The final race of the season was held at South Africa's East London circuit - two months after the previous round in Mexico. Although Jim Clark had already secured the championship, for both himself and his team Lotus , he didn't stop racing. Clark took command of the race from pole taking an easy win. This was his seventh win in a ten round season - setting a new record. Dan Gurney recorded his and the Brabham team's first fastest lap on his way to second position.
1896
A prosperous farmer and wool merchant, Philippe Etancelin was born in Rouen, France. He raced in 12 grand prix between 1950 and 1952 and was one of the over-50s gang who lined up on the grid at Silverstone in 1950 for the first-ever World Championship round. Famed for his back-to-front cloth cap, he had starred for Bugatti in the 1930s and had won the Le Mans 24 Hours for Alfa Romeo in 1934, with Luigi Chinetti. The following year he was injured in an accident when his car overturned. He raced an aged Lago-Talbot in 1950, yet still scored two fifth place finishes, before retiring in 1952.
1909
A chartered accountant and entrepreneur, David Murray , who was born on this day in Edinburgh, raced an ERA and then a Maserati in events all over Europe, and between 1950 and 1952 made four Formula One World Championship appearances but failed to reach the end in any of them. In 1951 while practising for the German Grand Prix he crashed and, so the story goes, realised his driving ambitions would not succeed and so turned his efforts and cash to joining forces with mechanic Wilkie Wilkinson, the pair founding the Ecurie Ecosse team. Originally based at Murray's garage business in Merchiston Mews in Edinburgh, the team expanded - Murray's final F1 drive was under the Ecurie Ecosse flag - and in 1956 and 1957 they won the Le Mans 24 Hour. But financial problems escalated through the 1960s even though Murray poured more of his money into it. In 1968 he was summoned to a meeting with the Inland Revenue and, fearing the worst, he fled to the Canary Islands where he died five years later from a massive heart attack following a minor traffic accident.
1939
Conny Andersson was born in Alingsas, Sweden. Although he entered five grand prix he only qualified for his last - the 1976 Netherlands Grand Prix. However his race only lasted 23 laps before the engine of his Surtees failed. Prior to his Formula One career, Andersson was a motocross rider and competed in Formula 3 racing as a privateer for almost ten years. In 1975 he competed in the European Formula 3 Championship, where he won at Monaco and the following season won four more races.
