1962 Kanonloppet

1962 Kanonloppet
Non-championship race in the 1962 Formula One season
Race details
Date	12 August 1962
Official name	VIII Kanonloppet
Location	Karlskoga Motorstadion, Karlskoga
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	2.998 km (1.863 miles)
Distance	30 laps, 89.95 km (55.89 miles)
Pole position
Driver	John Surtees	Lola-Climax
Time	1.25.4
Fastest lap
Driver	Innes Ireland	Lotus-Climax
Time	1:24.1
Podium
First	Masten Gregory	Lotus-BRM
Second	Roy Salvadori	Lola-Climax
Third	Jo Bonnier	Porsche

The 8th Kanonloppet was a motor race, run to Formula One rules, held on 12 August 1962 at the Karlskoga circuit, Sweden. The race was run over 30 laps of the little circuit, and was won by American driver Masten Gregory in a Lotus 24, run by the UDT Laystall Racing Team.^[1]

In training, Graham Hill left the track and damaged the nose on the Rob Walker Lotus 24.^[2] He went on to compete without a nosecone. Rookie Olle Nygren could not find fourth gear in the Lotus 18 he had borrowed from Jay Chamberlain, and was also having a hard time finding his brake points. Nygren qualified last and only lasted six laps of this, his only Formula One race. Kurt Kuhnke's interesting Borgward-engined Lotus only made a few practice laps before it spun a main bearing and was withdrawn.^[2] A recent resurfacing of the track led to lap times dropping by about 5 seconds compared to 1961, meaning some last-minute modifications to the cars had to be carried out to account for the higher speeds.^[3]

Surtees took the lead from pole, but already on the second lap Masten Gragory passed him in Tröskurvan (curve one).^[3] Surtees tried to take back the lead, but missed a gearshift after being blinded by water splashed by Gregory's car. Gregory took a lead of about five car lengths and was never threatened again. Innes Ireland had gone off the track on the opening lap but clawed his way back up the field for a fourth place in the end, putting down a new lap record along the way.^[3] On the 11th lap Surtees retired with a broken valve spring, Hill with an oil leak, and ninth-placed Collomb with engine failure. Bonnier seemed to be in a secure second place, but Salvadori in the Lola gave chase and managed to pass. Bonnier made a spirited attempt to regain second in the last turn of the race, but came up three metres short at the flag. Burgess and Count de Beaufort finished a lap down, both in four-cylinder cars while the first four all raced eight-cylinder ones. Burgess' Cooper was a unique mix of Formula Junior and Formula One parts, all in the interest of minimizing frontal area.^[3] De Beaufort's car, while entered by his private team Ecurie Maarsbergen, was supported by the factory and he shared three mechanics with Bonnier.^[4]

Pos	Driver	Entrant	Constructor	Time/Retired	Grid
1	Masten Gregory	UDT Laystall Racing Team	Lotus-BRM	42:51.3	6
2	Roy Salvadori	Bowmaker Racing Team	Lola-Climax	+ 7.3 s	4
3	Jo Bonnier	Porsche System Engineering	Porsche 804	+ 7.5 s	3
4	Innes Ireland	UDT Laystall Racing Team	Lotus-Climax	+ 36.7 s	2
5	Ian Burgess	Anglo-American Equipe	Cooper Special-Climax	29 laps	7
6	Carel Godin de Beaufort	Ecurie Maarsbergen	Porsche 718	29 laps	8
Ret	Bernard Collomb	Bernard Collomb	Cooper-Climax	11, Engine	9
Ret	John Surtees	Bowmaker Racing Team	Lola-Climax	11, Valve spring	1
Ret	Graham Hill	Rob Walker Racing Team	Lotus-Climax	11, Oil leak	5
Ret	Olle Nygren	Ecurie Excelsior	Lotus-Climax	6, Gearbox	10
WD	John Campbell-Jones	Emeryson Cars	Emeryson-Climax	Driver injured	-
WD	Tony Settember	Emeryson Cars	Emeryson-Climax		-
WD	Kurt Kuhnke	Kurt Kuhnke	Lotus-Borgward	Engine not ready	-
WD	David Piper	David Piper	Lotus-Climax		-

• "The Grand Prix Who's Who", Steve Small, 1995.