The First Ever Man To Win Championships on both Two and Four Wheels
Clark's luck was not at its best in the 1964 season, which was one of the closest ever raced, being decided in favour of John Surtees at the final round in Mexico after a three-cornered fight with Hill and Clark. Surtees amply justified Ferrari's faith on his way to becoming the first ever man to win championships on both two and four wheels. Hill and Ginther opened the season with another one-two finish at Monaco. Clark's Monaco gremlins struck again and he finished fourth behind his team-mate, Peter Arundell. Hailwood scored a championship point with sixth place in a BRM-powered Lotus.
Clark scored his traditional easy victory at
Zandvoort while Surtees showed his ever growing talent with a good second place. Chris Amon finished fifth to score his first championship points; as did former motor cyclist Bob Anderson in sixth place. The Belgian race was again packed with drama and saw Clark take another victory at the one circuit which he openly hated. The victory was one of the luckiest of Clark's career; the Scot was lying fourth behind Gurney, Hill and McLaren with two laps to go when Gurney ran out of fuel and had none available in the Brabham pit. Hill took the lead only to go out with fuel pump trouble on the last lap and McLaren also ran out of fuel within sight of the finish, handing victory to a disbelieving Clark.
After so much promise, Gurney finally gave the Brabham team their first victory at Rouen, winning at 105.77 mph from Hill and Brabham himself who took fastest lap at 111.37 mph. At this stage in the season Surtees was way behind in the championship race with only a third of Clark's points total, but the German Grand Prix marked a turning point for the Italian team. Surtees scored another great
Nurburgring victory from Hill, and Bandini's Ferrari. Surtees averaged 96.57mph and set fastest lap at 95.3mph. The meeting was marred by the death in practice of the Dutchman Count Carel Godin de Beaufort, a popular and dedicated privateer.
Austria's first championship Grand Prix was run at Zeltweg and won at 99.20 mph by Ferrari's Lorenzo Bandini, from Ginther and an inspired Bob Anderson in a private Brabham. Making his debut was a young Austrian who was to become the sport's first posthumous champion,
Jochen Rindt. With most of the favorites, Rindt was on the list of retirements. Surtees won again at Monza ina thrilling slip streaming battle at an average speed of 127.78mph, with McLaren giving Cooper a rare high spot with second place. Graham Hill had gone no further than the start line in Italy due to clutch failure, but he kept his hopes of a second championship alive by winning at
Watkins Glen from Surtees and Jo Siffert, who had a splendid outing with his Brabham.
All this left the championship open into the final round, with Surtees, Hill and Clark all in a position to win the title. Hill led with 39 points to Surtees' 34 and Clark's 30. With 9, 6, 4, 3, 2 and I point at stake for the first six places Clark had to win the race to take his second title. With Hill out of the race fairly early, Clark looked all set to take his second championship but, as in the South African race two seasons earlier, Clark was robbed almost within sight of the flag by engine trouble. In a classic example of team work, Bandini moved politely over to let Surtees through to second place, enough points to scoop the championship and a place in motor sport's history books.