1966 Italian Grand Prix

 1966 Italian Grand Prix

Racing data
7th of 9 races in the 1966 World Automobile Championship
Surname:	Gran Premio d'Italia
Date:	4th September 1966
Place:	Monza , Italy
Course:	Autodromo Nazionale di Monza
Length:	390.983 km in 68 laps of 5.75 km
Weather:	dry, sunny, warm
Pole position
Driver:	Mike Parkes	Ferrari
Time:	1: 31.3 min
Fastest lap
Driver:	Ludovico Scarfiotti	Ferrari
Time:	1: 32.4 min (lap 49)
Podium
First:	Ludovico Scarfiotti	Ferrari
Second:	Mike Parkes	Ferrari
Third:	Denis Hulme	Brabham-Repco

The 1966 Italian Grand Prix took place on September 4, 1966 at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza near Monza and was the seventh race of the 1966 World Automobile Championship .

Reports

background

Jack Brabham becomes world champion for the third time ahead of schedule

Ludovico Scarfiotti's only victory

Only pole position for Mike Parkes

Debut of the Honda RA273

Debut race of the BRM P83

One month after the German Grand Prix , the last race of the season took place on the European continent. The designers used the preparation time for the Italian Grand Prix to develop new vehicles and engines. Ferrari reported three Ferrari 312s with revised V12 units. In addition to Lorenzo Bandini and Mike Parkes , Ludovico Scarfiotti drove for the team, Parkes and Scarfiotti then ended the season. Lotus also used three vehicles. Jim Clark drove the new Lotus 43 with a 3.0 liter BRM engine. Peter Arundell drove a Lotus 33 with a 2.0 liter BRM engine. Geki was registered as the third driver in a Lotus 33 with a 2.0 liter Climax engine. For Geki it was the last race in the automobile world championship , he had a fatal accident in a Formula 3 race in 1967 . At Brabham , Jack Brabham used the new Brabham BT20 for the first time , which his team-mate Denis Hulme had been driving all season. However, Brabham decided to use his Brabham BT19 again in the race with which he won the last four races. At Cooper Car Company , the Maserati engines were renewed and were designed to be more compact than before. BRM used the BRM P83 for the first time in the race after it had been revised for months and the team had previously used the old BRM P261 in the Grand Prix .

After a six-race break, Honda returned to the World Automobile Championship and started the season with the new Honda RA273 . The design of the car remained unchanged, the construction was adapted to the new 3.0 liter V12 Honda engine. Compared to the competition, the vehicle was significantly larger and heavier. The team's driver was Richie Ginther who moved from Cooper back to Honda. A Weslake engine with 12 cylinders and a displacement of 3.0 liters was used for the first time at Eagle . Weslake had previously built engines for Vanwall in the late 1950s and in the following years only supplied the Eagle team. A second car with a Climax engine was registered for the former world champion Phil Hill who had not driven in the automobile world championship for two years and for whom it was the last report. He drove sports car races until the end of the year before he announced his retirement from motorsport in 1967. At McLaren , the registration for the Grand Prix was withdrawn shortly before the first practice session because there were again engine problems.

Reg Parnell Racing entered the teams with customer vehicles for the last time two vehicles for a Grand Prix. In addition to regular driver Mike Spence , who drove a Lotus 25 , Giancarlo Baghetti contested his only race of the season in an older Ferrari. The Rob Walker Racing Team returned after a race break, the team's driver was Joseph Siffert . Team Chamaco Collect was there for the last time, their driver Bob Bondurant then switched to Eagle. Chris Amon , who was originally registered for McLaren, competed in a private Brabham BT11 instead . He then ended the season and drove for Ferrari from 1967 .

With Graham Hill , Clark, John Surtees and Jackie Stewart , the four winners of the last four years took part in the race. Ferrari had previously been successful six times, BRM twice, Cooper and Lotus once each among the designers. In the drivers' championship, Brabham had a superior lead and needed a win to become world champion early. Alternatively, it was enough for him to become world champion early if Surtees and Stewart had not won. The constructors title was decided between Brabham, Ferrari and BRM. A win was enough for Brabham, too, or Ferrari and BRM would not have won.

training

The first practice session started on Friday afternoon, the first best times were set by Ferrari and Honda, Cooper also kept up with the fastest vehicles. However, there were technical problems with Graham Hill, who ended the training after a few laps with a defective transmission. Gurney never did a single lap in the new car because the fuel pumps and pipes were modified. Instead he took turns with Phil Hill, both of whom drove the old Eagle. This temporarily had the same vehicle number as the new vehicle, which caused confusion among the officials. Brabham went off the track while testing new tires, but his car was not damaged. Geki did not drive laps either, as his Lotus was kept as a replacement car for Clark. At the end of the training session, Ferrari was leading the class and took the first three places, Parkes was in first place.

The second and final training session was held on Saturday and was scheduled from 3:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. The three Ferrari drivers could not improve their respective best times of the previous day. Clark improved to third place, Surtees to fourth and Bandini lost two places. Stewart, Clark, Brabham, Surtees and Rindt drove around the track together for several laps and held a race by driving each other in the slipstream and also overtaking each other several times. However, personal bests were not set in this way. Honda tried to test a new exhaust system, but switched back to the old system after a short time. Geki received Clark's replacement car to qualify for the race. Shortly after Clark had problems with the transmission, Geki was asked to take a break again. Gurney again had no chance to participate in the training because his Eagle still had problems with the fuel supply. Nevertheless, he qualified for the race with this car because he had driven the old Eagle on Friday and it was wearing the same number at the time.

Parke's best time in the first training session secured him the only pole position of his career in the World Automobile Championship, for Ferrari it was the second of the season. Parkes was three tenths of a second faster than his teammate Scarfiotti, who started from second place. Clark qualified on edge three ahead of Surtees and Bandini. That put five Firestone-tyred vehicles in front, followed by Brabham and Ginther with Goodyear tires. The first ten were completed by Rindt, Stewart and Hulme. The best driver with a customer vehicle was Bonnier in twelfth place. In the back field Gurney and Geki qualified on the last two starting positions. The field of drivers was limited to 20 cars, Phil Hill and Amon were too slow and missed the qualification for the race.

run

Before the start of the race, the Eagle team revised the fuel supply system again. Brabham decided to drive the older of the two cars he used in practice sessions. Clark and Geki exchanged start numbers, but kept their respective vehicles with which they had previously participated in the training. For the filming of the film Grand Prix it was planned to film Amon during the race. Since he did not qualify, Spence was given this role, who then used the starting number 32 instead of his 42 and also changed his overalls to look like one of the main characters in the film. Before the start of the race, Gurney, Surtees and Stewart had technical problems and only appeared on the grid shortly before the warm-up lap.

Scarfiotti took the lead at the start from his teammates Bandini and Parkes. Clark fell back several places. On the first lap, Bandini took the lead in front of Parkes, with Surtees behind. Brabham, Ginther and Scarfiotti fought in the following places. There was a bigger gap to the pursuers Jochen Rindt and Jackie Stewart . Hill retired on the first lap with an engine failure. Parkes took the lead on lap two after Bandini had to pit due to technical problems with the fuel line. He fell back to the end of the field. Denis Hulme improved to fourth place, Clark overtook several opponents in midfield. There was another change in leadership on the third lap when Surtees overtook Bandini. One lap later, Bonnier left with problems with the fuel line. Just two laps later, this was the same reason Stewart dropped out. On lap seven Gurney retired due to an overheated engine, Brabham due to oil loss. This gave the leader Surtees a chance to prevent Brabham from winning the title early, but was overtaken by Parkes and Hulme. In the other places, Scarfiotti overtook Ginther. Behind them, Clark kept shortening the gap after overtaking Rindt. However, three laps later, Clark needed a pit stop due to a technical problem. Scarfiotti took the lead again after several overtaking maneuvers, Ginther followed him in second place. Meanwhile, Surtees overtook Parkes.

Ginther had a serious accident on lap 18 because he went off the road because of a flat tire and his car collided with a tree by the way. The cockpit broke and Ginther sustained minor injuries. On lap 20 Scarfiotti then led ahead of Surtees, Hulme and Parkes. Ferrari tried to enable Scarfiotti to win through stable management by instructing his teammates to overtake Surtees and Hulme, but not to attack the leader. However, this strategy did not work, Surtees took the lead several times. When Parkes overtook his opponents and was in first place, he let Scarfiotti pass again, but also fell behind Surtees.

The decision in the drivers' world championship was made on lap 31. Surtees pitted with a puncture and retired from the race. Since Stewart had already retired, Brabham was already world champion at this point. Two laps later, Bandini parked his car. At the end of the field, Clark made several pit stops because the engine of his vehicle was causing problems. Scarfiotti extended his lead over the pursuers to ten seconds. Parkes and Hulmes dueled for second place and often changed positions. Hulme prevailed in the duel and narrowed the gap to the leader when he caught up with a group of pursuers who were one lap behind. After lapping, Scarfiotti increased his lead from five seconds to 15 seconds before slowing down towards the end of the race to protect the car. Siffert and Clark retired due to technical defects. Baghetti crossed the finish line, but was eight laps behind and not counted. Scarfiotti won his first and only race in the world automobile championship. He is the last Italian driver to date to win his home race. On the home stretch, Parkes overtook Hulme and finished second with a lead of three tenths of a second. Ferrari only succeeded in winning a one-two at home race in 1979 . Only the first three drivers were in one lap, Rindt was fourth ahead of Spence and Anderson. Outside of the points, Bondurant, Arundell and Russo finished the race. The fastest lap of the race was driven by Scarfiotti, the only time in his career. The premature World Cup for Brabham was his third and last. To this day, he is the only driver who became world champion with a specially designed car. In the constructors' world championship, Brabham was four points ahead of Ferrari after the race, which only had a mathematical chance of winning the title. Ferrari should have won the last two races and Brabham should have finished third at most in both Grand Prix.

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
	06th	Ludovico Scarfiotti
Brabham Racing Organization	10	Jack Brabham	Brabham BT19	Repco 3.0 V8	G
			Brabham BT20
	12	Denis Hulme	Brabham BT20
Cooper Car Company	14th	John Surtees	Cooper T81	Maserati 3.0 V12	F.
	16	Jochen Rindt
Honda R&D Co.	18th	Richie Ginther	Honda RA273	Honda 3.0 V12	G
Team Lotus	20th	Giacomo Russo ("Geki")	Lotus 33	Climax 2.0 V8	F.
	22nd	Jim Clark	Lotus 43	BRM 3.0 H16
	24
	22nd	Peter Arundell	Lotus 33	BRM 2.0 V8
	24
Owen Racing Organization	26th	Graham Hill	BRM P83	BRM 3.0 H16	G
			BRM P261	BRM 2.0 V8
	28	Jackie Stewart	BRM P83	BRM 3.0 H16
Anglo American Racers	30th	Dan Gurney	Eagle T1G	Weslake 3.0 V12	G
	34	Dan Gurney		Climax 2.7 L4
		Phil Hill
Chris Amon	32	Chris Amon	Brabham BT11	BRM 2.0 V8
Reg Parnell Racing	32	Mike Spence	Lotus 25	BRM 2.0 V8	F.
	42
	44	Giancarlo Baghetti
			Ferrari Dino 246F1	Ferrari 2.4 V6
Rob Walker Racing Team	36	Joseph Siffert	Cooper T81	Maserati 3.0 V12	D.
Anglo Suisse Racing Team	38	Joakim Bonnier	Cooper T81	Maserati 3.0 V12	F.
DW Racing Enterprises	40	Bob Anderson	Brabham BT11	Climax 2.7 L4	F.
Team Chamaco Collect	48	Bob Bondurant	BRM P261	BRM 2.0 V8	G

Remarks

1. ↑ Jack Brabham drove both the Brabham BT19 and the Brabham BT20 in the training sessions and exchanged the number between both cars so that the lap times of both vehicles counted for the training result. In the race, Brabham drove the Brabham BT19.
2. ↑ ^{a b} Jim Clark drove the Lotus 43 with the number 22 in the training sessions, Geki the Lotus 33 with the number 24. In the race, both drivers drove the same car, but exchanged numbers with each other.
3. ↑ Graham Hill drove both the BRM P83 and the BRM P261 in practice sessions. In the race he drove the BRM P83 with the number 26.
4. ↑ ^{a b} Dan Gurney and Phil Hill drove the Eagle with the number 34 in the training sessions.
5. ↑ ^{a b} Chris Amon drove the Brabham with the number 32 in the practice sessions, Mike Spence the Lotus with the number 44. After Amon did not qualify for the race, Spence took over the number 32 for the race.
6. ↑ Giancarlo Baghetti drove the Lotus 25 in the training sessions. After the car was damaged, Ferrari loaned him an old Ferrari 246 with which Baghetti did the rest of the training and the race.

Classifications

Starting grid

Item	driver	constructor	time	begin
01	Mike Parkes	Ferrari	1: 31.30	01
02	Ludovico Scarfiotti	Ferrari	1: 31.60	02
03	Jim Clark	Lotus BRM	1: 31.80	03
04th	John Surtees	Cooper Maserati	1: 31.90	04th
05	Lorenzo Bandini	Ferrari	1: 32.00	05
06th	Jack Brabham	Brabham-Repco	1: 32.20	06th
07th	Richie Ginther	Honda	1: 32.40	07th
08th	Jochen Rindt	Cooper Maserati	1: 32.70	08th
09	Jackie Stewart	BRM	1: 32.81	09
10	Denis Hulme	Brabham-Repco	1: 32.84	10
11	Graham Hill	BRM	1: 33.40	11
12	Joakim Bonnier	Cooper Maserati	1: 33.70	12
13	Peter Arundell	Lotus BRM	1: 34.10	13
14th	Mike Spence	Lotus BRM	1: 35.00	14th
15th	Bob Anderson	Brabham-Climax	1: 35.30	15th
16	Giancarlo Baghetti	Ferrari	1: 35.50	16
17th	Joseph Siffert	Cooper Maserati	1: 36.30	17th
18th	Bob Bondurant	BRM	1: 36.90	18th
19th	Dan Gurney	Eagle-Weslake	1: 37.60	19th
20th	Giacomo Russo ("Geki")	Lotus Climax	1: 39.30	20th
DNQ	Phil Hill	Eagle-Weslake	1: 40.00	-
DNQ	Chris Amon	Brabham-BRM	1: 40.30	-

run

Item	driver	constructor	Round	Stops	time	begin	Fastest lap	Failure reason
01	Ludovico Scarfiotti	Ferrari	68	0	1: 47: 14,800	02	1: 32.40
02	Mike Parkes	Ferrari	68	0	+ 5.80	01
03	Denis Hulme	Brabham-Repco	68	0	+ 6.10	10
04th	Jochen Rindt	Cooper Maserati	67	0	+ 1 lap	08th
05	Mike Spence	Lotus BRM	67	0	+ 1 lap	14th
06th	Bob Anderson	Brabham-Climax	66	0	+ 2 rounds	15th
07th	Bob Bondurant	BRM	66	0	+ 3 rounds	18th
08th	Peter Arundell	Lotus BRM	63	0	+ 5 rounds	13
09	Giacomo Russo ("Geki")	Lotus Climax	63	0	+ 5 rounds	20th
-	Giancarlo Baghetti	Ferrari	60	0	NC	16		Unrated
-	Jim Clark	Lotus BRM	58	0	DNF	03		Gearbox damage
-	Joseph Siffert	Cooper Maserati	46	0	DNF	17th		Engine failure
-	Lorenzo Bandini	Ferrari	33	0	DNF	05		ignition
-	John Surtees	Cooper Maserati	31	0	DNF	04th		Loss of fuel
-	Richie Ginther	Honda	18th	0	DNF	07th		accident
-	Jack Brabham	Brabham-Repco	7th	0	DNF	06th		Oil leak
-	Dan Gurney	Eagle-Weslake	7th	0	DNF	19th		Oil temperature
-	Jackie Stewart	BRM	5	0	DNF	09		Loss of fuel
-	Joakim Bonnier	Cooper Maserati	3	0	DNF	12		Gasepdal
-	Graham Hill	BRM	1	0	DNF	11		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 39 02  Graham Hill BRM 17th 03  Jochen Rindt Cooper Maserati 18th 04th  John Surtees Ferrari / Cooper Maserati 15th 05  Jackie Stewart BRM 14th 06th  Denis Hulme Brabham-Repco 14th 07th  Mike Parkes Ferrari 12 08th  Lorenzo Bandini Ferrari 12 09  Ludovico Scarfiotti Ferrari 9

Item driver constructor Points 10  Jim Clark Lotus Climax 7th 11  Mike Spence Lotus BRM 4th 12  Bob Bondurant BRM 3 13  Dan Gurney Eagle-Climax 2 14th  Richie Ginther Cooper Maserati 2 15th  John Taylor Brabham-BRM 1 16  Bruce McLaren McLaren Serenissima 1 17th  Bob Anderson Brabham-Climax 1

Constructors' championship

Item constructor Points 01  Brabham-Repco 40 (43) 02  Ferrari 31 (32) 03  BRM 22nd 04th  Cooper Maserati 20th 05  Lotus Climax 7th 06th  Lotus BRM 4th 07th  Eagle-Climax 2 08th  Brabham-BRM 1 09  McLaren Serenissima 1 10  Brabham-Climax 1

Web links

• Results at motorsport-total.com
• Photos at f1-facts.com

Individual evidence

1. ^ "Italy Grand Prix - a real italian Victory" (motorsportmagazine.com on July 28, 2016)