1960 Pau Grand Prix

The 1960 Pau Grand Prix was a Formula Two motor race held on 18 April 1960 at the Pau circuit, in Pau, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, France. The Grand Prix was won by Jack Brabham, driving the Cooper T45. Maurice Trintignant finished second and Olivier Gendebien third.

1960 Pau Grand Prix
Race details
Date 18 April 1960
Official name XX Pau Grand Prix
Location Pau, France
Course Temporary Street Circuit
Course length 2.760 km (1.720 mi)
Distance 90 laps, 248.400 km (154.348 mi)
Pole position
Driver Cooper T45
Time 1:34.0
Fastest lap
Driver Maurice Trintignant Cooper T45
Time 1:35.3
Podium
First Cooper T45
Second Cooper T45
Third Porsche 718

The race was the third event in the 1960 Formula Two Constructors' Championship and Formula Two Drivers' Championship.[1]

Entries

All but three cars entered were Coopers. As regular drivers Jo Bonnier and Graham Hill were racing for BRM at Goodwood Circuit, Porsche sent just one car for Olivier Gendebien who was expected to be a front runner. Cooper also sent just a single works car, for Jack Brabham. Amongst the several privately entered Coopers were Ron Flockhart driving for Ken Tyrrell, Maurice Trintignant driving for Centro Sud, and Pau regular Jackie Lewis. There were also two privately entered Lotuses.[1]

Practice

Near the start of the first practice session, on a drying track, Lewis was fastest with 1 minute 35.8, and Gendebien not far behind. Brabham instead focussed on setup, while Trintignant struggled with poor handling, continuing to change springs and shock absorbers even into the second session.

Ultimately, in the second session Brabham went fastest on the now dry track with 1 minute 34 seconds, with only Trintignant able to come close. Gendebien was able to set third fastest time but dropped a valve in the process, and was two seconds slower than Brabham.

The final grid had Brabham, Trintignant and Gendebien, followed by Lewis and Flockhart on row two.[1]

Report

At the start Brabham immediately took the lead, followed by Trintignant, Gendebien, Lewis, Flockhart, John Campbell-Jones, and Masten Gregory. Brabham steadily increased his lead over Trintignant by around a second per lap when on the sixth lap he had a minor accident, clipping a straw bale with his rear wheel causing minor handling damage. This delay allowed Trintignant to catch up, urged on by the partisan French crowd. Trintignant's engine was underpowered compared with Brabham's, but now due to the damage on Brabham's car the two drivers began a nose-to-tail battle which would last the entire race. The two cars were never more than a few lengths apart, but Trintignant was never able to cleanly overtake, only managing to sometimes overlap in his efforts to take the lead.[1]

Behind the two leaders Gendebien steadily fell back, knowing he would not be able to challenge the pace of the two leaders, hoping that their fierce battle would take the two Coopers out. For much of the race Lewis stayed not far behind Gendebien, hoping to eventually overtake depending on how the race progressed. However, on his 26th lap his gear lever broke, forcing him to make two lengthy stops, dropping him to last place although he would eventually be classified a finisher. Behind Gendebien, Flockhart lapped steadily, fast enough to maintain fourth place, but not enough to challenge for third. Campbell-Jones ran fifth for some time but radiator trouble meant he had to make several pitstops, dropping him back and allowing Tony Marsh into fifth ahead of Paul Frère.[1]

The order near the front remained the same for over half the race. Brabham and Trintignant first lapped Gendebien on lap 55, and then on his final lap Brabham was able to lap Gendebien again, who split the lead two cars at the end of the race.[1]

Classification

Race

Pos No Driver Vehicle Laps Time/Retired Grid
1 4 Jack Brabham Cooper T45-Climax 90 2hr 24min 51.8sec 1
2 2 Maurice Trintignant Cooper T45-Climax 90 + 1.5 s 2
3 6 Olivier Gendebien Porsche 718 88 + 2 laps 3
4 10 Ron Flockhart Cooper T45-Climax 88 + 2 laps 5
5 22 Tony Marsh Cooper T45-Climax 87 + 3 laps 3
6 14 Paul Frère Cooper T51-Climax 87 + 3 laps 16
7 12 Bob Hicks Lotus 16-Climax 87 + 3 laps 9
8 28 John Campbell-Jones Cooper T45-Climax 84 + 6 laps 8
9 34 Bernard Collomb Cooper T45-Climax 82 + 8 laps 14
10 26 Jo Schlesser Cooper T43-Climax 82 + 8 laps 15
11 16 Lucien Bianchi Cooper T51-Climax 82 + 8 laps 10
12 20 Jackie Lewis Cooper T45-Climax 78 + 12 laps 4
Ret 18 Wolfgang Seidel Cooper T43-Climax 29 Gearbox 13
Ret 36 Marcus Niven Lotus 12-Climax 27 Rear suspension 12
Ret 8 Masten Gregory Cooper T51-Maserati 14 Overheating 11
DNA 24 Mario de Araujo Cabral Cooper T45-Maserati Withdrawn
DNA 30 Maurice Caillet Lotus 18-Maserati 150S Withdrawn
DNA 32 Tom Threlfall Cooper T43-Climax Withdrawn
Sources:[2]
Preceded by
1959 Pau Grand Prix
Pau Grand Prix
1960
Succeeded by
1961 Pau Grand Prix
Preceded by
1960 Brussels Grand Prix
1960 Formula Two Championship
Round 3
Succeeded by
1960 Aintree 200

References

  1. Autocourse Review of International Motorsport 1960 Part Two. 1961. pp. 115–117.
  2. http://www.formula2.net/F260_4.htm
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