As bizarre as it may seem now, in the 1960s, Grands Prix were held around the time of New Year’s Day. The 1968 South African Grand Prix at Kyalami was held on New Year’s Day itself, and over 100,000 spectators turned up to watch some of the greatest F1 drivers in history battle it out. Undoubtedly, the South African drivers Jackie Pretorius, Basil van Rooyen and Dave Charlton, as well as the sunny weather, helped draw in such a huge crowd.
The race on its own was not particularly memorable. At that time, Jim Clark in his Lotus was by far the most dominant driver on the grid. His closest rivals would usually have to rely on mechanical issues to pick up race wins. Thankfully for them, Clark’s Lotus would often struggle — Clark would sometimes have to retire from races whilst over a lap ahead of the man in second. This time round, though he did not lap the entire field, Clark got round in one piece to win for the 25th time in his career.
In qualifying, he comfortably picked up his 33rd pole position — a record at that time. Clark was joined by team-mate Graham Hill and compatriot Jackie Stewart on the front row, which was made up of three drivers at that time, but the two found themselves over a second behind him. The Lotus had been incredibly fast in pre-season, and it seemed that, once again, Lotus’ and Clark’s rivals would be relying on mechanical issues to have a hope of winning the first race of the season.
However, Lotus had a disastrous start. Clark lost his lead and Hill slipped down to seventh. Stewart took the lead, and now had the challenge of fending off the fastest car and driver on the grid for the rest of the eighty lap race. Clark and the Lotus had too much for him; he got past the Scot without much trouble and proceeded to stretch away from his rivals.
Hill, meanwhile, surged up the field to make up for his disastrous start. He got past John Surtees and Chris Amon with ease and Jack Brabham’s engine problems meant that Hill could move into fourth and then third once he’d dealt with Jochen Rindt. However, Stewart and Clark were too far ahead for him to target a higher finish, so he began to cruise to third. But Stewart was forced to retire, meaning that Lotus started the season with a one-two finish.
Only nine drivers were classified; only three completed all eighty laps. Jochen Rindt, the last of the three to finish the whole race, joined the two Lotus drivers on the podium. Chris Amon, Denny Hulme and Jean-Pierre Beltoise finished in the rest of the points positions, and Jo Siffert, John Surtees and John Love were the other three drivers to be classified.
Whilst the race itself was not the most exciting affair, it is an incredibly significant one nonetheless. There was a four-month break until the next race of the season, and in that interlude two of the drivers on the grid for that race passed away. The 1968 South African Grand Prix proved to be Jim Clark’s last race. On 7th April that same year, he died in a racing accident at the Hockenheimring. This tragic accident meant that his F1 career finished in glory, but also, inadvertently, caused the death of another driver exactly a month later.
Due to Clark’s death, Mike Spence re-joined Lotus to race for their Indianapolis 500 team. On 7th May, during practice at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Spence crashed into a concrete wall at 163 mph and suffered major head injuries. He died in hospital later that evening, a month after his predecessor at Lotus had perished.
The 1968 South African Grand Prix should not be remembered as an all-action classic, rather as Mike Spence’s final race, and the final hurrah for one of the all-time greats, Jim Clark.
