The Property of Mrs. Bette Hill
THE LATE GRAHAM NORMAN HILL (1929-1975)
Born at Hampstead, London, 15 February 1929, he was educated locally and at Hendon Technical College, before taking a five-year apprenticeship with Smiths.
He was an enthusiastic oarsman, having been introduced to rowing by his cousin, and stroked the London Rowing Club's first eight to victory in the Grand Challenge Cup at Henley in 1953. That year he bought his first car, and passed his test without instruction later.
In the rowing off season Graham saw an advertisement for the Universal Motor Racing Club based at Brands Hatch, joined, paid an extra one pound and did four laps in a Cooper. He had his first race in one of these F3 Coopers at Brands Hatch in April 1954, finishing 2nd in his heat and fourth in the final.
In August that year he was stranded at Brands Hatch after the Bank holiday meeting, and hitched a lift back to London on the Lotus van with Colin Chapman and Mike Costin. He talked himself into a job as a Lotus mechanic, working for Dick Steed and, in 1955, for Dan Margulies, who was racing a C-type Jaguar. Though he continued as a Lotus employee he drove Allison's works car to 1st and 2nd places at Brands Hatch in 1956, and had a number of drives in other people's cars during 1957. He left Lotus which held little future for him, to join Speedwell Conversions, later to become its chairman. Lotus entered Formula 1 in 1958 and Graham was invited back, making his World Championship debut at Monaco, retiring when placed 4th.
In the 1962 season saw the British V-8's dominant, and Graham Hill's precise style, and the way he worked so hard to learn the circuit and set his car up, began to pay off. He won the Dutch GP to give BRM their second Championship victory, and went on to take the German, Italian and South African GPs.
In 1966, Graham Hill rejoined Lotus to race the new Cosworth-Ford V-8 engine in 1967 and teamed with Jim Clark, this formidable pair showed a clean pair of heels in most of the GP's.
In 1969, he won at Monaco for the 5th time in seven years, emphasizing his fantastic powers of concentration and mechanical sympathy.
Graham Hill's career is a remarkable story of single-mindedness, courage and hard work reaping their reward, of a driver who is one of the best ambassadors the sport has ever had.
Details
Goodyear calendars 1986,1987 and 1989; 1982 Honda International Motor Sports calendar and Grand Prix calendar 1969 (6)