1961 Guards Trophy

The Guards Trophy was an Intercontinental Formula motor race held on 7 August 1961 at Brands Hatch Circuit. The race was run over 76 laps of the circuit, and was won by Australian driver Jack Brabham in a Cooper T53-Climax. Brabham lapped the entire field. Jim Clark in a Lotus 18-Climax was second and Graham Hill in a BRM P48 was third. Bruce McLaren in another T53 set fastest lap and finished fourth. Stirling Moss qualified in pole position but retired with gearbox problems.^[1][2]

1961 Guards Trophy
Non-championship race in the 1961 Formula One season
Race details
Date	7 August 1961
Official name	1961 Guards Trophy
Location	Brands Hatch, Kent
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	4.265 km (2.650 mi)
Distance	76 laps, 324.14 km (201.41 mi)
Weather	Dry, sunny
Pole position
Driver	Stirling Moss	Cooper-Climax
Time	1:37.4
Fastest lap
Driver	Bruce McLaren	Cooper-Climax
Time	1:40.2
Podium
First	Jack Brabham	Cooper-Climax
Second	Jim Clark	Lotus-Climax
Third	Graham Hill	BRM

This was the final Intercontinental Formula race. The formula had been overshadowed by the new 1.5 litre Formula One championship^[3] and was quietly abandoned.

Results

Pos	No.	Driver	Entrant	Constructor	Time/Retired	Grid
1	2	Jack Brabham	Brabham Racing Organisation	Cooper T53-Climax	2:10:53.6	5
2	16	Jim Clark	Team Lotus	Lotus 18-Climax	+1 lap	7
3	28	Graham Hill	Owen Racing Organisation	BRM P48	+1 lap	4
4	4	Bruce McLaren	C.T. Atkins	Cooper T53-Climax	+1 lap	2
5	6	Roy Salvadori	Yeoman Credit Racing Team	Cooper T53-Climax	+2 laps	8
6	40	Lex Davison	Ecurie Australie	Aston Martin DBR4	+5 laps	13
7	30	Lorenzo Bandini	Scuderia Centro Sud	Cooper-Maserati	+42 laps	16
Ret.	26	Tony Brooks	Owen Racing Organisation	BRM P48	51 laps, throttle linkage	10
Ret.	14	Innes Ireland	Team Lotus	Lotus 18-Climax	34 laps, gearbox	6
Ret.	20	Dan Gurney	UDT-Laystall Racing Team	Lotus 18/21-Climax	26 laps, gearbox	9
Ret.	22	Bruce Halford	S.J. Diggory (Motors) Ltd.	Lotus 18-Climax	26 laps, crown wheel	14
Ret	34	Brian Naylor	JBW Cars	JBW-Maserati	25 laps, oil pressure	15
Ret.	12	Stirling Moss	R.R.C. Walker Racing Team	Cooper T53-Climax	23 laps, gearbox	1
Ret.	32	Massimo Natili	Scuderia Centro Sud	Cooper T51-Maserati	19 laps, clutch	17
Ret.	8	John Surtees	Yeoman Credit Racing Team	Cooper T53-Climax	19 laps, crash	3
Ret.	36	Tony Marsh	Fred Tuck Cars	Cooper T45-Climax	9 laps, brake pipe	12
Ret.	18	Masten Gregory	UDT-Laystall Racing Team	Lotus 18/21-Climax	5 laps, crash	11
DNA	10		Yeoman Credit Racing Team	Cooper
DNA	24	Chuck Daigh	Reventlow Automobiles Ltd.	Scarab-Meyer-Drake	Driver injured, car not repaired
DNA	38	Tommy Weber	G.R. Pennington	Tec-Mec-Maserati