The Unforgettable Graham Hill

The inaugural French Grand Prix in 1971 at Le Castellet, the town where the circuit is located, was won by Jackie Stewart in his Tyrrell. Two years later, Super Swede Ronnie Peterson scored his maiden win driving for Colin Chapman.

Thanks to its location near the Mediterranean and various configurations, Paul Ricard became the circuit of choice for testing, especially in days of endless testing.

On November 29, 1975, Graham Hill’s team was testing here with the rising star of British motor racing, Tony Brise. When the day was over, they boarded Hill’s Piper Aztec for the journey back home with Graham at the controls. They almost made it.

Approaching the Elstree aerodrome in heavy fog, Hill’s Piper clipped a tree and crashed into a ball of fire. All six team members on board, including the team owner and driver, perished.

Hill was born in Hampstead, London. In what will come as a shocking surprise to young drivers of today, Hill was in his mid-20s when he qualified for his driver's license.

On a casual trip with a friend to Brands Hatch, he discovered the joy of motor racing. They hitched a ride in a van back to London. The driver of the van was Colin Chapman.

Hill started his racing career in 1954 and adopted the colours of his London Rowing Club on his racing helmet. He would race in Formula 2 in 1956 & ‘57.

Hill’s Formula 1 debut came in the second race of the 1958 season in Monaco. His Lotus 12 lasted 69 of the 100-lap race. He would not take the chequered flag in his next five starts. His only top ten finish was a sixth-place finish at Monza, and in the season finale near Casablanca he was classified sixteenth.

He made his first podium appearance and earned his first championship points from a third-place finish in the 1960 Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort as a BRM driver.

Three other victories at the Nürburgring, Monza, and East London in South Africa made Hill the second Englishman to become world champion after Mike Hawthorn.

In 1963, he won the opening round in a place that would make him famous, the streets of Monte Carlo. His only other victory of the season came in the United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen, New York. He was second in the championship with 29 points, behind only Scottish Star Jim Clark.

The following season he again would win the same races as his only victories of the 1964 season. Again, he was second in the championship, only a single point behind fellow Englishman and motorcycle legend John Surtees.

Incredibly, Hill would continue the tradition in 1965 and score a hat trick of wins both at Monaco and Watkins Glen. And for the third year in a row, he was runner-up in the world championship, scoring 40 points to Clark’s 54.

In 1966, driving the American Red Ball Lola, he won America’s biggest race, the Indianapolis 500, at his first attempt. This made up for the winless season in the Grand Prix arena. His best finish was second at Zandvoort. He was fifth in the standings.

After seven seasons driving BRMs for the Owen Racing Organisation, Hill hooked up again with Colin Chapman at Lotus. In the 1967 season, his best placings were a pair of second-place finishes, where else but Monaco and Watkins Glen. His only other points finish was in Canada; the fifteen points he scored during the season placed him in seventh place in the championship.

Tragedy struck the Lotus team in April 1968 at Hockenheimring when team star driver Jim Clark, called ‘my best friend,’ was killed in a Formula 2 race. This put enormous pressure on Hill; he took up the burden and challenge with professional poise, which had become the hallmark of his career.

The team’s tragedy was followed by triumph in the next Formula 1 race in Spain at Jarama. In Chapman’s absence and Lotus painted in the red, white, and gold colours of sponsor Gold Leaf tobacco for the first time, Hill brought the car home in first place.

The next round was at his happy hunting ground in the streets of Monte Carlo, and Hill collected his fourth winner’s trophy from Prince Rainier. Three second-place finishes and a third and final victory in the season finale in Mexico City gave Hill his second and final championship.

In 1969, his only victory came at Monaco, his fifth in the principality, earning him the nickname “Mr. Monaco.” He would hold this honour till the 1993 Monaco Grand Prix when Senna took his sixth and final victory in Monte Carlo.

But Watkins Glen was not so kind to the double world champion. Hill crashed and broke both legs.

In 1972, he partnered with French driver Henri Pescarolo in a Matra to win the Le Mans 24 Hour, thus becoming, to this day, the only driver to win motor racing’s Triple Crown: the Indy 500, Monaco Grand Prix, and Le Mans.

The Final Flight. In 1973, Hill started his own racing team with sponsorship from Embassy cigarettes. It was with this team, his highly rated 23-year-old driver Tony Brise and four other team members, that Hill took off from Marseille airport and headed home. Sadly, their hopes and aspirations for the upcoming season turned to ashes with the crash of his Piper Aztec.

Hill's son, Damon, who was a teenager at the time of his death, would go on to become the first world champion (1996), son of a championship-winning father. Born: February 15, 1929. Died: November 29, 1975.