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The ferry trip to the South Island then brought better fortune, Graham Hillin ‘R8’ now offered here promptly finishing second in the Lady WigramTrophy race at Christchurch on January 18, and the following weekendplacing second yet again at Teretonga, Invercargill – the world’s mostsoutherly motor racing circuit.The 1969 Tasman Championship series then took the Internationalcircus – including Team Lotus stars Graham Hill and new team-mateJochen Rindt - to Australia, where on February 2, 1969, at Lakeside,Brisbane, Graham finished fourth in ‘R8’ in the Australian Grand Prix forTasman Formula cars.The final round of that ‘down-under’ Championship took place atMelbourne’s Sandown Park circuit on February 16, with Graham Hill in‘R8’ taking sixth place overall. The car was then loaded onto a surfaceship for return freight to the Northern Hemisphere, where in the SpanishGrand Prix both high-winged Lotus 49Bs of Jochen Rindt and GrahamHill were very badly damaged in separate accidents, both triggered byrear-wing strut failure over the same high-speed brow on Barcelona’sMontjuich Park circuit.While Graham Hill emerged unhurt from his Spanish incident, team-mateJochen Rindt was severely concussed and was unable to drive in thefollowing Monaco Grand Prix on May 18. Team Lotus was also severelyembarrassed by lack of an instantly-available car to replace Rindt’s ‘R9’,effectively written-off at Montjuich, as their No 2 team entry at MonteCarlo. Consequently, ‘R8’ was rushed off the ship from Australia, hastilyfitted with a Formula 1-spec 3-litre DFV engine, and hustled down toMonte Carlo for substitute driver Richard Attwood to use in the race.He had absolutely shone there for the BRM team the previous season,setting fastest race lap and finishing a strong second behind GrahamHill’s winning Lotus 49B – chassis ‘R5’.In the 1969 Monaco GP – driving ‘R8’ virtually unchanged from itshard-used Tasman Championship form - Richard Attwood finished afine fourth (and also the distinction of fastest lap), in a race again wonby Graham Hill’s sister Lotus 49B, this time ‘R10’. With Swiss driver JoSiffert third in entrant Rob Walker’s private Lotus 49B – chassis ‘R7’ –three of the Hethel-built British cars had featured amongst the top fourfinishers in the world’s most punishing Formula 1 race.At Gold Leaf Team Lotus’s Hethel works in Norfolk, England, ‘R8’was then adapted to latest Type 49B specification and raced again bycharismatic Graham Hill nursing a sick ‘R8’ to finish 7th in the 1969British Grand Prix, on July 19.Meanwhile, Colin Chapman had launched a new 4-wheel-driveFormula 1 design – the Lotus Type 63 – that he fully intended toserve as the aging Type 49 design’s new-season replacement.However, the 4WD cars proved heavy and clumsy in service,leaving both Graham Hill and the always outspoken Jochen Rindtdeeply unimpressed. Given the choice they would always prefer theconventional (and proven) rear-drive Type 49Bs, so to prevent themhaving the choice Colin determined to sell Team’s 49s – ‘R8’ going tothe veteran Swedish owner/driver Joakim Bonnier.210 | Goodwood festival of speed

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