1966 Dutch Grand Prix

 1966 Dutch Grand Prix

Racing data
5th of 9 races in the 1966 World Automobile Championship
Surname:	XVI Grote Prijs van Nederland
Date:	July 24, 1966
Place:	Zandvoort , the Netherlands
Course:	Circuit Zandvoort
Length:	382.68 km in 90 laps of 4.252 km
Weather:	sunny, dry
Pole position
Driver:	Jack Brabham	Brabham-Repco
Time:	1: 28.1 min
Fastest lap
Driver:	Denis Hulme (round 2)	Brabham-Repco
Time:	1: 30.6 min
Podium
First:	Jack Brabham	Brabham-Repco
Second:	Graham Hill	BRM
Third:	Jim Clark	Lotus Climax

The 1966 Dutch Grand Prix took place on July 24, 1966 on the Zandvoort Circuit near Zandvoort and was the fifth race of the 1966 World Cup .

Reports

background

Jack Brabham won the third race in a row

One week after the British Grand Prix, the Dutch Grand Prix took place. The rule that there must be at least a week's gap between two consecutive races in the Automobile World Championship was met in this case, as the race in Great Britain took place on a Saturday, while other European races, such as the one in Zandvoort, were usually held on Sunday become. Ferrari returned to the automobile world championship after a strike-related break and competed with Lorenzo Bandini and Mike Parkes . Both drivers used the V12 engine in their cars, and there were other improvements. Ferrari had redesigned the rear suspension and added adjustable aprons to the top of the windshield. In addition, the front wishbones have been reinforced and round covers have been added to better protect the gearbox, battery and fuel pump.

In Team Lotus were for Jim Clark two Lotus 33 reported, one with Coventry-Climax -Aggregat, one of BRM driven. Peter Arundell drove a Lotus 33 with a BRM engine. The BRM factory team used two older BRM P261s for Graham Hill and Jackie Stewart . The new BRM P83s were withdrawn for the time being to revise the gearbox. Bruce McLaren reported his McLaren M2B with a Serenissima engine for the last time . The continuing unreliability of this unit prompted McLaren to use Ford engines again from the following races. There were no personnel changes in the teams with customer vehicles. Joakim Bonnier used a Cooper T81 instead of the Brabham BT22 for the rest of the season . With Jack Brabham , Hill and Clark, three former winners took part in the race. Brabham and Hill had previously won once, Clark won the last three events. In the constructors' category, Ferrari was victorious four times, Lotus three times, BRM twice and Cooper once. In the drivers' standings, Brabham was 10 points ahead of Rindt. Hulme and Bandini were tied in third place. In the constructors' championship Ferrari and Brabham were tied in the lead, BRM was third.

training

The first training session started on Friday morning and was dominated by rainy weather. Despite the bad weather conditions and the wet track, Clark drove only a few tenths of a second slower than the track record he had held last year. Surtees was just behind him, Spence was third. During the course of the day the rain subsided and the two Brabham drivers dominated the second practice session on a dry track. Hulme set a new best time, which was only a short time later undercut by Brabham. Clark was the only driver to keep up with the two, finishing third after driving the same time as Hulme. Meanwhile, Rindt improved to fourth place ahead of Gurney. Ferrari was with the times in the front midfield.

Filming took place on Saturday before the third training session. Phil Hill drove the camera car and many drivers in the current field drove with it and carried out fictitious duels. In the afternoon the real training session started, to which the film team was no longer allowed. Bandini spun due to oil on the track and slightly injured his hand in the following accident. Gurney improved to fourth place with a new personal fastest lap, and Brabham again undercut the fastest time at the top. His team mate Hulme retired with a broken drive shaft, which also damaged his engine. He lost a lot of oil on the way to the box, so training was interrupted to eliminate it. Subsequently, Surtees, as well as McLaren and Rindt, had engine damage that ended their respective training early. For McLaren, this also meant not taking part in the race because the team did not have a spare engine.

Brabham secured the second pole position in a row and became the first driver to start the race more than once from first place on the grid in 1966. His lead over Hulme was six tenths of a second. Clark started from third place; he had set the same lap time as Hulme. Behind them Gurney qualified in fourth place ahead of Parkes and Rindt. The first ten completed Hill, Stewart, Bandini and Surtees. The fastest driver with customer vehicles was Joseph Siffert in eleventh place.

run

Before the start of the race, further filming took place, in which all drivers could participate voluntarily. Since some cars were repaired and had a new engine, a large part of the field took advantage of this opportunity to test the new parts and make further adjustments to the vehicles. At Hulme, the gearbox was damaged, leaving a hole on the side of the car. Even before the start of the race, the mechanics changed the gearbox and temporarily closed the hole. Since McLaren would not start due to a missing replacement engine, Mike Spence repainted the vehicle in white and changed the helmet design by Spence to look like one of the main characters in the film.

Immediately before the start, Brabham caused a stir on the grid when he limped to his car disguised as an old man. This was a reference to newspaper reports that accused him of being too old for motorsport at the age of 40. When Surtees reached the grid he asked his team to switch to the left front tire. Since Cooper didn't have one on hand, they borrowed one from the Rob Walker Racing Team .

Brabham won the start, behind Hulme was overtaken by Clark. Clark defended second place for three laps before Hulme passed him again. Clark then kept the pace of the two leading Brabham drivers, but failed to overtake him. After a few rounds this duel turned into a four-way battle when Hill caught up and Clark attacked. On lap two, Rindt retired when he switched himself off and went off the track. Parkes was fifth when he made the same mistake as Rindt and spun off the track at the same point. He met Cooper von Rindt who had stopped and seriously damaged his own car. That was the end of the race for him too. Stewart finished fifth, ahead of Gurney and Surtees.

On lap 17, Hulme pitted because he had problems with the oil pressure. He continued the race one more time but retired some time later due to this problem. Clark, meanwhile, pulled away from Hill and narrowed the gap to Brabham. On lap 24, the two drivers caught up with the vehicles of Spence and Siffert to be lapped. When lapping Clark also managed to overtake Brabham and thus take the lead. Brabham was held up for two laps by Spence and Siffert before he also completed the laps. During this time, Clark got a head start on him. When lapping Surtees and Stewart, Clark increased his lead by a few more seconds, as Brabham acted more defensively and cautiously.

Gurney overtook Stewart and was fourth, but the engine of his Eagle overheated due to a broken oil pipe and he was also eliminated. He had previously been to the pits and refilled with water. One lap later, Arundell also parked his car with a technical defect. On lap 43, the second car of the Cooper works team also retired, the cause was electrical damage. In the last third of the race, a vibration damper broke on Clark’s Lotus and this also damaged the water pump. Clark then reduced the speed a little so as not to overheat the engine. He ran into Hill, Stewart and Bandini, who were all in different rounds. After lapping the three drivers, Brabham had already approached him again. Brabham took the lead again on lap 75, followed by Clark pitting. After his mechanics topped up water, Clark continued the race in second place, but was one lap behind Brabham. Since his engine had already suffered damage from overheating, he lost another position to Hill and Stewart also continuously shortened the gap to Clark. Shortly before the end of the race, Clark stopped again to refill water. Meanwhile, Anderson retired with a broken suspension, Siffert parked his car with an engine failure.

Brabham won the race overwhelmingly and had lapped the entire field of drivers. This was his third win in a row. It was also the second and last victory at the Grand Prix of the Netherlands after he was last victorious on this track in 1960 . After the race he was asked by a Dutch reporter whether it would not be unusual that he would still lead the World Championship at his advanced age, whereupon Brabham only asked him why that should be unusual. Hill finished second, Clark finished third just ahead of Stewart. Spence for fifth and Bandini for sixth received further points. Outside the points, Bonnier, Taylor and Ligier were rated. Hulme set the fastest race lap at the beginning of the race, this was the first of his career. In the drivers' standings, Brabham increased his point lead over the competition and was 16 points ahead of the new second Hill. His team-mate Stewart improved to third. In the constructors' championship Brabham had a lead of 8 points over Ferrari, BRM was three more points behind. All drivers and constructors still had theoretical chances for the respective titles.

Registration list

team	No.	driver	chassis	engine	tires
Scuderia Ferrari SpA SEFAC	02	Lorenzo Bandini	Ferrari 312/66	Ferrari 3.0 V12	F.
	04th	Mike Parkes
Team Lotus	06th	Jim Clark	Lotus 33	Climax 2.0 V8	F.
	08th	Jim Clark		BRM 2.0 V8
		Peter Arundell
Anglo American Racers	10	Dan Gurney	Eagle T1G	Climax 2.7 L4	G
Owen Racing Organization	12	Graham Hill	BRM P261	BRM 2.0 V8	G
	14th	Jackie Stewart
Brabham Racing Organization	16	Jack Brabham	Brabham BT19	Repco 3.0 V8	G
	18th	Denis Hulme	Brabham BT20
Bruce McLaren Motor Racing	20th	Bruce McLaren	McLaren M2B	Serenissima 3.0 V8	F.
Cooper Car Company	24	John Surtees	Cooper T81	Maserati 3.0 V12	D.
	26th	Jochen Rindt
Rob Walker Racing Team	28	Joseph Siffert	Cooper T81	Maserati 3.0 V12	D.
Anglo Suisse Racing Team	30th	Joakim Bonnier	Cooper T81	Maserati 3.0 V12	F.
Reg Parnell Racing	32	Mike Spence	Lotus 25	BRM 2.0 V8	F.
DW Racing Enterprises	34	Bob Anderson	Brabham BT11	Climax 2.7 L4	F.
Guy Ligier	36	Guy Ligier	Cooper T81	Maserati 3.0 V12	D.
David Bridges	22nd	John Taylor	Brabham BT11	BRM 2.0 V8	G

Remarks

1. ↑ ^{a b} Both drivers drove the car with the number 8 in the practice sessions, Arundell drove it in the race.

Classifications

Starting grid

Item	driver	constructor	time	Ø speed	begin
01	Jack Brabham	Brabham-Repco	1: 28.1	173.75 km / h	01
02	Denis Hulme	Brabham-Repco	1: 28.7	172.57 km / h	02
03	Jim Clark	Lotus Climax	1: 28.7	172.57 km / h	03
04th	Dan Gurney	Eagle-Climax	1: 28.8	172.38 km / h	04th
05	Mike Parkes	Ferrari	1: 29.0	171.99 km / h	05
06th	Jochen Rindt	Cooper Maserati	1: 29.2	171.61 km / h	06th
07th	Graham Hill	BRM	1: 29.7	170.65 km / h	07th
08th	Jackie Stewart	BRM	1: 29.8	170.46 km / h	08th
09	Lorenzo Bandini	Ferrari	1: 30.0	170.08 km / h	09
10	John Surtees	Cooper Maserati	1: 30.6	168.95 km / h	10
11	Joseph Siffert	Cooper Maserati	1: 31.1	168.03 km / h	11
12	Mike Spence	Lotus BRM	1: 31.4	167.47 km / h	12
13	Joakim Bonnier	Cooper Maserati	1: 31.7	166.93 km / h	13
14th	Bob Anderson	Brabham-Climax	1: 32.0	166.38 km / h	14th
15th	Peter Arundell	Lotus BRM	1: 32.0	166.38 km / h	15th
16	Guy Ligier	Cooper Maserati	1: 35.0	161.13 km / h	16
17th	John Taylor	Brabham-BRM	1: 35.7	159.95 km / h	17th
18th	Bruce McLaren	McLaren Serenissima	no time	-	-

run

Item	driver	constructor	Round	Stops	time	begin	Fastest lap	Failure reason
01	Jack Brabham	Brabham-Repco	90	0	2: 20: 32.5	01
02	Graham Hill	BRM	89	0	+ 1 lap	07th
03	Jim Clark	Lotus Climax	88	2	+ 2 rounds	03
04th	Jackie Stewart	BRM	88	0	+ 2 rounds	08th
05	Mike Spence	Lotus BRM	87	0	+ 3 rounds	12
06th	Lorenzo Bandini	Ferrari	87	0	+ 3 rounds	09
07th	Joakim Bonnier	Cooper Maserati	84	0	+ 6 rounds	13
08th	John Taylor	Brabham-BRM	84	0	+ 6 rounds	17th
9	Guy Ligier	Cooper Maserati	84	0	+ 6 rounds	16
-	Joseph Siffert	Cooper Maserati	79	1	DNF	11		Engine failure
-	Bob Anderson	Brabham-Climax	72	0	DNF	14th		suspension
-	John Surtees	Cooper Maserati	43	0	DNF	10		electrical damage
-	Denis Hulme	Brabham-Repco	36	1	DNF	02	1: 30.6	ignition
-	Peter Arundell	Lotus BRM	27	0	DNF	15th		ignition
-	Dan Gurney	Eagle-Climax	26th	1	DNF	04th		Oil leak
-	Mike Parkes	Ferrari	10	0	DNF	05		Lathe operator
-	Jochen Rindt	Cooper Maserati	02	0	DNF	06th		accident
-	Bruce McLaren	McLaren Serenissima	00	0	DNS			Engine failure

World Cup stands after the race

The first six of the race got 9, 6, 4, 3, 2, 1 points. Only the five best results from nine races counted. In the constructors' championship, only the points of the best placed driver on a team counted.

Driver ranking

Item driver constructor Points 01  Jack Brabham Brabham-Repco 30th 02  Graham Hill BRM 14th 03  Jackie Stewart BRM 12 04th  Lorenzo Bandini Ferrari 11 05  Jochen Rindt Cooper Maserati 11 06th  Denis Hulme Brabham-Repco 10 07th  John Surtees Ferrari 9 08th  Jim Clark Lotus Climax 7th

Item driver constructor Points 09  Mike Parkes Ferrari 6th 10  Bob Bondurant BRM 3 11  Richie Ginther Cooper Maserati 2 12  Dan Gurney Eagle-Climax 2 13  Mike Spence Lotus BRM 2 14th  John Taylor Brabham-BRM 1 15th  Bruce McLaren McLaren Serenissima 1

Constructors' championship

Item constructor Points 01  Brabham-Repco 30th 02  Ferrari 22nd 03  BRM 19th 04th  Cooper Maserati 11 05  Lotus Climax 7th 06th  Eagle-Climax 2 07th  Lotus BRM 2 08th  Brabham-BRM 1 09  McLaren Serenissima 1

Individual evidence

1. ^ "16th Dutch Grand Prix" (motorsportmagazine.com on May 18, 2016)
2. ↑ ^{a b} "Brabham makes it a hat-trick at Zandvoort" (en.espnf1.com on May 19, 2016)

Web links

• Results at motorsport-total.com
• Photos at f1-facts.com
• Grand Prix Results: Dutch GP, 1966 at grandprix.com