1966 Belgian Grand Prix

 1966 Belgian Grand Prix

Racing data
2nd of 9 races in the 1966 World Automobile Championship
Surname:	XII Grote Prijs Van Belgie
Date:	June 12, 1966
Place:	Spa , Belgium
Course:	Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps
Length:	395.36 km in 28 laps of 14.12 km
Weather:	cloudy, rain
Pole position
Driver:	John Surtees	Ferrari
Time:	3: 38.0 min
Fastest lap
Driver:	John Surtees	Ferrari
Time:	4: 18.7 min (lap 18)
Podium
First:	John Surtees	Ferrari
Second:	Jochen Rindt	Cooper Maserati
Third:	Lorenzo Bandini	Ferrari

The 1966 Belgian Grand Prix took place on June 12, 1966 on the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps near Spa and was the second race of the 1966 World Automobile Championship . Jackie Stewart had a serious accident in a mass accident involving nine vehicles .

Reports

background

Anglo American Racers debut with the Eagle MK1

Winner John Surtees - last race for Ferrari

Compared to the previous year, the race distance was shortened from 32 laps to 28 laps. As with the Monaco Grand Prix , extensive recordings were made for the film Grand Prix , in which high-resolution original scenes of the race can be seen.

After skipping the first race of the season, Dan Gurney returned to the World Automobile Championship and drove for the first time with his own team, the Anglo American Racers . An Eagle Mk1 based on the Lotus 38 and designed by Len Terry was reported as the vehicle . Before the designer later switched to Weslake engines, outdated Climax units were used for the first races . The vehicle had a light metal monocoque and was painted blue with a white stripe in the middle of the vehicle. Gurney remained the team's only driver before a second car was used towards the end of the season. McLaren replaced the Ford engine on the McLaren M2B with a 3.0-liter V8 unit from Scuderia Serenissima . This engine proved to be very error-prone, which means that McLaren used the Ford engines again later in the season.

In addition to Jim Clark , Peter Arundell , who returned after a long injury break, was also registered at Lotus . He was supposed to drive the new Lotus 43 , but did not take part in the race due to technical problems in practice. In BRM the new was again BRM P83 reported, but even with this vehicle's debut postponed further, as Stewart and Graham Hill still the old BRM P261 preferred. Cooper reported two Cooper T81s for Jochen Rindt and Richie Ginther . For Ginther it was the last race at Cooper, he then switched back to Honda .

In the teams with customer vehicles, Rob Walker Racing Team changed cars and reported a Cooper T81 for Joseph Siffert . Team Chamaco Collect deployed a BRM P261 for Bob Bondurant and Vic Wilson . For Wilson it was the last message in the automobile world championship after he had last participated in the Italian Grand Prix in 1960 . Bondurant contested the race.

With Clark and Jack Brabham two former winners took part in the race, Clark won the last four events in a row. In the constructors' category, Scuderia Ferrari and Lotus were each victorious four times and Cooper once. Stewart was ahead of Lorenzo Bandini and Hill in the drivers 'championship, and BRM was ahead of Ferrari in the constructors' championship.

training

The first training session took place on Friday afternoon and lasted two hours. Stewart set the first fastest time, then the Surtees Ferrari was the fastest car before Stewart improved to 3: 45.0 minutes, four seconds faster than the best lap time of the previous year. Ferrari, Brabham and BRM did not have any technical problems in the first training session unlike the competition. At the two factory coopers, the training ended early due to engine damage. Clark parked his vehicle after one lap, his teammate Arundell after three laps. At McLaren, an oil leak ended training prematurely. Difficulties with various mechanical parts arose on Gurney's Eagle. Surtees set the best time of the practice, with 3: 40.4 minutes he was five seconds faster than Stewart in second place.

During the entire training session, former world champion Phil Hill drove around the track with a camera truck to film. This was heavily criticized by the drivers. After the first training session, the Grand Prix Drivers' Association decided in a specially convened meeting to limit the filming to a small time frame at the end of a training session. Due to a forest fire, the start of the second training session was postponed by 45 minutes. Surtees was again the fastest driver, he improved his best time by another two seconds. Lotus did not compete due to defects, Hulme also had problems with his Brabham. Cooper had fixed the defects from the previous day and Rindt improved to second place with a time of 3: 41.2 minutes. For Bruce McLaren , the race weekend ended with an engine failure. Since he did not have a spare engine, he could not compete in the race. It was similar for Arundell, he too did not start at the Grand Prix due to an engine failure.

With an advantage of more than three seconds, Surtees secured the pole position . This was his first of the season, having last started from first place at the 1964 Italian Grand Prix . Rindt qualified in second place ahead of Stewart and Brabham, so four different cars started from the top four. In the midfield, Bandini was fifth ahead of Bonnier, the best driver with a customer vehicle. Spence finished seventh, Ginther eighth. The first ten were completed by Hill and Clark. Gurney qualified in last place on the grid due to the problems with his Eagle.

run

The night before the race, Clark's car was repaired, but further repair was necessary when Clark drove a few laps on race day and damaged the suspension. The car was ready to drive again at the start of the race. Since McLaren could not participate, the car was repainted by Bondurant for the filming of "Grand Prix" so that it looked like the McLaren vehicle. In addition, the number was taken from McLaren's car and painted on Bondurants BRM. Phil Hill drove a camera car in front of the field on the first lap, then he pitted.

After it was dry and sunny the two days before, the weather changed on Sunday. The clouds increased before the start, but rain had not yet fallen. Surtees took the lead in the first corner in front of Rindt and Brabham, behind them Bandini and Stewart were fighting for fourth place. During the first lap, a heavy rain shower reached the race track and led to a pile-up in which nine vehicles were involved. Stewart later said they drove into a wall of water the likes of which can only be found in southern Belgium.

As a result, he got off the track and collided first with a telegraph pole, then with a pile of wood. Then his BRM came to a stop on the wall of a farmhouse along the way. Stewart was trapped in the car and fuel was running out. Graham Hill, who had also had an accident and had hit the rear of the barricade made of straw bales, came to Stewart's aid. He also failed to remove the stuck steering wheel to free his teammate. Instead, Graham Hill managed to turn off the fuel pump on the BRM that was still running. Bondurant, who rolled over and was slightly injured, came to Stewart's aid as well. With the help of a spectator's tool, Graham Hill and Bondurant managed to free their opponent, but it took a total of 25 minutes. Stewart was placed in the back of a pick-up truck and waited there for an ambulance to arrive at the scene of the accident, which then took him to a hospital on the circuit, where there were no doctors. He was then driven to another hospital in another ambulance, but the driver got lost on the way there.

These chaotic conditions in caring for an injured driver were one of the reasons Stewart began to work harder to ensure safety in the World Automobile Championship. Stewart said decades later that it wasn't until after the race that he realized how dangerous it was. Before that, he believed that accidents only happen to others until it hit him and he was close to death. That was the point at which he wanted to make motorsport safer. Stewart was injured for more than a month and recovered completely. Besides him, Hill and Bondurant, Bonnier, Spence, Siffert and Hulme also had accidents. Bonnier's car was thrown through the window of a farmhouse, he and the others were unharmed. Since Clark had stalled at the start with another engine failure, only seven cars remained in the race.

After the first lap, Surtees was already several seconds ahead of Brabham and Bandini. Ginther, Rindt and Ligier followed at a distance. Gurney was also still in the race, but drove significantly slower than his opponents in front of him. On the second lap, Brabham was overtaken by Bandini, who then caught up with Surtees and took the lead. The rain covered the entire route at this point. Surtees took the lead again on lap three, behind him Rindt improved to second place, Brabham fell further back. Surtees was then overtaken by Rindt, who led a race in the automobile world championship for the first time in his career. Due to the increasing rain and poor visibility, the first three drivers kept greater distances from each other so as not to drive in each other's spray. For several laps there were no changes in position and no duels. Only Ligier came to the pits to have the tire pressure lowered.

On lap 20 the rain subsided and the track dried up within a short time. This changed the balance of power at the top and Surtees was again faster than Rindt. One lap later there was an overtaking maneuver and Surtees again led the Grand Prix. In the end, both drivers lapped Bandini.

Surtees won the race by 42 seconds. It was his first win of the season, having last won the Italian Grand Prix in 1964, and it was his last win for Ferrari. Two weeks later, Ferrari team boss Eugenio Dragoni refused to start at the Le Mans 24-hour race , which he took as an opportunity to quit Ferrari and switch to Cooper. Surtees later said that Dragoni was also the only one who did not congratulate him on winning the Belgian Grand Prix. For him it was the only victory at the Belgian Grand Prix, Ferrari only won this race again in 1975 .

Rindt finished second and achieved his first podium finish in the automobile world championship. Bandini completed the podium in third place. Brabham finished fourth, two laps behind, while Ginther was fifth, three laps behind. From 1966 a new rule applied that 90% of the race distance had to be completed for a rating. As in the previous Monaco Grand Prix, Ligier and Gurney did not reach the required minimum distance despite having crossed the finish line, and again there was no complete point allocation. Ligier was only one lap missing to be classified in sixth.

In the drivers' championship, Bandini took the lead for the only time in his career. He was one point ahead of Stewart and Surtees. In the constructors' championship, Ferrari was six points ahead of BRM and nine points ahead of Cooper.

Registration list

team	No.	driver	chassis	engine	tires
Brabham Racing Organization	03	Jack Brabham	Brabham BT19	Repco 3.0 V8	G
	04th	Denis Hulme	Brabham BT11	Climax 2.5 L4
Scuderia Ferrari SpA SEFAC	06th	John Surtees	Ferrari 312F1 / 66	Ferrari 3.0 V12	D.
	07th	Lorenzo Bandini	Ferrari 246 Tasman	Ferrari 2.4 V6
Team Chamaco Collect	08th	Bob Bondurant	BRM P261	BRM 2.0 V8	G
		Vic Wilson
Team Lotus	04th	Jim Clark	Lotus 33	Climax 2.0 V8	F.
	11	Peter Arundell	Lotus 43	BRM 3.0 H16
Owen Racing Organization	14th	Graham Hill	BRM P261	BRM 2.0 V8	D.
	15th	Jackie Stewart	BRM P261	BRM 2.0 V8	D.
			BRM P83	BRM 3.0 H16	G
Reg Parnell Racing	16	Mike Spence	Lotus 25	BRM 2.0 V8	F.
Cooper Car Company	18th	Richie Ginther	Cooper T81	Maserati 3.0 V12	D.
	19th	Jochen Rindt
Anglo Suisse Racing Team	20th	Joakim Bonnier	Cooper T81	Maserati 3.0 V12	F.
Rob Walker Racing Team	21st	Joseph Siffert	Cooper T81	Maserati 3.0 V12	D.
Guy Ligier	22nd	Guy Ligier	Cooper T81	Maserati 3.0 V12	D.
Bruce McLaren Motor Racing	24	Bruce McLaren	McLaren M2B	Serenissima 3.0 V8	F.
Anglo American Racers	27	Dan Gurney	Eagle T1G	Climax 2.7 L4	G

Remarks

1. ↑ ^{a b} Both drivers drove the Lotus-Climax with the number 8 in the training sessions. Bob Bondurant drove the car in the race.
2. ↑ Jackie Stewart drove the BRM P261 with the number 15 in practice sessions and in the race.

Classifications

Starting grid

Item	driver	constructor	time	Ø speed	begin
01	John Surtees	Ferrari	3: 38.0	233.17 km / h	01
02	Jochen Rindt	Cooper Maserati	3: 41.2	229.80 km / h	02
03	Jackie Stewart	BRM	3: 41.5	229.49 km / h	03
04th	Jack Brabham	Brabham-Repco	3: 41.8	229.18 km / h	04th
05	Lorenzo Bandini	Ferrari	3: 43.8	227.13 km / h	05
06th	Joakim Bonnier	Cooper Maserati	3: 44.3	226.63 km / h	06th
07th	Mike Spence	Lotus BRM	3: 45.2	225.72 km / h	07th
08th	Richie Ginther	Cooper Maserati	3: 45.4	225.52 km / h	08th
09	Graham Hill	BRM	3: 45.8	225.12 km / h	09
10	Jim Clark	Lotus Climax	3: 45.8	225.12 km / h	10
11	Bob Bondurant	BRM	3: 50.5	220.53 km / h	11
12	Guy Ligier	Cooper Maserati	3: 51.1	219.96 km / h	12
13	Denis Hulme	Brabham-Climax	3: 51.4	219.67 km / h	13
14th	Joseph Siffert	Cooper Maserati	3: 53.8	217.42 km / h	14th
15th	Dan Gurney	Eagle-Climax	3: 57.6	213.94 km / h	15th
16	Peter Arundell	Lotus BRM	no time	-	-
17th	Bruce McLaren	McLaren Serenissima	no time	-	-
18th	Vic Wilson	BRM	no time	-	-

run

Item	driver	constructor	Round	Stops	time	begin	Fastest lap	Failure reason
01	John Surtees	Ferrari	28	0	2: 09: 11.3	01	4: 18.7
02	Jochen Rindt	Cooper Maserati	28	0	+ 42.1	02
03	Lorenzo Bandini	Ferrari	27	0	+ 1 lap	05
04th	Jack Brabham	Brabham-Repco	26th	0	+ 2 rounds	04th
05	Richie Ginther	Cooper Maserati	25th	0	+ 3 rounds	08th
-	Guy Ligier	Cooper Maserati	24	1	NC	12		unclassified
-	Dan Gurney	Eagle-Climax	23	0	NC	15th		unclassified
-	Bob Bondurant	BRM	00	0	DNF	11		accident
-	Mike Spence	Lotus BRM	00	0	DNF	07th		accident
-	Joseph Siffert	Cooper Maserati	00	0	DNF	14th		accident
-	Denis Hulme	Brabham-Climax	00	0	DNF	13		accident
-	Graham Hill	BRM	00	0	DNF	09		accident
-	Jim Clark	Lotus Climax	00	0	DNF	10		accident
-	Joakim Bonnier	Cooper Maserati	00	0	DNF	06th		accident
-	Jackie Stewart	BRM	00	0	DNF	03		accident
-	Peter Arundell	Lotus BRM	00	0	DNS			Engine damage during training
-	Bruce McLaren	McLaren Serenissima	00	0	DNS			Bearing damage in training
-	Vic Wilson	BRM	00	0	DNS			Bondurant drove the car

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  Lorenzo Bandini Ferrari 10 02  Jackie Stewart BRM 9 03  John Surtees Ferrari 9 04th  Jochen Rindt Cooper Maserati 6th 05  Graham Hill BRM 4th 06th  Bob Bondurant BRM 3 07th  Jack Brabham Brabham-Repco 3 08th  Richie Ginther Cooper Maserati 2

Constructors' championship

Item constructor Points 01  Ferrari 15th 02  BRM 9 03  Cooper Maserati 6th 04th  Brabham-Repco 3

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} "Living with death" (espnf1.com on October 29, 2015)
2. ↑ "Classic Belgian Grand Prix - 1966: Hollywood & Horror" ( Memento of the original from July 31, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (badgergp.com on October 29, 2015) 
3. ^ "Spa 1966: John Surtees reflects on an epic race" (stuartcodling.com on October 30, 2015)

Web links

• Results at motorsportarchiv.de
• Photos at f1-facts.com
• Grand Prix Results: Belgian GP, ​​1966 on grandprix.com
• Belgian GP - An Italian Victory at motorsportmagazine.com