#144 1966 French Grand Prix

On Monday, June 13, 1966, Henry Ford II gets to France: he will go to Le Mans to support the driver of his racing team, and he is received, together with his son Edsel, from French Prime Minister Georges Pompidou, who invited him to come visit. The meeting lasts for almost one hour and the conversation is mostly about the global economic situation, the European global market, and American investments in Europe. France, as is widely known, intends to limit American investments in its territory and would like the partners of Mec to do the same, because they fear that American economy will end up taking possession of certain economic levers of command in Europe. When Henry Ford comes out from Hôtel Matignon, the journalists ask him whether he is planning to build a car factory in France. The industrialist answers that this is not to be ruled out, but could only be done in four or five years, because now Ford is committed in a big industrial effort in Germany. When asked about the next 24 Hours of Le Mans, Henry Ford declares that, obviously, he hopes to win it. And when asked what his thoughts are about Ferrari, he just replies:

"It’s a good car".

Only four days pass. On Thursday, June 16, 1966, a plot twist shocks the world of Motorsport: surprisingly, on the 24 Hours of Le Mans eve, the seventh and last round of the World Championship for Prototypes, John Surtees, the English ace who is currently driving for Ferrari, declares that he does not intend to participate in the competition, scheduled for next Saturday and Sunday. The reason being: a third driver - the Italian Ludovico Scarfiotti - has been included in the team which is going to take turns at the wheel of the prototype, the team being originally composed of John Surtees himself and another British driver, Mike Parkes. Surtees declares that the director of the Ferrari racing department, Eugenio Dragoni, would answer like this to his objections:

"If you don’t like this, don’t go on track, then".

The British driver also adds that Dragoni, to justify such a decision, would take his health conditions as an excuse.

"I’m feeling well; even if the 24 Hours of Le Mans is long and arduous, I’m convinced taking turns with Parkes will be enough for me to rest. Actually, Dragoni doesn’t like me anymore and he would rather have an Italian driver to win".

The relationship between Surtees and the Maranello team have been strained for some time, because the driver has been accused of willingly attempting to break the cars, driving them abruptly, beyond the limits of resistance, therefore declaring that they were not okay. Such a controversy does not help the Ferrari team, and surely their American rivals will take advantage of it. Meanwhile, at Le Mans it is decided to entrust the two 330-P3 prototypes to the pairs formed by Parkes-Scarfiotti and Bandini-Guichet. After the substitution of John Surtees with Ludovico Scarfiotti, decided by sporting director Dragoni on the eve of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, on Friday, June 17, 1966, Enzo Ferrari declares:

"I was not able to get in touch with anyone at Le Mans, so, apart from yesterday’s telegram, I haven’t received news. I can only wait until Dragoni and the drivers come back, which will be, next Wednesday. Then, we will decide what to do".

On Saturday, June 18, and Sunday, June 19, 1966, Henry Ford II attends the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the amazing French race of speed and resistance, known as the ultimate testing ground for the world’s most powerful cars. Does this mean that the heir of the great Ford really believes in the winning cars that bear his name? It is logical to think so, but experience teaches (or should teach) to be much careful in predicting the outcome of this peculiar race, which owes its popularity to solid technical reason. The main topic of the 24 Hours of Le Mans this year is the Ferrari-Ford fight, a duel which is going on since the moment when, in 1964, the American factory announced the deal with other Detroit brands and decided to engage - exclusively for publicity reason - the difficult path of speed race. 

The participation in the races of one of the giants of the world's automotive industry (even though, through organizations which supported and sustained it) has ignited the world of sport. It was inevitable that, on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, excessive controversy would arise, as if the fate and glories of a country or even of a continent depended on motor racing. It is true, indeed, that Ford, with their name sustained by almost unlimited resources, have just challenged Ferrari, the small Italian factory, which is famous all over the world for its racing, sports, and touring cars, which was born for motorsport, and for many years has been rightfully successful in this arduous and expensive activity, in one of the fields where every other competitor had ended up raising white flag. Nevertheless, resources are not everything, at least in motor sports, as has been undoubtedly proved by the fact that, so far, Ford has had very little satisfaction against Ferrari's refined technique and prodigies. So, let's take the 24 Hours of Le Mans for what it is and what it means: a mere episode, even if it is the greatest and most important event of the year. As is customary, about sixty cars will take part in the race, with one hundred and twenty drivers who will take turns at the wheel. There are cars of all displacements: from the French Alpine, 1000 cc, to the Ford Mk II, almost 7000 cc. Obviously the cars with the biggest displacements are the ones competing for the overall victory, while the others are competing just for either victory in their specific class, for the performance index victory (i.e. the ratio between the distance actually covered in 24 hours and the minimum distance imposed by the regulation according to the engine displacements), or for the Ford MK II performance index in 24 hours (calculated through a formula considering the average speed, the vehicle weight and the gasoline consumption in litres every hundred kilometres). Apart from Ferrari and Ford, both official and unofficial, in spite of the fact that the pairs driving them have not yet been decided, Chaparral could also be a serious competitor for the race, as a worthy outsider: the original American car is equipped with automatic transmission, and they imposed themselves with Phil Hill and Jo Bonnier in the 1000 Kilometres of Nürburgring. The race for the 2-litre class will be equally interesting, with the Ferrari Dino, the Porsche and the new French Matra competing.

Last year, the private Ferrari driven by Gregory-Rindt won, but the record time still belongs to Vaccarella-Guichet (also on a Ferrari): in 1964, they covered more than 4.695 kilometres in 24 hours, at the average speed of 195.638 km/h; the lap record, instead, belongs to Phil Hill on the 7-litres Ford (222.303 km/h). The start will be given on Saturday, June 18, 1966, at 4:00 p.m.; then an interminable run-up will take place, two complete turns of the clock, at almost 200 km/h. On Saturday, June 18, 1966, the first part of 24 hours of Le Mans unfolds in a quite regular way and according to the predictions: the seven-litre Fords are clearly prevailing, they were able to exploit their power on the long Honandières straights and the grandstands; but the Ferraris are defending themselves well. The much-feared American efficiency is not that insuperable: the Fords sometimes lose time during refuelling, so that the Ferraris manage to keep up with the pace of the leaders, especially with the Rodriguez-Ginther and Bandini-Guichet pairs. During the first part of the race, there are some accidents, Ludovico Scarfiotti being also involved in the most dramatic one. After midnight, rain starts to fall again, making the track very slippery, at the so called Tertre Rouge turn: for this reason, the #20 Ferrari, driven by Scarfiotti, collides with Schlesser’s Matra and Ligier’s CD. The three cars collide against protection barriers: fortunately, the respective drivers are uninjured. Scarfiotti is visibly shaken, but he can reach the Ferrari box walking, which is very reassuring about his condition. Earlier in the race, Frenchman Pasquier’s Asa and Ogier’s CD have collided at the Mulsanne turn; the CD goes off the road, and catches fire, the driver suffering some fractures to his arms. He is immediately taken to the hospital in Le Mans, but his condition does not cause any serious concern. Later, the Porsche driven by Frenchman Buchet ends up off the track, the driver getting by with just a minor wound on his face. Fortunately, also in this case, nothing serious happens. Meanwhile, as already said, the Ferraris defend themselves well, but only in the large displacements category. Unfortunately, the Dino cars - including Vaccarella-Casoni’s one - have to withdraw due to a series of breakdowns (water and oil leaks). The Porsches are running at an average speed of 195 km/h: it is said that the fast 2 litres cars, with the new bodywork, gained about twenty kilometres per hour in maximum speed, proving to be clearly superior to the French-English Matras. 

After twenty-four hours, Ford finally wins the hard Le Mans race: it took them three years and, of course, an unknown but certainly huge amount of money to achieve this. With perfect timing, Henry Ford II himself is present to savour the joy of victory, together with his Italian wife. The race has been hard fought in the first eight hours, but then has began to lose interest during the night, with the withdrawal of the Ferrari cars. For a third of the race it seemed, in fact, that the overwhelming power of the Ford strong team, with eight brand new MK II prototypes and seven other GT 40 cars, could be somehow controlled by the Maranello team. Pedro Rodriguez and Richie Ginther had long fought in the first positions at the wheel of the 330 P3 of Luigi Chinetti's Scuderia, followed by the equal cars of the official team, those of Scarfiotti-Parkes and Bandini-Guichet. But then, in a rather short span of time, Rodriguez's car was forced to stop due to a gearbox failure, Scarfiotti's car had an accident, luckily without consequences for the driver, and finally Bandini-Guichet's car, again a 330 P3, had a series of mechanical problems with the brakes and the engine, that led to withdrawal. The other P2 Ferraris also had mechanical problems, especially with their transmissions. But perhaps the deepest disappointment for Ferrari, and for the Italian factories in general, came from the Dino cars: the three cars entered in the race were not able to hold up for more than a few hours, and were not able to really exploit their well-known speed and road holding qualities. A sudden downgrade of the cars is highly unlikely; instead, the cause could be a hasty preparation, due to the lack of resources and personnel. Indeed, at the beginning of the year, Enzo Ferrari had made it clear that he did not intend to enter more than one car per type in each race; here at Le Mans, on the contrary, three Dinos and three P3 cars have been entered, which represents quite an effort for the team. Ford has raced three teams and a total of eight 7-litre cars; the best placed team was Carrol Shelby’s one, with two cars in the first two places, quite a reward for the Texan man after all the disappointments of the past years. A heart stopping finale, however, unfolded for the American cars: the three cars approached the finish line all together, Miles-Hulme's car a few meters ahead. Everyone was convinced that they had the victory in the bag; nevertheless, first place goes to McLaren-Amon, because of the type of start adopted at Le Mans. 

The cars are lined up in a herringbone pattern, therefore some of them are ahead of the others; this difference is considered in the final calculation of the distance covered. So, this calculation favours the car that arrived three or four meters behind the first one, but had this initial advantage of about twenty meters. During the French race, the #1 Ford GT40 Mk II driven by Ken Miles and Denny Hulme has repeatedly improved the track record and is leading nearly four laps ahead of the second and third cars respectively, the #2 Ford GT40 Mk II driven by Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon and the #5 driven by Ronnie Bucknum and Dick Hutcherson. At this point, Leo Beebe, the executive in charge of Ford's racing team, orders Miles to slow down to make a parade finish and take a historic photo of their three cars crossing the finish line together, to be used for publicity purposes. Miles slows down and, thanks to some unplanned pit stops, cars #2 and #5 get close to him. Nevertheless, the photo that the Ford executives have been waiting for is ruined by the #2 Ford GT40, which speeds up and crosses the finish line first. According to the Ford executives, all three pairs and cars should have been winners. The final victory - as mentioned - goes to the McLaren-Amon pair, thanks to an underwhelming performance in qualifying. Miles therefore loses his personal record, which is, being the only driver in history to have won at Sebring, Daytona and Le Mans in the same year. Only fifteen cars out of the fifty-five that started cross the finish line, one of the lowest percentages ever registered at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The Dino, the French CDs, the Matra-B.R.M., the Chaparral, the Bizzarrini, the Serenissima and the Austin-Healey are out of the race since Saturday evening. Just after dawn, only Ford, without rivals in the prototypes top class, Porsche in the prototypes and sports up to two litres category, the French Alpine and the very consistent Marcos in the lower categories are left. Of the eight Ford 7-litre cars, five are out, two of them due to suspension failure and three of them due to engine failure. Fords are much heavier cars than the Ferraris: they count above all on their number and on the huge power of their engines; Dan Gurney's record-breaking lap at an average speed of 230.103 km/h far beat Phil Hill's 1965 record (222.803 km/h), even though it costs a car. But Ford's goal was to win and to break the race records, and they succeeded. McLaren-Amon’s average speed (201.796 km/h) is more than six kilometres per hour better than the previous one (set by Guichet-Vaccarella on Ferrari, in 1964). 

The interesting American Chaparral car, with automatic transmission, driven by Phil Hill and Bonnier, did not outstand: they were forced to withdraw due to a battery failure, that prevented them from rejoining the race after a refuelling. Of course, the cold and unstable weather affected the result: a few drops of rain from time to time made the track slippery and contributed to causing some accidents, fortunately not serious, but still, eliminated several cars. If the temperature had been warmer, it would probably have affected the grip of the American engines. In the meantime, the quarrel between John Surtees and Ferrari continues: on Sunday, June 19, 1966, the British driver announces on the Sunday Minor, a weekly magazine he regularly collaborates with, that a meeting scheduled for this week with the owner of the Maranello House will determine whether he will be staying at Ferrari or not. Surtees writes:

“After the quarrel with Eugenio Dragoni at Le Mans, I need to discuss with Enzo Ferrari whether they still want me in the team or not. My reputation as a driver and my principles are at stake".

Surtees affirms that he would have preferred the public not to know about the tension that are undermining the internal relations in Scuderia Ferrari. Nevertheless, after the quarrels between manager Eugenio Dragoni and himself, he has no other alternative. Surtees' article is published before the news of Ferrari's defeat at Le Mans arrives to London. It is an absolutely contemporary topic, though. Surtees writes that, contrary to popular belief, it was Dragoni who forbid him to race at Le Mans, after he had protested against Scarfiotti being included in the team:

 "It wasn't me who refused to race".

We do not know how certain this is, but Surtees affirms that Dragoni has no great sympathy for him because he is English and he is, indeed, looking for an Italian driver to prepare for the World Championship. Surtees, World Champion in 1964, would have good chances to win again this year, which would be his second title with Ferrari. The meeting between Jonh Surtees and Enzo Ferrari takes place in the following days. However, on Wednesday, June 22, 1966, Enzo Ferrari calls a press conference in Maranello, and he releases the following statement:

"John Surtees and Enzo Ferrari met today in Maranello. Given the situation of discomfort that has arisen in the ongoing technical and sporting collaboration, it was agreed not to renew such relationship".

Ferrari, who does not wish to make any further comments, also announces that due to the current situation in Italy (the ongoing national agitation of the metalworkers), Ferrari's participation in the French Grand Prix, the third round of the World Championship for Drivers, to be held on July, 3, 1966, in Reims, is in doubt. However, shall the company situation improve, one of the cars will be entrusted to Lorenzo Bandini, while the second car (the one destined to Surtees) cannot be entrusted to Scarfiotti, because of the well-known accident the driver had at Le Mans. The decision to break off work relations with John Surtees was expected. As is well known, during the tests for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Ferrari team leader has argued with sporting director Eugenio Dragoni, who has decided to line up Ludovico Scarfiotti alongside the Surtees-Parkes pair (theoretically as a reserve). Indeed, the sporting director was concerned about Surtees’ physical condition and feared that the champion would not bear the extreme hardness of the race. Surtees has restarted racing less than two months ago, after he suffered a serious accident at Mosport last autumn: although he is perfectly recovered, it was feared that he would not be able to keep the pace of the 24 Hours race for long. Surtees had lively protested against Dragoni's decision. It was then Enzo Ferrari who had the last word. However, the rumour is spreading, and the source is allegedly close to the Modenese company, that Surtees' departure would not be unrelated to the Le Mans quarrel, which has nothing to do with the private interests of the driver. 

In the meantime, it is underlined that it is not completely unlikely that Surtees will have to move to some British manufacturer (which could be Cooper, where a driver of great class is currently missing). The former World Champion would bring to his new team the 9 points in the World Championship classification conquered in the Belgian Grand Prix as a gift. A few days pass, before John Surtees finally decides to take part in the French Grand Prix on a Cooper-Maserati, after testing it at Silverstone, he can be pleased:

"We had a good performance, I'm happy about it".

The British driver specifies that due to the contract currently effective, he is not allowed to be part of the official Cooper team, therefore he will use the car occasionally in some Grand Prix, stipulating a special contract from time to time. The contractual constraint is the following: Surtees, while racing for Ferrari, was committed to use just the gasoline provided by a major gasoline company they had an agreement with. His break-up with the Maranello manufacturer did not change this latest contract. Cooper, however, is committed to another fuel brand, competitor of the former. Hence, Surtees cannot go on track driving an official Cooper single-seater. John will therefore race as an independent driver, using the fuel of the company he is committed to. Only time will tell us what really happened in the days immediately before and after John Surtees' dismissal. One day in early June 1966, after the Monaco Formula 1 Grand Prix, Enzo Ferrari calls Mauro Forghieri and asks him to come to his office. Ferrari has a dry and cold voice, which immediately suggests to his technical director that there is something wrong. When Forghieri enters his office, Ferrari tells him to get close to his desk, where there is an open newspaper. It's a weekly publication called Autoitaliana, from Editoriale Domus in Milan, the same publisher as Quattroruote, Italy's leading motoring monthly publication. Ferrari shows Forghieri a three-pages article, entitled Surtees' hobby - Anatomy of the Lola 70, written by English journalist David Phipps:

"Read it and tell me what you think".

Phipps' article says that Surtees is not only the reigning Formula 1 World Champion and one of the top drivers both in Grand Prix and endurance racing, but he is also a huge fan of racing cars. According to Phipps, Surtees' passion is so great that the English driver has a personal team to organize his own sport activity with Sport cars, given that Ferrari does not compete in this category. The article also describes the technical characteristics of the car and provides a photograph picturing the Lola 70 in the race, John at the wheel, and a technical cutaway, by James H. Allington. An interesting car that adopts technical solutions from both the Lola GT Prototype and the Ford GT Prototype. As Forghieri has finished reading the article, he tells Ferrari that the Lola seems a good car, designed by Broadley to exploit in an easy and fast way the great power of the American engines. In addition, he confesses that it reminds him of a new generation of American single seater, but with the bodywork of a sports car. Ferrari retorts, asking the engineer to look carefully at the front of the Lola, and then to tell him whether it looks (a little) too much like the nose of the 330 P2. Forghieri replies that, in fact, there are similarities and common points, especially in the nose and in the front part of the bodywork. Later, the engineer explains to Ferrari that it is difficult, with the technical regulations imposed by the FIA, to create a racing car that is completely different from the others. But Ferrari replies dryly:

"The Americans did. The Ford GT doesn't look like our cars, or any of the other cars running in the Prototype or Sport categories. I can't understand why the Lola 70 looks so much like this year's 330 P2 and the 1964 330 P. I think it is opportune to have Surtees explain it. I also wonder why Surtees does not consider it sufficient to race in Formula 1 and in the Prototypes with Ferrari. Evidently, he has plans that he has not told us about".

At this point, however, Forghieri reminds Ferrari that it was him who had given Surtees a special permission to run with other competition cars in races that do not conflict with Ferrari's technical and sporting interests; such a permission had never been granted to anyone else before. Ferrari replies that this is true, and that he has not forgotten it at all. But he also adds that when he had given this permission, he did not think that Surtees would end up collaborating on the design and construction of a racing car, as he has most likely done with Broadley's Sport.

"Do you think the Lola 70 could become our competitor in the Prototypes category in 1966?"

Ferrari asks Forghieri. The engineer replies that if Broadley built fifty examples of his car, as provided for in Annex J approved by the International Sports Commission, the Lola could certainly be one more competitor for Ferrari. Besides, in the first races, Surtees’s Lola has always been two or three seconds faster than Bruce McLaren's McLaren-Oldsmobile, which is considered the best Sport car of the moment. Ferrari looks at Forghieri, closes the paper and thanks him with a few words:

"Forghieri, thank you. I understand".

After that, on Wednesday, June 15, 1966, at Le Mans, Jonh Surtees completes some test laps at the wheel of the 330 P3 he intends to run the 24 Hours with. Nevertheless, back in the pits, he clashes with Ferrari sporting director, Eugenio Dragoni, again. The quarrel is once again harsh and public, and almost certainly Ferrari sporting director is the one who starts it. At the end of the fight, Dragoni announces the dismissal of the English driver, as if the decision was a direct consequence of this quarrel: the press, including the Italian one, will criticize him hardly in the following days. Actually, it has all been arranged previously. There is proof of this: a document that Dragoni carries in his pocket since he left the factory. It is a sheet of squared paper: some words are written in red pencil, some others in blue, and it contains some confidential communication from Enzo Ferrari, listing the pairs that will take part in the 34th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. A list written personally by Enzo Ferrari, and Surtees' name is not in it. However, Enzo Ferrari is a bit in the dumps these days, because of the anniversary, on Thursday, June 30, 1966, of his son Dino Ferrari’s death, which occurred exactly ten years ago. Enzo Ferrari has stopped wearing black ties a few years ago, but he continues to go to the cemetery every morning, right after passing by the barber shop on Via Canal Grande, where he gets a shave before going to Maranello.

"When I go through the cemetery gate, before coming to the factory, and sit on my son's grave, I forget everything. Time no longer exists. It's good for me to realize that I'm nothing".

In his dark office, light shines on the three carnations in front of Dino's photograph all night long. For some time now, however, Ferrari has stopped listening to the tape that Dino, unbeknownst to him, had recorded to leave him the sound of his own voice. The boy had also recorded himself reading out loud Giacomo Leopardi’s poems; Dino had dedicated himself to technical studies, but he did not disdain literature. Ferrari had listened to his recording for years, in the evenings, alone, but lately he can no longer find the courage to listen to his son's voice.

"I think that a pain like the one I suffer cannot be mitigated, even if I have tried in many ways to soothe it, to approach it in such a way that time should allow me to look at my drama with a less crude soul".

On Thursday, June 30, 1966, Giuseppe Farina loses his life in a road accident during the afternoon, on the road from Modane to Chambéry, just over the Italian border. He had left Turin at 11:00 a.m., heading for Geneva, where he had been called to work as a technical consultant, as a representative of some large car manufacturers and, partly, as a stand-in for Yves Montand, for the film Grand Prix. Farina is alone in his Ford Cortina Lotus, a sports car capable of reaching high speeds. The Italian ex-driver crosses the border at the Mont Cenis pass, driving along state road No. 10, a mountain road with narrow bends. The accident takes place at 3:15 p.m., in Aiguebelle, beyond St-Jeande-Maurienne, near the village of Argentine, a hamlet of Moutier. Witnesses will report having been overtaken by his Lotus, which was roaring along the difficult route. He was betrayed by an S-curve. Farina made it through the first half, but in the counter bend the Lotus was seen to board and skid. After skidding for some fifty metres, as the driver desperately tried to regain control, the car went over the side of the road. At that moment, the speed was still very high: the Lotus crashed into a telegraph pole, then rose three metres into the air, decapitated a large tree, and fell back onto the asphalt, performing three or four pirouettes.

Motorists who have witnessed the accident arrive, while a witness drives quickly to the nearby village of Argentine and alerts the officers of the gendarmerie post. To the rescuers, the car appears to be a tangle of wreckage, while a few metres away they find the lifeless body of the driver, his head and face covered in blood. Giuseppe Farina has died instantly due to a fractured skull. The body is removed and taken to the mortuary in Argentine. It is possible to identify him from a dog tag he wore around his neck, a reminder of the days when he used to race. This is engraved with his blood group and his name: Giuseppe Farina. The gendarmes immediately recognise the former motor racing World Champion, who was famous also outside Italy. Then, the official recognition takes place, through the documents, the driving licence, the passport, the car registration. The news arrives in Turin late in the evening. His documents did not report the Turin address, but the one in the Principality of Monaco - Rue d'Ostende 9 - where Giuseppe Farina has moved his residence. The Argentine gendarmes phone there: the announcement is received by the building's caretaker, who immediately phones Faina’s wife in Turin.

"Madam, your husband had an accident. I don't know how it happened, but you'd better get to him, he may need your help: he's in Argentine, near Moutier".

He does not have the courage to tell her the terrible truth. After his first words, Elsa Farina is seized by a tragic premonition, drops the microphone and bursts into tears. A friend is beside her and tries to comfort her. The building’s caretaker then tells her the tragic truth:

"Giuseppe Farina died in a car accident".

The woman alerts a friend of the family, who immediately goes to the Via Volta family house. Together the two friends try to calm the widow down, who, in the meantime, had collapsed. In the evening, one of them leaves for Modane: until the last moment, Mrs. Elsa insists on accompanying him, but she is not allowed to. As she wanders into the lodging, enriched by the trophies won by Giuseppe during his long career as a driver, the widow cannot hold her tears back. She had said goodbye to her husband for the last time that same morning, at 11:00 a.m., when he jumped into his fast car on his way to Geneva on business. She had repeated to him the same words she used to say every time he left, in the good old days, whenever he was about to take off in one of the fast cars:

"Be careful, Nino".

In the afternoon, the news spreads all through the city, and in the evening, the first telegrams from friends and acquaintances start arriving in Via Volta n. 3. Giuseppe Farina was born in Turin and was already driving a small car at the age of nine.

"I believe in miracles. In 1950, I became World Champion because of a miracle. It happened at Monza, and I was driving an Alfetta 159, fighting for the title. After a tough fight with Fangio, I was first, however, a few laps from the finish line, the engine started making those kinds of noises that when a driver hears them, he usually takes the car to the pits and lights a cigarette. I thought that my race was over. But this time, I was fighting for the world title, so I started to pray. During those ten laps at Monza, I prayed, while the oil level was practically zero, and I won. The next day, they wanted to try that car, but nobody could get it started".

Reims hosts the French Grand Prix again, for the first time since 1963, to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the first Grand Prix, although the events held at Le Mans in mid-June are the ones that really take the scene. Ford has finally managed to beat Ferrari at the World's greatest race, and the magnitude of the victory of the American manufacturer has caused a wave of protests in Maranello. John Surtees, witnessing the political games that are taking place, has decided to leave the team, starting a sudden wave of changes within the Formula 1 world. The Englishman has joined the Cooper-Maserati factory, and when Richie Ginther left, thinking that the Surtees-Jochen Rindt pair would leave him without a seat, Chris Amon joined from McLaren. Cooper runs three cars for their three drivers, Ginther rejoining the Honda project back in Japan, while Bruce McLaren only has one car race ready, so Amon will not be replaced. As Surtees has left Ferrari, sportscar ace Mike Parkes has arrived in his place: he will use a longer-wheel base car to accommodate his longer legs. Apart from the driver changes, B.R.M. only has one driver but three cars, with Jackie Stewart recovering from his shoulder injury (he had broken his shoulder). Graham Hill is their only driver and is set to use their sole Tasman Championship car still available, although the two H16 cars have been sent to France too. A third H16 engined car is to be used by Team Lotus, with Peter Arundell hoping to get to start for the first time in 1966, while World Champion Jim Clark keeps using his modified 1965 car. All of the above mentioned clearly indicates Brabham as one of the favourites for the French victory, as they quietly keep working in order to build a second Brabham-Repco chassis for Denny Hulme. Jack Brabham and Denny Hulme both have new cars for 1966 now, and since Repco engine seems reliable enough, they seem to be very strong, given the long straights at Reims. The final effort from this factory is the one by Dan Gurney and his Anglo-American Racers, in which the charming Eagle-Climax is to compete once again. 

Amongst the private teams, Reg Parnell Racing leads the way with Mike Spence and Paul Hawkins, set to battle with their, we have to admit, mismatched Lotus 25s. Jo Bonnier is back with a client Brabham-Climax, using a 2.75-litre FPF engine, while R.R.C. Walker Racing Team has Jo Siffert racing with their Cooper-Maserati. Bob Bondurant is ready to battle as usual, the inexperienced Guy Ligier is trying to complete his race and classify as the only Frenchman on the grid, while Brit John Taylor is the last driver to enter, with a Brabham-B.R.M. After the Belgium round, Surtees' victory moved him up to second place in the World Championship standings, tied on points with Stewart, who has won in Monaco. Leading the way is Bandini, on his second consecutive podium, just one point behind, while Rindt is fourth. Hill rounds out the top five, with Ginther and Brabham joining the shortened scorers list. Surtees’ victory has taken Ferrari to the top of the Intercontinental Constructors’ Cup, six points ahead of B.R.M., since the British manufacturer has not scored any points. Cooper-Maserati has moved up to third place after Rindt's podium finish, as has Brabham-Repco after owner Jack Brabham has scored the first points for the Australian engine manufacturer. Traditionally, the French Grand Prix is held in Reims on Saturday, with practice spread over three evenings during the week due to the high summer temperatures in the Champagne region. However, with a Formula 2 race to be held on Saturday, the Formula 1 Grand Prix has been moved to Sunday, meaning that the teams will have a break after three sessions on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. The target time for the front-runners is 2'16"8, recorded by Jack Brabham before the 1.5-litre era, a time that had secured the Australian the pole position back in 1960. As Scuderia Ferrari is absent and Brabham-Repco still has to prepare Denny Hulme's car, the only team with 3-litre engines on Wednesday night is Cooper-Maserati, supported by two private teams. Although third driver Chris Amon has brake problems, the efforts of John Surtees and Jochen Rindt’s factories have proved that the 3-litre car is the way to go, with the Englishman taking only a few laps to drop below the circuit record before finishing the evening with a time of 2'10"7, with Rindt half a second behind. 

Wednesday had shown that the 2-litre cars were not up to the task, with Graham Hill and Jim Clark barely in the top ten as the best of the drivers with 1965 modified cars. Hill therefore spends most of Wednesday and Thursday testing the BRM team's two H16 powered cars, while Team Lotus tries to get Peter Arundell out in his H16 powered chassis. The Englishman, however, does not manage to get out of the paddock on Wednesday, because of a drive shaft failure, and although he gets on track on Thursday, by the time the H16 Lotus crosses the pit straight line, it burns out the clutch. Ferrari’s arrival on Thursday, combined with Brabham's solid performance in the Repco car and the consistent pace of the Cooper-Maseratis, make the first part of the line-up look rather unusual. The 3-litre cars are fiercely fast down the straights, and it is Lorenzo Bandini, who has taken over from Surtees as team leader for the red cars, who sets the first lap under 2'10"0, although Mike Parkes is constantly improving. The Cooper-Maseratis are unable to match their straight-line speed, so they opt for a cunning strategy at the end of the day, employing Rindt to provide a slipstream effect for Surtees down the straight, before the Englishman frees himself to latch onto the rear of a lapping Ferrari when it passes by. Cooper's tactic works, leaving the ex-Ferrari driver to top the Thursday timesheet with a time of 2'08"4, leaving the field to battle for pole on Friday. Already out of the fight are Hill and his H16 car, which has gearbox problems, Arundell and his Lotus H16, which has a new problem with the drive shafts, and Clark, who is completely out of action after hitting a bird at high speed, injuring his left eye. The Scot will be replaced by Pedro Rodríguez, after long negotiations between the race organisers, Enzo Ferrari and Colin Chapman, although the Mexican will not beat the Scot's best time. In the fight for pole, Ferrari decides there is no need to use slipstreams to set times, and tells Bandini and Parkes to unleash all the power they can. The two duly deliver, and in the end, it is the Italian who takes pole with a time of 2'07"8, half a second faster than Surtees, who is unable to improve on his time alone. Parkes sets an excellent time to snatch third place from Brabham at the end of the day, for a front row start in his first race, while Rindt completes the top five. Hill almost joins the fight for pole on an official basis for some time, when the H16 finally shows its potential, with the Englishman forcing the snarling B.R.M. to finally get a time of 2'09"2. 

However, the stress on the gearbox is just too much, so Hill is forced to drive the Tasman car: he has been forced to hold the gear lever in place to prevent the car from jumping into neutral. The fans also got a brief taste of what Sunday's race might be like, as the first four drivers all crossed the finish line together at one point, causing many in the pits to jump off the side of the track. Unlike qualifying, the race will take place at 3:00 pm local time to respect the tradition of racing in France, which means that high temperatures during the day will add to the scenario. Mechanics soak pumps and other mechanical parts in water before bolting them in place just before the start, while the drivers huddle in the shade seeking shelter from the heat. Eventually they gather at the start, and everyone gets into their cars, after which they do a warm-up lap, before lining up on the grid in front of Raymond Roche, who waves the French Tricolour to signal the race start. As soon as Roche waves the flag and moves to the side of the circuit, it is John Surtees who takes off from the middle of the front row, ahead of the two Ferraris. His lead, however, is only a whisker, and when his engine starts coughing at the end of the pit area, the Ferraris take the lead, with Lorenzo Bandini taking command. Rookie Mike Parkes is about to slip into the Italian's slipstream as the group passes under the Dunlop Bridge and through the first corner, but Jack Brabham quickly pulls ahead of him. By the end of the first lap, Bandini is in the lead, followed immediately by Brabham, with the Australian owner/driver slipping into the Italian's slipstream. Parkes follows, leading the rest of the field, with Chris Amon and Jochen Rindt in the other two Cooper-Maserati managed cars chasing the scarlet car ahead of them. Their team-mate Surtees is in the middle of the pack, in thirteenth position, although the fact that he is still racing is undoubtedly better than the fate that befell Peter Arundell, who was forced to pit his H16-powered Lotus-B.R.M.. By the end of the second lap Bandini and Brabham have realistically managed to pull away from the rest of the group and are now racing alone, with Parkes already far enough behind to lose the slipstream effect. He now must fend off the attacks of the remaining Coopers, and Surtees is forced to stop at the end of the lap due to a vapour lock issue, which is traced, after much mishap in the pits, to a faulty drive on the fuel pump.

The Englishman's race is interrupted, although he manages to return to the track for a handful of laps, while Arundell completes a few laps before his Lotus H16 finally destroys the gearbox. Jo Siffert is next to come into the pits with a vapour lock problem, a worrying development for Cooper, as he too is running in a Cooper-Maserati and is trailing the two remaining drivers of the house. Amon and Rindt, on the other hand, seem to be all right and continue to attack Parkes, who manages to fend off their attacks on his first Formula One start, while Graham Hill and Denny Hulme also threaten the trio. Up front, meanwhile, Bandini is steadily building a gap to Brabham, although the Italian would have to lower his lap record to 2'12"0 to do this. A quarter of the race is already in hand and Bandini holds a slender two-second gap, although this only equates to a hundred metres on the start/finish line as the average times at Reims are very high. Then comes the battling quartet consisting of Parkes, Amon, Hill and Rindt, with the latter trio overtaking each other in the slipstream of the Ferrari. Occasionally Hill makes his way and overtakes Parkes on the inside at Calvaire at the start of the lap, but Parkes expertly regains the position at the Muizon hairpin. However, the quartet does not last long, with the two Coopers eventually running into problems, just like their sister cars, although in Amon’s case, the problem is related to handling. The New Zealander is the first to fall, losing his hub nut, a problem that in theory is easy to solve, but which causes him to drop down the rankings and lose contact with the rest of the group. As for Rindt, the Austrian remains in the fray just long enough to overheat his engine and lose power, allowing Denny Hulme to pass a few laps after losing contact with Parkes and Hill. Soon, the fight for third place is over as well, because Hill suffers a camshaft failure that leaves him with only one bank of four cylinders. Therefore, there are no doubts about what the top six is going to be any more, with the drivers well spread out, Bandini continuing his dance at the front to keep Brabham out of his slipstream, Parkes and Hulme fairly far back, Rindt preserving his overheated Cooper in P5 and Pedro Rodríguez not at all threatened in P6. The only real action on the track is a rather poor, we have to say, battle between former Porsche colleagues Dan Gurney and Jo Bonnier, both with underpowered cars that have left them in positions that betray and do not reflect their real skills. 

The race is rather boring for the middle third, with the only action involving Bandini and Brabham, who take no prisoners in overtaking the other cars, despite the eighteen-second gap. The Italian’s performance is the best has ever achieved in his career with the scarlet car, setting the fastest lap on lap 30 in 2'11"3, but as he passes Thillois, the last corner, on lap 32 the V12 engine suddenly starts to lose revs. The Ferrari's throttle cable has snapped and causes the engine to shut down before reaching the corner, forcing the driver to return to the pits for the necessary repairs. Unfortunately, the route back from Thillois is uphill, so Bandini jumps out of the car, rips some twine from straw bales and rewires the ends of the cable, leaving enough length to pull it out of the cockpit. This hasty repair is enough to drag, almost literally, the Ferrari into the pits to have a new cable fitted, but the damage is already done, because Brabham overtakes Bandini as the Italian is coming out at the hairpin. The cable repair thus puts Bandini out of the race until the final stages and, as Brabham has a 40-second lead over Parkes, the race can already be considered won. The Australian could therefore relax in the final laps, also to preserve his engine, while Parkes certainly didn't let the Italian factory walk all over him, also because they knew that his inexperience at Grand Prix level could cost him a secured podium finish. Hulme is too far back to contend for second place, although the New Zealander is happy to settle for third, as an engine failure for Rodriguez in the final laps reminds everyone that the danger of, precisely, engine failure is still looming. With two laps to go, Hulme is unable to return to the pits, as the fuel pump fails to collect the last two litres of fuel in the tank. The New Zealander falls two laps behind, but still manages to arrive at the chequered flag in third position, while Brabham and Parkes cross the line some ten seconds behind. Hulme's near miss, however, is nothing compared to the fate of Bob Anderson, who loses the last transmission gear coming out of Thillios corner on the last lap. The Briton was then in fourth place and, as he headed towards the finish line, Rindt, Gurney and John Taylor passed him to take the last points available, leaving Anderson a frustrating seventh place. A thunderstorm towards the end of the race is not enough and arrives too late for Cooper: the storm front causes temperatures to drop, therefore solving their vapour lock problems (which is, when the fuel vaporises before it reaches the engine, causing air bubbles to form) and bringing Rindt, Amon and Guy Ligier back up to their full speed.

Gurney achieves a fifth place, quite outstanding we must say, with his small underpowered Eagle, while Taylor has a quiet race at the back of the grid, scoring his first points placing. Despite Anderson's disappointment, it is Jack Brabham's day: the Australian becomes the first man to win a race in a car built by his own team. It is also the Aussie veteran's first victory since the 1960 Portuguese Grand Prix, and the entire field is there to congratulate him on his efforts. And, without the much-disliked M.G.M. film crews littering the paddock, the atmosphere at the 1966 French Grand Prix has been delightful. Jack Brabham, who won his last World Championship race six years ago, when he won the title of Formula One's best driver, is now back on top and is leading the world drivers' championship. On Saturday, he won the Formula 2 Grand Prix with a Brabham-Honda, then repeated his exploit in the French Grand Prix, with the Brabham-Repco of his own construction. The Australian managed to keep up the pace set by Lorenzo Bandini in his three-litre Ferrari and then, when the Italian's car had to stop for a long time on lap 32 due to a trivial fault (a broken accelerator pedal cable), he took the lead and held it for the remaining seventeen laps. Brabham covered the distance of 398.484 kilometres in 1 h 48'31"3 at an average speed of 220 km/h. In P2 is Ferrari test driver Mike Parkes, making his Formula One test debut. Parkes took the place of John Surtees, who was at the wheel of a Cooper-Maserati. John Surtees had to withdraw from the race shortly after the start because his engine overheated. In P3 came another Brahham-Repco, driven by New Zealander Denny Hulme, in P4 came Austrian driver Jochen Rindt in a Cooper-Maserati, two laps down, and P5 came American Dan Gurney in an American Eagle, three laps down. Bandini's performance was unlucky: the Italian was very good; his Ferrari was clearly faster than Brabham's in the straights. He seemed to have victory in the bag, but then he was put out of the race by a broken throttle cable. Lorenzo tried desperately to fix the problem, stopped his car at the side of the track, got out, ran to a wire mesh and tore a wire. He managed to make a makeshift repair and return to the pits. 

Unfortunately, it was too late: Bandini finished eleventh, eleven laps behind the winner. Among the other drivers vying for the world title, Graham Hill had to withdraw, while Jim Clark could not start the race because of an eye injury (a bird hit him in the face on Thursday during practice: no danger of permanent injury, but the blood clot needs to dissolve, and this will take a few days). Meanwhile, the funeral of Giuseppe Farina, who died in an accident near Chambéry, takes place on Saturday, July 2, 1966, with the procession leaving from the headquarters of the Automobile Club of Turin. There is not a large crowd (due to the newspaper strike, the precise time of the funeral was not announced), but those present following the coffin participate with deep sympathy in Mrs Elsa's grief, starting with former drivers Cagno, Salamano, Piodi and Valenzano. Before the funeral, drivers and technicians from the racing teams Tadini, Villoresi Zanardi, Sportomo, engineers Giacosa, Lampredi, Di Giuseppe and other Fiat representatives also paid their last respects to the deceased. Mr Farina's widow received telegrams and letters of condolence from the Princes of Monaco, Grace and Ranieri, from Fiat's President of Honour, Professor Valletta, from the Chairman, Giovanni Agnelli, from authorities and sportsmen. Even the former King of Belgium Leopold and his wife Liliana De Réthy, who are currently in Turin, express their condolences to Mrs Elsa. On Tuesday, July 5, 1966, Ferrari decides to suspend its sporting activities for the next few months. The decision - which will not fail to arouse controversy in international automotive circles - is driven by strikes for the renewal of the Italian national metalworkers' contract. The consequences of this were especially felt in the special department that the company had set aside for racing. Here, in this regard, is the statement issued by Ferrari:

“Since the labour unrest that has been affecting work in the sports management department for seven months now has been going on, with recurring strikes that have not been triggered by a company dispute but by the national issue for the renewal of the metalworkers' collective contract; strikes that have been organised in such a way that their intensity and suddenness do not allow to keep a minimum work programme in this special department of Ferrari manufacturer right in the middle of the racing season, the company is forced to suspend racing activities while waiting for the situation to normalize”.