1975 Embassy Hill GH1
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History
Graham Hill started his own F1 racing team, Embassy Hill, in 1973. They started racing a Shadow DN1. In 1974, they moved to Lolas, and in 1975 they debuted their Andy Smallman designed Embassy Hill, GH1. Four GH1 cars were constructed. The cars were driven by future Formula One World Champion, Alan Jones, rising star Tony Brise, Rolf Stommelen, Vern Schuppan, François Migault, and Graham Hill himself. The top finish for a GH1 car in 1975 was fifth in the German Grand Prix.
The car offered here is GH1-3, the car Tony Brise drove for Embassy Hill.
1975 Embassy Hill Race Chassis Record:
Chassis # GH1-1 Modified Lola Chassis officially entered as “Lola-Ford.” This was the original #22 car. Rolf Stommelen crashed this car in Spain.
Chassis # GH1-2 The first Hill engineered chassis, but very similar to the Lola. Originally #23 in the early races then changed to #22 after Monte Carlo.
Chassis # GH1-3 was first officially raced at Zolder, Belgium, in May, 1975 and numbered 23. It remained #23 through the season. The car was driven by Tony Brise. It is quite possible that this was the newly designed #3 chassis driven by Graham Hill at Monte Carlo. However, Graham mysteriously withdrew from the race after practice, and never qualified. Graham never discussed why he withdrew.
Chassis # GH1-4 was constructed, however the history of its first race is unclear. The car is believed to have originally raced at Zandvoort, Holland in June. This car was numbered 22.
Team Race Results:
The following team race results show the event, car number, chassis number, driver, chassis/engine combination, grid position, and finishing position.
January 12, 1975 ARGENTINA 53 laps
#22 GH1-1 Graham Hill Lola-Ford 21, 10
#23 GH1-2 Rolf Stommelen Lola-Ford 19, 13
January 26, 1975 BRAZIL 40 laps
#22 GH1-1 Graham Hill Lola-Ford 20, 12
#23 GH1-2 Rolf Stommelen Lola-Ford 23, 14
March 1 1975 SOUTH AFRICAN GP 78 LAPS
# 23 GH1-2 Rolf Stommelen Hill-Ford 14, 7
# 22 GH1-1 Graham Hill Lola-Ford DNQ Accident
April 27 1975 SPANISH GP 75laps, but only ran 29 laps
#22 GH1-1 Rolf Stommelen Lola-Ford 9, 22, Accident
#23 GH1-2 Francois Migault Hill-Ford 22, Not Classified
May 11, 1975 MONTE CARLO 75 laps
#23 Possibly GH1-3 Graham Hill practiced in the car identified as “Hill-Ford”but withdrew before qualifying. It was either chassis GH1-2 or GH1-3. No other Hill cars were entered.
May 25, 1975 ZOLDER – BELGIUM 70 laps
#23 GH1-3 Tony Brise Hill-Ford 7, 23
GH1-3 suffered an engine failure after 17 laps. This was the first official race for Chassis #GH1-3 and for Tony Brise, who stayed in this chassis the rest of the season.
#22 GH1-2 Francois Migault Hill-Ford 22, Retired after 57 laps with suspension failure
June 8, 1975 ANDERSTORP – SWEDEN 80 laps
#23 GH1-3 Tony Brise Hill-Ford 17, 6th (in the points)
#22 GH1-2 Vern Schuppan Hill-Ford 26, Retired, transmission failure
June 22, 1975 ZANDVOORT, HOLLAND 75 laps (only 3 cars finished 75 laps)
#23 GH1-3 Tony Brise Hill-Ford 7, 7
#22 GH1-2 Alan Jones Hill-Ford 17, 13
July 6, 1975 PAUL RICHARD FRANCE 54 Laps
#23 GH1-3 Tony Brise Hill-Ford 12, 7
#22 GH1-2 Alan Jones Hill-Ford 20, 16
July 19, 1975 SILVERSTONE ENGLAND 56 Laps (only 1 car finished 56 laps)
#23 GH1-3 Tony Brise Hill-Ford 13, 15, caught in major accident involving 16 cars
#22 GH1-2 Alan Jones Hill-Ford 28, 10, Also involved in the accident but managed to get to the pits for tires and completed 54 laps.
August 3, 1975 NURBURGING GERMANY 14 LAPS
#22 GH1-4 Alan Jones Hill-Ford 21, 5
#23 GH1-3 Tony Brise Hill-Ford 17, Retired lap 9 – accident with the Ferrari of Clay Regazzoni.
August 17, 1975 OSTERREICHRING AUSTRIA 29 laps of 54 – stopped due to rain.
#23 GH1-3 Tony Brise Hill-Ford 16, 15
#22 GH1-4 Rolf Stommelen Hill-Ford 25, 16
September 7, 1975 MONZA ITALY 52 laps
#23 GH1-3 Tony Brise Hill-Ford 6, Retired lap 1 due to accident
#22 GH1-4 Rolf Stommelen Hill-Ford 23, Retired lap 3 due to accident
October 5, 1975 Watkins Glen, USA
Only 1 car was brought to the USA
#23 GH1-3 Tony Brise Hill-Ford 17, Accident, lap 5.
Car #23 retired on lap five after an accident, possibly with Mario Andretti, who retired 2 laps later with suspension failure. GH1-3 had a front corner damaged and missed the plane back to England. Before arrangements were made to return GH1-3 to England, Hill, Tony Brise, and others died in an airplane accident. American Marc Bahner bought the car at an auction and restored the chassis to its original condition. S. Nozaki purchased GH1-3 from Bahner in 1996. In January, 1997, The car was purchased from Nozaki by its current owner. GH1-3 has since been raced in historic F1 races in the U.S. with HGP.
Vintage Racing History:
2007
July 6 2007 Watkins Glen, NY HGP
Broke drive axle universals in 1st practice due to improper installation. Engine time less than 20 minutes.
July 13, 2007 Mt Tremblant, Quebec, Canada
Thursday Practice 20 min
Friday Practice 20 min
Sat Race: Rained out
Sunday Race: 10 laps. Finished 14th with engine missing – fouled spark plug. 20 min
July 17, 2007 Road America, Wisconsin.
Thursday 11 practice laps 20 min
Friday 1 lap no 1st gear 5 min
Sat Race: gearbox broke on out lap
Sun Race: 14 laps. Started last (no qualifying time), and finished 13th. 30 min
August 3, 2007 Miller Motorsports Park, Utah
Friday Practice: 2 laps transmission broken – Won’t shift. 5 min
Total engine time 2007 2 hrs 35 min.
2008
May 2 Road Atlanta – Mitty
Friday Practice 10 laps: Best time 1:24 30 min
Saturday Race 7 laps: Best time 1:24 Shifting problems again. 15 min
Sunday Morning warm up: Transmission broke- stuck in gear
July 4 Watkins Glen HGP
Friday Practice 5 laps Difficulty shifting. 15 min
Saturday Qualifying 1 lap Transmission broke 5 min
Sunday Did not race
July 17 Road America HGP
Thursday Practice 8 laps 2:20 Sticky shifting still 2:20 20 min
Friday Qualifying 7 laps 2:14 Running better 20 min
Saturday Race: 7 laps 2:13 Finished 6th 20 min
Sunday Race: 3 laps DNF Stuck in 4th gear 10 min
August 22 Infineon (Sears Point) HGP
Phil Reilly freshened the engine before this event.
Friday 10 laps 1:38.8 20 min
Friday 10 laps ` 1:35.7 20 min
Friday 14 laps 1:33.9 Close 6th finish to James King and Ari Luyendyk. 20 min
Saturday 8 laps 1:37 Engine miss-fire
Sunday 8 lap race 1:33.8 Finished 8th 30min
Oct 10 Infineon (Sears Point) CSRG & HGP
This was a cold, wet, and windy weekend and I was on old hard tires
Friday Practice 6 laps ` 1:37.3
Saturday Race 10 laps 1:36.5 8th out of 17 cars
Sunday Race Rained out
Total time on engine over the past 2 years is 7 hrs., 10 minutes.
GH3-1 was not raced in 2009. In 2010, the owner planned a full HGP season, and sent the gearbox to Williams to be prepared for the season. The work was done (receipts available) and the car reassembled and race prepared. The car has not raced since.
Description
See above History.
Chassis Number: GH1-3