Graham Hill

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Graham Hill
Image:HillGraham1966Aug.jpg At German GP in 1966
Formula One Career
Nationality	Image:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg British
Active years	1958 - 1975
Team(s)	Lotus, BRM, Brabham, Hill
Grands Prix	179
Championships	2 (1962,1968)
Wins	14
Podium finishes	36
Pole positions	13
Fastest laps	10
First Grand Prix	1958 Monaco Grand Prix
First win	1962 Dutch Grand Prix
Last win	1969 Monaco Grand Prix
Last Grand Prix	1975 Monaco Grand Prix

Norman Graham Hill, known as Graham Hill (February 15, 1929 - November 29, 1975) was an English motor racing champion. He was born in Hampstead, London.

He is the only driver to win the so-called Triple Crown of motor racing:

the Indianapolis 500 (1966)
the 24 Hours of Le Mans (1972)
the Formula One World Championship (1962, 1968) and/or the Monaco Grand Prix (1963, 1964, 1965, 1968, 1969)

1 Professional history
2 Complete Formula One results
3 Indy 500 results
4 Credits
5 Family
6 Death
7 Quotation
8 Trivia
9 External links

[edit] Professional history

Image:Hill4a.jpg

After serving in the military, Hill became a mechanic at Smiths Instruments, and then joined Team Lotus as a mechanic in the mid 1950s. At the unusually late age of nearly 30, he started racing, and due to Lotus' presence in Formula One, he quickly got a chance to race there, debuting at the 1958 Monaco Grand Prix.

In 1960, Hill joined BRM, and won the world championship with them in 1962. Hill was also part of the so-called 'British invasion' of drivers in the Indianapolis 500 during the mid-1960s, triumphing there in 1966 in a Lola-Ford.

In 1967, back at Lotus, Hill helped developing the Lotus 49 with the new Cosworth-V8 engine. After team mates Jim Clark and Mike Spence were killed in early 1968, Hill led the team, and won his second world championship in 1968. The Lotus had a reputation of being very fragile and dangerous at that time, especially with the new aerodynamic aids which caused similar crashes of Hill and Jochen Rindt at the 1969 Spanish Grand Prix. A crash at the 1969 United States Grand Prix broke his legs and interrupted his career. Image:HillGraham19690801Lotus-Nordkehre.jpg At age 41, he did not retire, but continued to race in F1 for several more years, with little success. His last win in Formula One was in the non-Championship International Trophy at Silverstone in 1971 with the Brabham BT34 "Lobster claw". Hill was known during the latter part of his career for his wit and endurance. With Henri Pescarolo he won the 1972 24 Hours of Le Mans for Matra. This victory completed the so-called Triple Crown of motorsport: winning the Indy 500, F1 World Championship, and the Le Mans 24 Hours. Hill is still the only person ever to have accomplished this.

After failing to qualify for the 1975 Monaco Grand Prix, at the track where he had won 5 times, Hill retired from driving to concentrate on running his team. With sponsorship from Embassy, Hill set up his own racing team in 1973: Embassy Hill. The team used chassis from Shadow and Lola before introducing its own design in 1975.

[edit] Complete Formula One results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	Team	WDC	Points
1958	Lotus	ARG	MON Ret	NED Ret	500	BEL Ret	FRA Ret	GBR Ret	GER Ret	POR Ret	ITA 6	MOR 16					Lotus	-	0
1959	Lotus	MON Ret	500	NED 7	FRA Ret	GBR 9	GER Ret	POR Ret	ITA Ret	USA							Lotus	-	0
1960	BRM	ARG Ret	MON 7	500	NED 3	BEL Ret	FRA Ret	GBR Ret	POR Ret	ITA	USA Ret						BRM	15th	4
1961	BRM	MON Ret	NED 8	BEL Ret	FRA 6	GBR Ret	GER Ret	ITA Ret	USA 5								BRM	16th	3
1962	BRM	NED 1	MON 6	BEL 2	FRA 9	GBR 4	GER 1	ITA 1	USA 2	RSA 1							BRM	1st	42
1963	BRM	MON 1	BEL Ret	NED Ret	FRA 3	GBR 3	GER Ret	ITA 16	USA 1	MEX 4	RSA 3						BRM	2nd	29
1964	BRM	MON 1	NED 4	BEL 5	FRA 2	GBR 2	GER 2	AUT Ret	ITA Ret	USA 1	MEX 11						BRM	2nd	39
1965	BRM	RSA 3	MON 1	BEL 5	FRA 5	GBR 2	NED 4	GER 2	ITA 2	USA 1	MEX Ret						BRM	2nd	40
1966	BRM	MON 3	BEL Ret	FRA Ret	GBR 3	NED 2	GER 4	ITA Ret	USA Ret	MEX Ret							BRM	5th	17
1967	Lotus	RSA Ret	MON 2	NED Ret	BEL Ret	FRA Ret	GBR Ret	GER Ret	CAN 4	ITA Ret	USA 2	MEX Ret					Lotus	7th	15
1968	Lotus	RSA 2	ESP 1	MON 1	BEL Ret	NED 9	FRA Ret	GBR Ret	GER 2	ITA Ret	CAN 4	USA 2	MEX 1				Lotus	1st	48
1969	Lotus	RSA 2	ESP Ret	MON 1	NED 7	FRA 6	GBR 7	GER 4	ITA 9	CAN Ret	USA Ret	MEX					Lotus	7th	19
1970	Lotus	RSA 6	ESP 4	MON 5	BEL Ret	NED NC	FRA 10	GBR 6	GER Ret	AUT	ITA DNS	CAN NC	USA Ret	MEX Ret			Lotus	13th	7
1971	Brabham	RSA 9	ESP Ret	MON Ret	NED 10	FRA Ret	GBR Ret	GER 9	AUT 5	ITA Ret	CAN Ret	USA 7					Brabham	21st	2
1972	Brabham	ARG Ret	RSA 6	ESP 10	MON 12	BEL Ret	FRA 10	GBR Ret	GER 6	AUT Ret	ITA 5	CAN 8	USA 11				Brabham	15th	4
1973	Shadow	ARG	BRA	RSA	ESP Ret	BEL 9	MON Ret	SWE Ret	FRA 10	GBR Ret	NED NC	GER 13	AUT Ret	ITA 14	CAN 16	USA 13	Shadow	-	0
1974	Lola	ARG Ret	BRA 11	RSA 12	ESP Ret	BEL 8	MON 7	SWE 6	NED Ret	FRA 13	GBR 13	GER 9	AUT 12	ITA 8	CAN 14	USA 8	Lola	18th	1
1975	Lola	ARG 10	BRA 12	RSA DNQ	ESP	MON DNQ	BEL	SWE	NED	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	ITA	USA		Hill	-	0

[edit] Indy 500 results

Year	Car number	Start	Qual. speed	Speed rank	Finish	Laps completed	Laps led	Race status	Chassis
1966	24	15	159.243	23	1	200	10	Running	Lola-Ford
1967	81	31	163.317	21	32	23	0	Piston	42/B1 *
1968	70	2	171.208	2	19	110	0	Crash T2	56/3 +

* Lotus-Ford
+ Lotus-Pratt & Whitney

Hill's 1966 victory marked the first win by a rookie driver since Frank Lockhart's 1927 win and the last until Juan Montoya's visit to Victory Lane in 2000.
Hill's three year Indianapolis career ranks 940th on the list of career 3-year Indianapolis starting streaks, and 988th on the list of career 3-year Indianapolis finishing streaks.
Hill entered the 1969 Indy 500, but the car carrying number 70 (Lotus-Ford Chassis 64/2) was withdrawn during practice along with the other Lotus's of Mario Andretti and Jochen Rindt due to delays rectifying problems associated with hub failure on Andretti's car.

[edit] Credits

Image:1971 Race of Champions G Hill Brabham BT34.jpg

Hill's easy wit and charm helped him become a television personality, notably on the BBC show Call My Bluff with Patrick Campbell and Frank Muir. For a number of years in the early 1970s he appeared as one half of a double act, with Jackie Stewart, as an insert within the BBC Sports Personality of the Year show.

In 1990, Hill was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame.

[edit] Family

Hill married his wife, Bette, in 1955. They had two daughters, Brigitte and Samantha, and a son, Damon who later became Formula One World Champion, the only son of a former champion to do so. Damon used the same helmet design which his father had made famous: dark blue with white oar-shaped tabs, the colours and cap design of the London Rowing Club, of which Graham had been a member.

[edit] Death

In November 1975, Graham was killed when his Piper Aztec aeroplane (which he was piloting at the time) crashed in foggy conditions over Arkley Golf Course in North London. Five members of the Embassy Hill team, including up-and-coming driver Tony Brise, also died in the accident. As Hill was uninsured his wife was prosecuted by the families of the other victims. Settling the claims wiped out Hill's estate.

[edit] Quotation

"I'm an artist, the track is my canvas, and the car is my brush."

[edit] Trivia

Hill got irreverently immortalized on a Monty Python episode ("It's the Arts (or: Intermission)" sketch called "Historical Impersonations"), in which a Gumby appears asking to "see John the Baptist's impersonation of Graham Hill." The head of St. John the Baptist appears on a silver platter, which runs around the floor making putt-putt noises of a race car engine.
Silverstone village, home to the track of the same name, has a road Graham Hill named for him.
Graham Hill bend at Brands Hatch is named in his honour.

[edit] External links

Preceded by: Jim Clark	Indianapolis 500 Winner 1966	Succeeded by: A. J. Foyt
Preceded by: Phil Hill	Formula One World Champion 1962	Succeeded by: Jim Clark
Preceded by: Denny Hulme	Formula One World Champion 1968	Succeeded by: Jackie Stewart
Preceded by: Stirling Moss	BRDC International Trophy winner 1962	Succeeded by: Jim Clark
Preceded by: Chris Amon	BRDC International Trophy winner 1971	Succeeded by: Emerson Fittipaldi