Graham Hill Formula One's courageous Mr Monaco
Born on 15th February, 1929, in London, UK, Norman Graham Hill professed to have acquired his unshakable resolve from his mother and accredited his dad, a stock agent, for his inborn wittiness. Young Norman was lucky to have been born with such attributes which assumed an ever greater significance in light of the privation and perils that began to tear the European continent with the outbreak of World War II. Hill became a drummer for a Boy Scout band, attended an institution for technical schooling, and as a 16 year old took up an apprenticeship at the Smith Instrument enterprise. The teenager purchased himself a motorbike, which one misty evening he bumped into the rear of a static vehicle. The accident left Hill with a badly wounded left thigh and an invariably shortened leg.
Hill enlisted with the London Rowing Club in 1952, taking to the sport with great gusto and donning the club’s distinct symbol on his helmet later as a motor racer. Yet, before the Englishman could embark on a career in motorsport, he was whisked off to serve the Royal Navy, an obligation the Hill resented with palpable fervour.
It was in 1953 that a freak fancy led Graham Hill to drag a Formula Three car about the Brands Hatch grid for a few casual laps that he became “immediately bitten by the racing bug.” Yet the Englishman faced some serious challenges on course to exploring his newfound passion further. Hill, by that time, had barely learnt to steer a road car and could ill-afford to finance a career in motorsport. Yet soon after the Brands Hatch incident, the adventurous young lad purchased himself a dilapidated old Morris (a 1934 make), learnt how to drive and obtained a driver’s license to take to the public roads. Hill then proceeded to abandon his employment at Smith’s and bag out-of-work insurance before taking up the post of a mechanic at a racing academy, where he advanced to the post of a tutor in a matter of time.
Graham Hill’s stint at the racing academy saw him cross paths with Colin Chapman, who had only recently begun working on the production of his Lotus race vehicles. Hill grasped the opportunity with zest and convinced the Lotus premier to employ him as a member of his adjunct workforce. After serving Chapman for as little as one pound a day for some time, Graham was soon hired as a permanent Lotus worker who occasionally got to enjoy some much craved-after race outings.
In 1958 when Colin Chapman felt the time was ripe for Team Lotus to make it to motor racing’s biggest stage, Graham Hill finally realised his dream of becoming a Formula One driver. Yet Chapman’s machine was both off-pace and unpredictable, and the ever-driven Graham embarked on a move to BRM (British Racing Motors) squad for the 1960 season. Many would have questioned the rationality behind Hill’s decision to join a team that had struggled miserably ever since making its debut onto the Formula One stage a decade ago. Yet Hill took to his role at BRM with remarkable rigor and wrought success out of what was a failing enterprise.
Graham’s break came in 1962 when he sealed triumphs at the year’s Dutch, German, Italian and South African events to ultimately clinch the sport’s biggest trophy- the World Championship title. However, when BRM’s fortunes began to plummet once again following the 1962 uplift, Graham finally lost his patience with the squad, and in 1967 Clark made his way back to his mentors, Lotus. It proved to be a sensible move considering Graham was able to power his Lotus to his second World Championship trophy in 1968. Hill’s successful run at Chapman’s team continued in 1969 when he made history by triumphing at Monaco for the fifth time.
Unfortunately, Graham’s glittering career was to lose much of its spark following the victory at Monaco. The Englishman dragged himself on Formula One tracks for several more undistinguished years before it all came to a mournful end when on November 29, 1975, “Mr Monaco” tragically died in an accident on his private plane.
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