Damon Hill remembers father Graham ahead of 40th anniversary of tragic aircrash death

HAVING happily celebrated his 15th birthday a mere two months before, Damon Hill was sat at home watching TV when a news bulletin reported the death of his dad.

GETTYThe Hills are one of the great British racing dynasties

 

This Sunday will mark the 40th anniversary of that fateful day, when the Piper Aztec light aircraft Graham Hill was piloting crashed in heavy fog on its descent to Elstree Airfield near London.

That was the moment the lives of six families changed forever as Graham, 46, and the five other passengers, all members of Hill's Embassy F1 team - manager Ray Brimble, two mechanics Tony Alcock and Terry Richards, driver Tony Brise and designer Andy Smallman - were killed.

"It was a bombshell," said Damon, recalling that devastating night on November 29, 1975. "I was at home and it came on the TV that something had happened near to us. It didn't take a genius to work out what it was.

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"In that moment, our lives - and the lives of all the other people involved - changed forever."

Those first few days and weeks afterwards for Damon's mum Bette and his two sisters Samantha and Brigitte were unbearable.

"It's devastating, shocking," he said. "As you get older you realise that this happens to people everywhere - that we are all vulnerable. It takes you a long time to get over it... if indeed you ever do."

Graham Hill was - is - a motor-racing icon. He won the F1 world championship twice, with British Racing Motors (BRM) in 1962 and with Lotus in 1968, and he remains the only driver ever to win the 'Triple Crown of Motorsport' - winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1972, the Indianapolis 500 in 1966 and the Monaco Grand Prix - a race he actually won five times.

GETTYDamon and Graham are the only father and son to have both won F1 World Championships

 

Consider then that by the age of 24 he had still not passed his driving test and you start to imagine the energy of the man. Indeed, what he crammed into his short career made him the charismatic personality many feel is missing today.

And what would Graham have made of today's F1 scene? "I think he would be amazed but also disappointed in other ways," said Damon. "He would probably be appalled at the little influence drivers have over what they are driving now."

Graham had, somewhat reluctantly, retired as a driver in May 1975 after failing to qualify for the Monaco Grand Prix. He was 46 years old. By this time, he had set up his own team and was enjoying the early shoots of success when his life was cut short.

The team were flying home after testing one of their new cars at the Paul Ricard circuit in France when tragedy struck.

Damon kept alive his dad's memory, winning the 1996 world championship and is the only son of a former world champion to emulate his father.

But it was not always that way. "There was no inkling back then that I was going to be a racing driver," said Damon. "I was not interested in motor racing at all at that time.

GETTYDamon Hill started racing at an early age, but won his world title aged 32

 

"My dad was aware of how dangerous motor racing was and I think he knew he did not have to worry about that [me doing it] because I was always very independent and did the opposite of what they told me to do anyway.

"He was asked a lot whether I would become a racing driver and he said, 'I think he is too intelligent'. Sadly he was wrong."

Perhaps, but no doubt Graham would also be proud; something which is reciprocated.

"I was very proud to be a Hill," said Damon. "My dad made people relax everywhere he went and could make them excited too. He had a real gift with people.

GETTYThe tragic crash killed everyone Hill Senior, and five others on board

 

"Not many people could keep up with him. He was very busy and loved his life and never wasted a second of it. He was, by anyone's reckoning, an extraordinary guy.

"He seemed to attract people to him and his positive attitude to life meant he was a very can-do person.

"I loved him because he was my dad and he was fun to be with. I thought I was very lucky to have him as a dad."

Damon Hill talks golf, including the day he played with Seve

Former Formula One world champion Damon Hill talks about playing golf with Seve Ballesteros, managing his overswing, and how golf, like racing, runs in the family...

When did you take up golf?

I started playing golf when I was about 10 or 11. It runs in the family. I’ve got a photograph of my granddad playing golf in the 1920s when he was the captain of Mill Hill Golf Club. My dad [double F1 World Champion, Graham] took up golf after he broke his legs in an accident and he needed to do something to keep himself active. He couldn’t run, so he took up golf.

How did you get into it? 

I started following my dad around and we watched golf on telly together so I got into it that way. I just started thrashing away and everyone used to say, ‘Oh, he’s got a lovely swing’, which was the worst thing they could have said because basically I haven’t got a lovely swing!

What's wrong with your swing? 

I’ve spent most of my life trying to unlearn my overswing which I just can’t get rid of so I just have to live with that. The thing is I’m pretty flexible so that’s the only way I feel any tension. If I reduce it then it feels really awkward, but of course this is just a poor excuse and the fact is that I haven’t got enough talent!

Is your game improving?  

I have lessons and I’m interested to hear what people say, but what I’ve found is that everyone’s got their own take on it and I think I have to know for myself. It’s not good just taking secondhand advice.

What's your handicap? 

My handicap is 14 and it’s stuck. I can’t seem to get it down any lower than that. It’s actually creeping back up now but I’m a kind of compulsive, obsessive so when there’s something I can’t do I want to know why I can’t do it and I won’t give up until I’ve answered that question as to  what I’m doing wrong. Competitive people have to find some impossible task and golf is the most impossible of all.

What do you love about golf?

I’m absolutely fascinated by the whole mechanics of the golf swing and what’s going on and the different arguments for this way and that way. A couple of months back I found a website that was devoted to studying Rory McIlroy’s swing and how he would never, ever win another major. These were so-called knowledgeable golf experts and they were convinced that there are too many moving parts and it’ll never happen for him again. Well they’re wrong!

Do you play in many celebrity golf events? 

I played with Raphael Jacquelin at Wentworth before the BMW PGA this year which was great fun. It was nice to get some appreciation from a few spectators when I hit a decent approach shot! I remember saying to Jacquelin: “When you’re playing and it will just absolutely not work, what do you do?” He just looked at me and said: “You’ve just got to go with it.”

What's been the highlight of your golfing career to date?

My best golfing moment was playing with Seve. I played with him at The Oxfordshire and I was in awe. He’s an absolute god in golfing terms and was a perfect gentleman, too.

How much time do you get to play?

I probably practise more than I play and time constraints mean I’m struggling to get a game in a week. When I’m away working with Sky there’s not much free time. We arrive, we go to the track and we’re flat out from there. But I actually prefer practice as it satisfies my obsessive nature.

Do many other F1 drivers play golf?

There were a few drivers who were into golf. Nigel Mansell’s a big golfer and Prost used to play. We have a British Racing Drivers’ golf day every year with people like Derek Warwick and Jason Plato and we all laugh at each other’s expense.

What attracts speed freaks to golf?

Golf is totally the opposite of driving a car and it does not sit well with a racing driver’s temperament. You have to have patience and racing drivers just want to get on with it. But I’m fascinated by it because it’s so difficult and I’m drawn to things that are difficult. It’s amazing that from one day to the next it changes so much that we can’t remember what we did. You pick up a club and it feels like you’ve got a snake in your hands!

Damon Hill

Amb 36 anys, el britànic Damon Hill, un home educat, afable, familiar i introvertit, es va coronar campió del món de Fórmula 1 el 14 d'octubre al Japó. Era el primer cop a la història que el campió era el fill d'un altre pilot que també havia guanyat el campionat del món.

El seu pare, Graham Hill, ho havia aconseguit dos cops, el 1962 i el 1968. Però Damon el va perdre el 31 de novembre de 1975, quan tenia 15 anys. La mort del mític automobilista en accident quan pilotava el seu propi avió havia deixat en precàries condicions econòmiques la família de Graham Hill, que va haver d'indemnitzar als familiars dels morts en aquella tragèdia.

Inicialment Damon havia competit en carreres de motos, però la seva mare, Bette, el va convèncer el 1985 de provar els cotxes, i els dos anys següents va disputar el campionat de fórmula Ford i després va estar tres anys a Fórmula 3. A finals del 1989 va començar a córrer a Fórmula 3.000, i el 1992 Frank Williams li va oferir un lloc com a pilot de proves. Aquell any va debutar a Fl.

Els seus inicis van ser poc brillants, fins que el 1993 es va convertir en escuder d'Alain Prost dins Williams. Després ho seria d'Ayrton Senna fins a la mort del brasiler el 1994. Llavors Hill va passar a ser un seriós candidat al titol de campió del món. A partir d'aquí tot va canviar.

En acabar el campionat del 1996, Damon Hill havia guanyat 21 dels 67 Grans Premis de Fórmula 1 que havia disputat. Aquest rècord el convertia en un dels pilots més eficaç os de la història del Campionat del Món, només superat pels mítics Juan Manuel Fangio i Jim Clark.

Damon Hill, havia nascut el 17 de setembre de 1960 a Hampstead (Londres). A banda de l'esport era un notable guitarrista que havia arribat a tocar amb Bon Jovi l'any 1995. Havia tingut tres fills, un d'ells amb la síndrome de Down, amb la seva dona. Georgie. La premsa anglesa l'havia batejat amb el sobrenom de Diamond ('diamant').

amon Hill makes the case for double points in season-ending Abu Dhabi GP

The shake-up, announced in December, has already proved highly controversial and Hill's support bucks the general trend with 87% of Sky Sports users who voted in an online poll reacting negatively to the FIA's radical and unexpected revision of F1's points-scoring system. 

The idea has also been, in the main, denounced by the F1 fraternity itself, with World Champion Sebastian Vettel branding it "absurd" and Hill's Sky Sports F1 colleague Martin Brundle describing the double-points concept as "an answer to a question nobody was asking".

On Friday, new World Championship favourites Mercedes also launched their own thinly-veiled condemnation of the system with the team's drivers, Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, deliberately playing dumb when asked for their reaction to the scheme.

Nevertheless, 1996 World Champion Hill is nonplussed by the fuss generated and convinced F1 is merely falling into line with the rhythm of other sporting competitions with Abu Dhabi assuming the status of the F1 season's 'final'.

"If you go to Wimbledon and you are in a knock-out competition it then gets more crucial and more important the closer you get to the final - and the final is worth a lot more points than the first round," Hill reasoned with Sky Sports News.

"Personally, I don't see what the story is about. Winning the World Championship is the goal and if it gets more and more intense towards the end, and there is more at stake at the end of the championship, then that should be more exciting."

Hill was an interested spectator as F1's new turbo era dawned at the four-day Jerez test in southern Spain last month and was excited by what he saw as the teams grappled - not always successfully - with their revolutionary and complex new machinery and the drivers wrestled with cars that appeared to offer far less grip than those of yesteryear.

"The new engines are going to be a big technical challenge and the drivers seem interested in the torque that they deliver," added Hill. "There's a question mark about the noise - I like the sound but perhaps they could be louder than they are. But it's still Formula 1, the cars are still incredibly powerful and incredibly fast and they are going to be racing them with everything they have got.

"There will be more chance for other teams to pick up points and I think it will be harder for any individual team and driver combination to be consistent throughout the season and in that way I think it will be more unpredictable."

The second of three winter tests commences next Wednesday in Bahrain with the season-opening Australian GP on March 16.

2014 rule changes at a glance

Double points
 
The final race of the season, this year to be held in Abu Dhabi, will award double the usual allocation of points to the top-ten finishers. So the race winner receives 50 instead of 25 points, the runner-up 36 instead of 18 and so on.

Fuel limit for races
 
Cars will now have to start races carrying 100kg of fuel - compared to approximately 150kg in 2013 - to complete the distance with a limited fuel-flow rate of 100kg/hour.

Permanent driver numbers
 
All 22 drivers on the 2014 grid have selected car numbers that they will keep for the remainder of their careers.

Lower noses
 
In a bid to avoid cars being launched in accidents, the tip of the nose has been dramatically lowered - a change which has given rise to spate of 'ugly' 2014 nose designs.

Energy Recovery Systems
 
KERS system is succeed by two enhanced Energy Recovery Systems (ERS), one recovering kinetic energy under braking and the other heat energy from the exhaust turbine. Drivers will no longer activate the ERS boost - which will now offer 161bhp for 33 seconds per lap - via a button on the steering wheel.

Driver penalty points
 
Stewards may now impose penalty points on a driver's Super Licence for misdemeanors. If a driver reaches 12 points he will be removed for the following grand prix.

V6 turbo engines
 
The 2.4-litre V8 engines are replaced by 1.6-litre V6s with a single turbocharger. Rev limit is reduced from 18,000 rpm to 15,000 rpm.

The Sky Sports F1 Online team will be providing live commentary of all three winter tests with live updates from trackside also on Sky Sports News. The next test, in Bahrain, begins on Wednesday February 19.