Works teams dominated the 1964 championship, which had class divisions this year at 1300 cc, 2000 cc and 5000 cc - the latter class split now to give the Jaguars a last chance.
This type of racing was now fully supported by Ford and BMC, even if the cars appeared to be entered by private teams. These organisations policies did not allow them to race and so they sponsored firms like Cooper and Lotus, who could take an active interest.
Jimmy Clark, the 1963 World Champion, dominated the series, scoring maximum points in every round in his Team Lotus entered Lotus Cortina The works Lotus Cortinas were well prepared and exceedingly fast, proving capable of winning a race outright if the Ford Galaxies absented themselves for any reason.
John Fitzpatrick came home second in his works Mini-Cooper S with 38 points to Clark's 48. Mike Young in a 1200 Anglia made life difficult for John from time to time, but Young lost all hope of class victory when he was disqualified at Brands Hatch for running with steel main bearing caps.
Although Ford Galaxies won nearly every race they entered, they were often driven by F1 drivers whose commitments elsewhere made their appearances too few to score many points. Jaguars were totally eclipsed and often were well behind even the privately entered Mini-Coopers. Chris McLaren and John Sparrow did their best, but their was little doubt the Jaguar 3.8 was no longer a competitive car.
The races: |
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