Since this article was originally published I have received an enlightening and valuable e-mail correcting an innacuracy regarding the 1972 race mentioned in the article. The message came from one Sonny Rajah (mentioned, too, with regard to the 1972 race) and reads as follows:
"Your article on the \"Original Malaysia GP\" had some errors in it.
The 1972 Malasian GP was not run in Singapore but at a circuit called Batu Tiga not far from the capital Kuala Lumpur and it was not won by Max Stewart but by Sonny Rajah in a March 712M. Vern Schuppan was second in March 722. Your author 3 can contact me for further details on other relevant facts.
Sonny Rajah."
I would like, firstly, to apologise to Mr Rajah for crediting his voctory to another, and to thank him for contacting me with the correction. I have taken up his offer of further details, and look forward to hearing more from Mr Rajah in the future.
Steve Turnbull, 4/6/2006
Formula One has made something of a habit of breaking new ground in Motor Racing with annual trips to Bahrain, Turkey, China and Malaysia broadening the horizons of the sport, while India and Russia are strongly fancied for a place on the calendar in the not too distant future. It may surprise, then, to find that the first Malaysian Grand Prix was held as long ago as 1962.
In fact a Singapore Grand Prix, otherwise titled the ‘Orient Year GP’, had been run the year before, (when Singapore was a part of Malaysia). The circuit was typical of the time, a street circuit by the name of Upper Thomson Road, just over three miles long and deceptively fast. The 1961 race saw such a crowd that the local police banned the sale of further tickets shortly after the track opened, and a mixed race of sports and single seaters was won by one Ian Barnwell in an Aston Martin DB3S.
For 1962 the race was renamed the Malaysian Grand Prix, a title that is often believed to have been born with the introduction of Sepang to the modern calendar. Run on the same circuit, the feature race was dominated by a local in an E-Type by the name of Yong Nam Kee (or, to his friends, ‘Fatso Yong’.)
1963 saw the event grow in stature thanks to an International Motor Cycle Grand Prix, held on the same weekend that featured many of the greats of the day. The cars took second billing, despite an abundance of Lotus cars to challenge the dominant Jaguars, and a handful of Mitsubishi 600’s, fresh from Japan, to challenge in the Saloon race. Albert Poon, a renowned and prolific Hong Kong driver of the time, engaged his Lotus 23 in a thrilling battle with previous winner Yong to emerge on top at the end of a hard race.
By now Malaysia was seen as a stop-over point between the end of the Australian and beginning of the European season, and more foreign competitors were making the trip. The 1964 race would end in tragedy after only a handful of laps, a marshal killed in the torrential conditions, and 1965 would see a reduced entry in light of Singapore’s confrontation with Indonesia, which would end in Singapore gaining independence, and the race re-named the Singapore Grand Prix. Malaysia saw the benefits of international racing and instigated two yearly races within its own borders, the Malaysian GP and the Selangor GP, but it is the races at Upper Thomson Road that continued to provide the greater interest.
John Macdonald, a noted single seater pilot of the time, loved the place, as did Australian legend Vern Schuppan. Macdonald described it thus: ‘Dangerous? No more than expected’ and commented on the monsoon drains, bus stops and lamp-posts that littered the circuit. A contemporary description of Upper Thomson Road reads:
“The start/finish line was situated on the back straight, the ‘Thomson Mile’, a fast undulating stretch that featured a turn called ‘The Hump’. This was an oddly-cambered bend that led Frank Matich into an altercation with a bus stop, wrecking his Mclaren M10 in 1970. Next came Circus Hairpin approached flat out, followed by an up-hill series of esses including ‘The Snakes’, leading to a sharp ‘v’ known as ‘Devils Bend’ and on to a fast section ‘The Long Loop’. ‘Peak Bend’ followed, a quick down-hill run into ‘Range Hairpin’, then hard right back onto the ‘Thomson Mile’. A lap typically required 24 gear changes.”
By 1966 there was a noted ‘Asian’ series in full flow. At the end of the European season the teams would head to Macau in November (a fixture still run today) then move to Australia and New Zealand for the winter Tasman series. On the way home they would take in Singapore, Malaysia (for two meetings) and Japan.
The first full International Grand Prix at Upper Thomson was run in 1966 and saw local ace Lee Hang Seng take his Lotus 22 to victory after favourite Greg Cusack failed to cotton on to the larger fuel tanks the locals were using. Cusack, trying hard to keep a dying advantage, had spun at Long Loop late in the race, throwing away a probable victory in the process.
Another local man, Rodney Seow, had the main event wrapped up in 1967. He brought a brand new Cosworth-engined Merlyn and decimated the field, confirming his local superiority with another victory in the Touring race in an Elva-BMW.
1968 saw Australian manufacturer Elfin take the spoils with Garrie Cooper, the marques originator, at the wheel, as the spectre of sponsorship brought more international competitors to the field, and an Elfin-Repco, in the hands of New Zealander Graeme Lawrence, won in style in 1969.
The next year, tenth anniversary of the first Upper Thomson race, saw even more exotic machinery to the fore. Frank Matich brought the F5000 Mclaren M10-Chevrolet with which he had recently won the New Zealand Grand prix and a number of cars from Australian builder Mildren entered, one Alfa Romeo powered for Kevin Bartlett and Max Stewart in the 2litre ‘Waggot’ engined device among the more potent. But the winner was to be Lawrence, again, in a wonderful ex-Chris Amon Ferrari Dino 246t.
Lawrence made it a hat-trick in 1971, his Brabham BT29 the class of the field, and the rules for entry had now been changed to mirror that of Australian Formula Two. By 1972 the race was populated almost entirely by professional drivers with plenty sponsorship.
The entry for ’72 included the previously mentioned Bartlett and Stewart, Vern Schuppan and John Macdonald, the latter with an ex-Graham Hill Brabham BT36 with a ‘Rondel’ modified nose (Rondel being the company with which a certain Ron Dennis would begin his team ownership.) Also entered was one of the races more interesting characters, a man by the name of Sonny Rajah.
Rajah had purchased an ex-Ronnie Peterson March 712 and was said, by a fellow competitor, to have ‘natural talent, and character to boot…’ but was somewhat erratic. An eccentric with long hair and ‘Zapata’ moustache, he had to resort to wearing short-hair wigs to gain entry to Singapore, a country where such hirsuteness was associated with drugs. On a performance of Rajah’s at Macau one competitor commented that ‘he made contact with much of Macau’s scenery; that’s a very difficult act!’
With Graeme Lawrence absent following a high speed crash in New Zealand, Stewart and the Mildren Waggot took the victory spoils.
The final Grand Prix at Old Thomson was run in 1973, when Vern Schuppan won in his March 722. John Macdonald, in a new Brabham BT40, had been a favourite but was hampered by fuel feed problems.
The oil crisis of the early 1970’s hit Singapore and Malaysia hard, and the Grand Prix disappeared suddenly and for good. Now we have Sepang, a truly state of the art complex, loved by the drivers and wonderful for spectators alike, and with the promise of close competition following last weekend in Bahrain, it’s too close to call who will be adding their name to the list of winners in Asia. Vern Schuppan has the last words, which highlight the differences between the likes of Old Thomson, a circuit composed of public roads, between housing estates and plantations, and Sepang, one purpose built for modern Formula One. His words:
“It was a fast, flowing circuit – a lovely race track. No-one talked about lack of run-off area because we were so young then.”
Written by 3 on Tue, 14 Mar 2006 15:38:53
[ Print View ][ E-Mail Article ]
