Sports Cars and in 1932 in an Alfa Romeo Racing Car.
3. Ludovico Scarfiotti.  In the sixties some major teams fought over the European Hill Climb Championship and one of their top drivers was the Italian ace, Ludovico Scarfiotti.  His claim to fame in Grand Prix history was winning the 1966 Italian Grand Prix for Ferrari at Monza.  On the mountains of Europe he was to take two European titles, also for Ferrari, winning in 1962 and 1965.  Unfortunately, he was killed racing a works Porsche in a German hillclimb in 1968.

Porsche 718 RSK Spyder.

4. Wolfgang von Trips.  Another driver killed whilst doing what he loved was the German,
Wolfgang von Trips, who died at Monza whilst trying to win the 1961 World F1 Championship. He had already won the 1961 Dutch GP and British GP and the 1958 title of European Hill Climb Champion, thus earning his right to be near the top of this list.  His 1958 mount was a Porsche RSK sports car.
5. Carlo Felice Trossi.  This wealthy Italian driver achieved hillclimb fame in the thirties and Grand Prix success in the forties.  His major GP victories were the 1947 Italian Grand Prix and 1948 Swiss Grand prix, driving for Alfa Romeo.  Driving the same marque he was European Hill Climb Racing Car Champion in 1933.    He died shortly after his GP success of brain cancer.
6. Bernd Rosemeyer.  Maybe this brilliant German driver, who also died young, deserves to be higher up my list.  Originally a motor cycle racer, he was the first to really tame the powerful rear engined Auto Union Grand Prix cars.  He won the 1936 European GP Championship, winning the German, Swiss and Italian GP in the process.  In the same year he also won the German Mountain Hillclimb Championship.  A truly fast driver who was killed in early 1938 in a record attempt.
7. Hermann Lang.  Another German driver, who was at his peak in the war curtailed 1939 season.  That year he won the Belgian and Swiss Grand Prix and also the German Mountain Climb Championship for Mercedes.  After the war he won the 1952 Le Mans 24 Hrs with the Mercedes team.
8. Maurice Trintignant.  It is about time that I added some French drivers to this list.  Maurice Tringnant started racing in 1938 and was still winning races and hillclimbs in the sixties.  During that time he won the Monaco GP twice (1955 and 1958).  He also won the great French hill climb, La Course de Côte du Mont Ventoux, three times (1949, 1960 & 1964) the final time in his F1 BRM.

Matra F1

9. Jean-Pierre Beltoise.  Another French driver with a long career was Jean-Pierre Beltoise.  He of course took BRM's final GP win in 1972 at Monaco.  He was also successful on the hills of France, winning La Course du Côte du Mont Dore every year from 1966 to 1970.  The last of these victories was in an European Championship round and he won it in a F1 Matra MS9.
10. Joachim Bonnier.  This Swedish driver lived for a long time in Switzerland.  He took BRM's first Grand Prix victory in 1959 at the Dutch GP.    In the European Hill Climb Championship he took two wins.  The first was at Schauinsland in 1958 for Borgward and the second was in 1963 at Ollon Villars in the Ferguson-Climax 4WD F1 car.
11. Mario Andretti.  It is time to cross the Atlantic and include on my list an Italian born American and one of the most versatile drivers of all time.  Mario Andretti was World Champion in 1978 and won twelve GP in his career as well as the Indy 500, Daytona 500, a class win at the Le Mans 24 hours and the Sebring 12 hours and also an endurance race at Daytona.  What some forget is that he also won the Pike Peak Hill Climb in 1969 in his USAC Championship year. At that time this was a dirt hillclimb and a real challenge that no other Grand Prix winner has ever won.
12. Jack Brabham.  Jack Brabham was a three time World F1 Champion but he drove early on in his career in hillclimbs winning the 1953 Australian Hillclimb championship.
13. Tazio Nuvolari.  I mustn't forget another of the all time greats - Tazio Nuvolari.  He was 1932 European GP Champion and won many GP races, two Mille Miglias and the Le Mans 24 Hours. He also won many hill climbs including the 1930 Championship round at Colle della Maddalena in Italy in an Alfa Romeo P2.
14. Francois Cevert. How many today remember Francois Cevert's hillclimb success?   In 1971, the same year as his US Grand Prix victory for Tyrrell, and his F2 wins at Hockenheim and Nurburgring for Techno, he took his F2 Techno to Ollon Villars and won the International Hillclimb beating the hill climb specialists like Xavier Perrot and Johannes Ortner.

Stanguellini F.Junior

15. Jo Siffert.  Jo Siffert was a regular on hillclimbs in his native Switzerland throughout his career from the Formula Junior Stanguellini days of 1960 through his Formula One days to his untimely death at Brands Hatch in 1971.  His two Grand Prix wins were in Rob Walker's privateer Lotus 49B in 1968 in the British GP and in 1971 for BRM in Austria.  His most notable Hillclimb success was four successive wins at St Ursanne-Les Rangiers from 1965 to 1968.  The last of these victories was in the Lotus 49B F1 car.
16.  George Boillot.  Back to the days pre-World War 1 when GP events were few and far between and Hillclimbs were also big events.  Georges won the 1912 and 1913 French Grand Prix for Peugeot.  He also took a hat trick of wins in the big French Hillclimb at Mont Verntoux prior to WW1.  During the Great War he was a fighter pilot and died after being shot down.
17. Robert Benoist.  Another French war hero was Robert Benoist who was executed as a resistance fighter.  As a Grand Prix driver he won the 1927 French, Spanish, Italian and British GP to help Delage win the World Championship.  He enjoyed a number of hillclimb successes including the 1925 Nice-La Turbie climb.

Memorials to Georges Boillot and Robert Benoist at Montlhery

18. Louis Chiron.  The Monegasque driver, Louis Chiron enjoyed a long career winning over four decades from the twenties to the fifties.  He won the French GP five times (1931, 1934, 1937, 1947 and 1949).  He won the Nice-La Turbie Hillclimb in 1926 and 1928.  One of his final wins was the Monte Carlo Rally in 1954.
19. Jean-Pierre Wimille.  This French driver was the star of immediate post-WW2 Grand Prix racing before being killed in the 1949 Buenos Aires GP.  He won the 1947 Swiss and Belgian GP and 1948 French and Italian GP for Alfa Romeo.  Pre-War he had won the Nice-La Turbie climb three times (1932, 1933 and 1935).
20. Albert Divo.  This Parisian won the French Grand Prix for Delage in 1925 and was winner of the Nice-La Turbie climb for the same marque in 1924.
21. Giuseppe Campari.  This larger than average Italian was a lover of food and opera singing, but started hillclimbing and was a successful Grand Prix driver and won the Mille Miglia twice.  His Grand Prix wins included the 1931 Italian Grand Prix for Alfa Romeo.  His hillclimb wins included the 1928 Vittorio Veneto - Cansiglio.
22. Piero Taruffi. This Italian driver won the 1952 Swiss Grand Prix for Ferrari.  He was a successful sports car driver, winning the final Mille Miglia in 1957.  Pre-War he had successfully raced both motor cycles and cars and won the 1931 Hillclimb at Bolsena-Montefiascione in an Alfa Romeo.  He continued to hillclimb after the war and won the Susa-Moncenisio in a Cisitalia.
23. Achille Varzi.  Nuvolari's great rival was fellow Italian Achille Varzi.  Varzi shared victory at the 1931 French GP with Chiron as it was a 10 hour race.  He also won the 1933 Monaco GP and the 1934 Mille Miglia amongst many other victories.   Like other drivers of his era, he also raced in hillclimbs and won the 1929 Trieste-Opicina.
24. Manfred von Brauchitsch.  I mustn't forget this fast German racer who drove for Mercedes and won the 1937 Monaco GP and 1938 French GP.  In 1933 he had won hillclimbs at Kesselberg and Gabelbach Wurgau.

Bugatti hillclimbing.

25. William Grover-Williams.  Another war hero was "Williams" who was born in France but had an English father.  He is best known as the winner of the first ever Monaco GP in 1929 but he also won the 1931 Belgian GP for Bugatti.  He competed in a number of hillclimbs, also normally in a Bugatti, and won a number of them.  In a Hispano Suiza he won the Mont des Mules hillclimb in 1926.
26. Henry O'Neal de Hane Segrave.  A British National who was born in America of an American mother and Irish father, he was the first Briton to win a Grand Prix. He won the 1923 French GP for Sunbeam.  Also in a Sunbeam he won a 1925 Hillclimb at the famous Shelsley Walsh.
27. Jim Clark.   Having Jim Clark so far down the list doesn't reflect on his ability but reflects the fact that his hillclimb successes were in relatively minor events.  It is well known that he was World F1 Champion in 1963 and 1965 and won 25 World Championship Grand Prix. He also won the 1965 Indy 500 and countless victories in all types of car.  As far as hillclimbs go, everyone remembers his two visits to the Ollon Villars hillclimb, especialy in 1965 with the Indianapolis winning Lotus.  His class win at the famous Rest and be Thankful hillclimb is also often remembered.  He did however win the 1959 Bo'Ness hillclimb in a Lister-Jaguar and also drove a Lotus Elite and Porsche 356 at the same event.

Jochen Mass in 2015

28. Jochen Mass.  Jochen is probably the last driver to win a Grand Prix who started his career in hillclimbs.  He drove an Alfa Romeo GTA 1600 in German hillclimbs in 1969 before being employed by Ford to take to the European Championship hillclimbs in a Ford Capri.  In 1970 he won the Group 2 class in the Capri at Trento Bondone and Schauinsland. At Mont Ventous he finished third overall.
29. Richard Seaman. A member of the successful Mercedes team in the late thirties he won the 1938 German Grand Prix but was killed the following year when he crashed at the Belgian GP.  Prior to joining Mercedes he had scored a 1,100cc Racing Car class win at Mont Ventoux in a MG Magnette.
30. Stirling Moss.  Another, like Jochen Mass,  to start his career in hillclimbs was Stirling Moss who first raced at the Prescott hillclimb in 1948.  He had 1,100cc class wins at both Prescott and Shelsley Walsh in 1949 in a Cooper-Jap. After this, of course, he took countless overall wins in  circuit races including in 16 World Championship Grand Prix.
31. Niki Lauda.  A three time World F1 Champion (1975, 1977, 1984), Lauda started his career in 1968 driving a Mini-Cooper in hillclimbs.  He scored a number of class wins in that car and Porsche 911 before moving on to Formula Vee and circuit racing.
32. Louis Rosier. The final driver in my grid full of major Grand Prix winners who also had success in hillclimbs is Frenchman Louis Rosier who is best known for winning the 1950 Le Mans 24 Hours but also won the 1949 Belgian Grand Prix in his Lago Talbot.  Pre war he had competed in hill climbs and post war won the 1947 Course de Côte du Bellevue.

There are plenty of other Grand Prix winners who competed in hillclimbs including Jackie Stewart, Jochen Rindt and Clay Regazzoni but I had to stop somewhere.

There are also lots of Formula One drivers who didn't win Grand Prix but had successful hillclimb careers.  Gerhardt Mitter, Rolf Stommelen, Edgar Barth and Bobby Unser spring to mind.

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John Etherton affirme son droit d'auteur à l'ensemble des photos sur ce billet de blog. Cependant, vous pouvez poster des photos ailleurs sur le web aussi longtemps que vous créditez le photographe, John Etherton, et ce blog, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com et fournissez un lien vers cette page. 

Basil Davenport drove a GN Spider into second place to Hans Stuck at Shelsley Walsh in 1930 but beat Rudolf Caracciola's Mercedes.  This is David Leigh in an evolution of that car in 2018 at Etretat.

My Top Ten B.R.M. Drivers

B.R.M. F1 cars parade at the 2010 Goodwood Revival including a
1968 P126 followed by the Yardley era cars P153 and P160.

I was always a bit of a fan of the B.R.M. Formula One team and many of my favourite drivers raced
for them at some time in their careers as you can read below.   It is always fun coming up with Top Tens, so why not a Top Ten of B.R.M. drivers.  See if you agree with my list below

No. 10    Reg Parnell
Reg has to appear on the list somewhere because he scored the first World Championship points for B.R.M. (fifth in the 1951 British G.P.) and scored their first ever win (the non-championship Goodwood Cup 12 lap race in September 1950).  On the same day as the Goodwood Cup he took another win in the longer Goodwood Trophy. These successes were all achieved in the unreliable and difficult to drive V16 P15.  At his second meeting in the BRM at Barcelona he started at the back of the grid but overtook 17 cars on the opening lap to show the BRMs potential but the BRM as usual retired.  The next year at the British GP he survived bad fumes and burnt legs from the heat in the BRM to take fifth place ahead of one of the works Alfa Romeos.  At last after two years BRM had a good result after a really brave drive by Reg.

Reg scored third place in the very first ever F1 World Championship race driving for Alfa Romeo and had a successful sports car career including fifth place in the 1953 Mille Miglia for Aston Martin. In my view a somewhat under-rated driver.


No. 9      Dickie Attwood
A relatively early Motor Racing memory was reading about Dickie Attwood's chase of Graham Hill in the 1968 Monaco G.P.  After 80 laps he finished less than three seconds behind the Monaco maestro in the Lotus to take second place and fastest lap.    Thus this drive gets Dickie 9th place in my Top Ten BRM drivers list.  The rest of the year wasn't so good as the B.R.M. P126 was not a competitive car.

However, it must be said that Dickie was a winning B.R.M driver as he finished first in the 1966 Tasman Series race at Levin.   I also cheered him on to victory in a BRM at Goodwood in 2010 - see picture below.

Something of a Monaco specialist he won the Formula Junior race there in 1963 and as well as his great drive in 1968, scored points there again for Lotus in his last F1 race in 1969 when he finished fourth.   He of course won Porsche's first Le Man victory in 1969 partnering Hans Hermann in the 917.

Dickie Attwood's BRM P261 winning at the Goodwood Revival in 2010 in the Glover Trophy 1.5 litre F1 race from Frank Sytner's Lotus Climax 24.

No. 8     Jean Behra
Living in France, I cannot miss the great Jean Behra off the list of top B.R.M drivers.   He won two non-championship races for them in 1957 (Caen and the International Trophy at Silverstone) as well as coming 3rd in the 1958 Dutch G.P.

Jean never was quite in the right place at the right time and his Latin temperament didn't help so he never won the Championship G.P. that his talent deserved.  He did have success in Sport Cars, notably the 1957 Sebring 12 hours.

1950s B.R.M. P25s at the 2010 Goodwood Revival

No. 7     Peter Gethin
A winnng member of the successful 1971 B.R.M. team, Peter Gethin came first in that year's Italian G.P. slipstreamer at an amazing 151 M.P.H.   Although he had been only 11th fastest in practice he kept with the leading group and made a great move on the last lap to beat Ronnie Peterson, Francois Cevert, Mike Hailwood and team mate Howden Ganley in an incredibly close finish.  Peter also won the sad end of season non-championship Victory Race at Brands in which Jo Siffert died and was thus stopped after just 15 laps.

Peter Gethin is most remembered as one of the most successful Formula 5000 drivers winning the 1969 and 1970 championships plus the 1974 Tasman Championship.    Not forgetting of course, that he won the 1973 Race of Champions in a F5000 car, beating all of the F1 cars.

No. 6    Joakim Bonnier
Jo Bonnier had a long Formula One career (1956 to 1971) but never really achieved that much despite winning B.R.M.'s first ever World Championship victory in the Dutch G.P. at Zandvoort in 1959.  He was a BRM driver for the 1957, 1958 and 1960 seasons. His win came in the unreliable P25 but following this he never did better than fifth place in a World Championship GP.  However, apart from a stint with Porsche he drove mainly for privateer teams.  Bonnier's win was not an inherited one as he took pole position, overtook Gregory and Moss and beat Jack Brabham to take victory.

Jo did have a number of important sports car successes including the Targa Florio, Sebring 12 hours, and Nurburgring 1000kms.

No. 5    Jo Siffert
Jo Siffert has the unlucky distinction to be the only F.1. driver to be killed in a B.R.M.   This was at Brands Hatch at the end of the 1971 season and was only shortly after he had won the 1971 Austrian G.P. for B.R.M. that helped them get 2nd place in that year's constructor's championship.  In Austria in 1971 Jo took pole on the great Osterreichring circuit and led from start to finish despite pressure from Stewart and Fittipaldi.  He had another B.R.M. powered victory, that nowadays many forget, driving a Brabham-B.R.M. in the 1964 Gran Premio del Mediterraneo at Enna beating none other than Jim Clark.

Jo also of course won the 1968 British G.P. for Rob Walker's privateer Lotus team and was one of the all time sports car "greats".

No. 4     Jean-Pierre Beltoise
Although much more associated with Matra rather than with B.R.M., Jean-Pierre did spend a few seasons with them from 1972 and scored B.R.M.'s last ever World Championship victory and his first and only GP victory.  This was in the rain soaked 1972 Monaco G.P. where in his B.R.M. P160B he scored a flag to flag victory leading all of the 80 laps around this torturous circuit and beating renowned wet weather driver Jacky Ickx in the Ferrari and other great drivers such as Emerson Fittipaldi and Jackie Stewart.   A truly great victory.  In his last F1 season, JPB finished in second place for Motul BRM in the South African GP after driving through the field from 11th on the grid and holding off a challenge from Hailwood's McLaren.

Jean-Pierre had won at Monaco previously, winning the prestigious F3 race there in 1966.  He went on to become European F2 champion in 1968.   Driving for Matra in F1 his best results were two second places.

No. 3     Pedro Rodriguez
I was always a Pedro Rodriguez fan so he had to be in my top three.  In 1968 he took their top finish with a second place in the Belgian Grand Prix at the old long Spa Franchorchamps circuit and then beat that with a victory for B.R.M. at the same race and same circuit in 1970.  A second B.R.M. victory was in 1971 in the non-championship Oulton Park Spring Trophy race.   1971 could have been Pedro's year in F1 and he was high in the championship when he was killed in a sports car race at the Norisring.  Both his team mates were to win races later in the year.

Pedro had a long and successful career in Sports Cars and although he is best remembered for his Porsche 917 drives, he won the 1968 Le Mans 24 hours in a Ford GT40 and had many success in NART Ferraris.  His only other GP win had been in South Africa in 1967 in the last victory for the Cooper-Maserati after local John Love had had to pit for fuel.

No.2      Jackie Stewart
Only two men scored more than one World Championship Grand Prix victory in a B.R.M. and Jackie Stewart was one of them.   Jackie spent his first three seasons driving for the team and scored the first of his two B.R.M. championship victories at the 1965 Italian G.P. in his debut season.   Another victory came in the 1966 Monaco Grand Prix.  The 1967 season was much more difficult due to the uncompetitive nature of the car but he did get a second place at Spa.

Jackie won the 1966 Tasman Series for B.R.M. with four victories.   His other B.R.M.victory was his first ever F.1. win the 1965 International Trophy at Silverstone.

After his stint at B.R.M.,  Jackie joined Ken Tyrrell's new F1 team and went onto win three World Championships before retiring at the end of 1973.

No. 1     Graham Hill
As he scored ten of their seventeen World Championship victories and was the only driver to win a World Championship in a B.R.M., there is no doubt as to who is in the number one spot.  It has to be Graham Hill.   He took the championship for B.R.M in 1962 with victories in the Netherlands, Germany, Italy and South Africa.  In 1963, 1964 and 1965 he finished second in the championship after a hat trick of wins over the three years in both the Monaco G.P. and the United States G.P.

Graham also scored a number of non-championship victories for B.R.M.

After leaving B.R.M. following a non-competitive 1966 season he won a second World Championship driving for Lotus in 1968.   He is also the only F1 World Champion to have also won both the Indianapolis 500 (for Lola in 1966) and the Le Mans 24 hours (for Matra in 1972).

BRM P578 1962 F1 car at the 2010 Goodwood Revival

Honourable mentions:

Perhaps rather sad that I couldn't find a place for Jackie Oliver who I saw put in a number of stirring

drives for B.R.M. in 1970 but he hardly ever finished a
race for them.    I'd also have liked to have added Clay Regazzoni to the list if only for his pole position in the 1973 Argentine G.P.

Probably the biggest omission from this list is Riche Ginther who finished 3rd in the World Championship driving a B.R.M. in 1963 with second places in Monaco, Italy and the USA. However, he never managed a win for B.R.M. After leaving them he did at least score a victory for Honda in the last race of 1.5 litre era in the 1965 Mexican G.P.

Probably the greatest driver ever to drive for B.R.M. was Juan-Manuel Fangio who had a stirring drive for them in 1953 at Albi including winning the first heat but he never finished a race in the unreliable V16.

Some drivers who did score minor wins for the works B.R.M. team included Froilan Gonzales (2 wins at Goodwood in 1952) , Ron Flockhart (1959 Lady Wigram Trophy and Silver City Trophy) Ken Wharton (1953 Goodwood).  In 1955 Peter Collins won a couple of Formula Libre races for BRM in the P30.

Tony Marsh scored a minor non-championship win in his privateer Climax engined B.R.M. P48 at Brands Hatch in 1961 winning the Lewis-Evans Trophy.  He went on to drive BRMs in British Hillclimbs but was more successful in his own car. A driver who scored some great hillclimb successes with a B.R.M. was Maurice Trintignant, including winning the great Mont Ventoux Hillclimb in 1964 in his own BRM P57.   Another hillclimber, Peter Lawson, won the 1968 British Hillclimb Championship in the 4WD BRM P67.

Jim Clark never drove for B.R.M. but he did score the only Championship win for the B.R.M. H16 engine in 1966 when it powered his Lotus to victory in the 1966 U.S. G.P.

Stirling Moss drove the BRP entered B.R.M P25 to second place in the 1959 British G.P. and also tried out the V16 car which he detested.

Niki Lauda drove the 1973 season for B.R.M. but despite later becoming a multiple World Champion his best result was a fifth place in Belgium.   Other great drivers who drove for B.R.M. without much success included John Surtees, Mike Hawthorn and Dan Gurney.

If you enjoyed reading this post click on the "1965" button at the top of this page to read how BRM drivers such as Graham Hill and Jackie Stewart fared during the 1965 season.

All of the photos accompanying this blog post are my own and I assert my copyright.  However, I am happy for you to post them elsewhere on the web as long as you accredit me, John Etherton, as photographer and Rouenlesafx.blogspot.com as the source and provide a link to this web page.

Please feel free to tell me who your favourite B.R.M. driver was and who I should have given a mention to.  Add it to the comments below.