The 1966 German Grand Prix was a mixed Formula One and Formula Two motor race held at the Nürburgring Nordschleife on 7 August 1966. It was race 6 of 9 in both the 1966 World Championship of Drivers and the 1966 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. It was the 28th German Grand Prix and the 22nd to be held at the Nordschleife. It was held over 15 laps of the 22 kilometre circuit for a race distance 342 kilometres.
The race was won by 1959 and 1960 World Champion Jack Brabham driving his Brabham BT19, his fourth win in succession. Brabham won by 43 seconds over the Cooper T81 driven by 1964 World Champion John Surtees. Surtees' Austrian teammate Jochen Rindt finished third. The first Formula Two driver to finish was French driver Jean-Pierre Beltoise in eighth driving a Matra Sports entered Matra MS5.
The race also saw the death of British driver John Taylor after a collision with Jacky Ickx.
Brabham had collected 39 points, more than double his nearest rival, BRM driver Graham Hill.
Race report Another wet track provided a duel between Jack Brabham and John Surtees for the whole race. It was not until the Cooper's clutch failed two laps from the end that the Australian's win was guaranteed. Jim Clark, despite qualifying on pole, made a mistake and spun into a ditch after using the wrong tyres. In a far more serious crash, the Tyrrell-entered Matra MS5 of Jacky Ickx and the privately entered Brabham BT11 of John Taylor crashed near the bridge between Quiddelbacher and Flugplatz. Taylor was badly burned in the accident and succumbed to his injuries four weeks later.
This would be the last Formula One race on the original Nürburgring Nordschleife before the Hohenrain chicane was added to slow the cars coming into the pits.
Classification Qualifying Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap 1 1 Jim Clark Lotus-Climax 8:16.5 — 2 7 John Surtees Cooper-Maserati 8:18.0 +1.5 3 6 Jackie Stewart BRM 8:18.8 +2.3 4 11 Ludovico Scarfiotti Ferrari 8:20.2 +3.7 5 3 Jack Brabham Brabham-Repco 8:20.8 +4.3 6 9 Lorenzo Bandini Ferrari 8:21.1 +4.6 7 10 Mike Parkes Ferrari 8:21.7 +5.2 8 12 Dan Gurney Eagle-Climax 8:22.8 +6.3 9 8 Jochen Rindt Cooper-Maserati 8:27.7 +11.2 10 5 Graham Hill BRM 8:28.6 +12.1 11 14 Bob Bondurant BRM 8:33.0 +16.5 12 17 Jo Bonnier Cooper-Maserati 8:35.2 +18.7 13 15 Mike Spence Lotus-BRM 8:38.6 +22.1 14 19 Bob Anderson Brabham-Climax 8:42.5 +26.0 15 4 Denny Hulme Brabham-Repco 8:49.3 +32.8 16 27 Jacky Ickx Matra-Ford 8:52.0 +35.5 17 2 Peter Arundell Lotus-BRM 8:52.7 +36.2 18 34 Jean-Pierre Beltoise Matra-Ford 9:00.4 +43.9 19 33 Jo Schlesser Matra-Ford 9:01.5 +45.0 20 31 Pedro Rodríguez Lotus-Ford 9:03.0 +46.5 21 25 Kurt Ahrens Jr. Brabham-Ford 9:04.7 +48.2 22 28 Hans Herrmann Brabham-Ford 9:05.7 +49.2 23 32 Piers Courage Lotus-Ford 9:06.0 +49.5 24 29 Alan Rees Brabham-Ford 9:08.4 +51.9 25 16 John Taylor Brabham-BRM 9:08.9 +52.4 26 20 Chris Lawrence Cooper-Ferrari 9:10.9 +54.4 27 26 Hubert Hahne Matra-BRM 9:17.0 +1:00.5 28 35 Silvio Moser Brabham-Ford 9:17.2 +1:00.7 29 30 Gerhard Mitter Lotus-Ford 9:32.2 +1:15.7 18 Guy Ligier Cooper-Maserati No time —
Race Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 3 Jack Brabham Brabham-Repco 15 2:27:03.0 5 9 2 7 John Surtees Cooper-Maserati 15 + 44.4 2 6 3 8 Jochen Rindt Cooper-Maserati 15 + 2:32.6 9 4 4 5 Graham Hill BRM 15 + 6:41.4 10 3 5 6 Jackie Stewart BRM 15 + 8:28.9 3 2 6 9 Lorenzo Bandini Ferrari 15 + 10:56.4 6 1 7 12 Dan Gurney Eagle-Climax 14 Electrical 8 8 34 Jean-Pierre Beltoise Matra-Ford 14 + 1 lap 18 9 26 Hubert Hahne Matra-BRM 14 + 1 lap 27 10 33 Jo Schlesser Matra-Ford 14 + 1 lap 19 11 28 Hans Herrmann Brabham-Ford 14 + 1 lap 22 12 2 Peter Arundell Lotus-BRM 14 + 1 lap 17 15 Mike Spence Lotus-BRM 12 Alternator 13 1 Jim Clark Lotus-Climax 11 Accident 1 20 Chris Lawrence Cooper-Ferrari 10 Suspension 26 11 Ludovico Scarfiotti Ferrari 9 Electrical 4 10 Mike Parkes Ferrari 9 Accident 7 4 Denny Hulme Brabham-Repco 8 Ignition 15 31 Pedro Rodríguez Lotus-Ford 7 Engine 20 17 Jo Bonnier Cooper-Maserati 3 Clutch 12 32 Piers Courage Lotus-Ford 3 Accident 23 29 Alan Rees Brabham-Ford 3 Engine 24 14 Bob Bondurant BRM 3 Engine 11 19 Bob Anderson Brabham-Climax 2 Transmission 14 25 Kurt Ahrens Jr. Brabham-Ford 2 Gearbox 21 16 John Taylor Brabham-BRM 0 Fatal Accident 25 27 Jacky Ickx Matra-Ford 0 Accident 16 18 Guy Ligier Cooper-Maserati 0 Injury 35 Silvio Moser Brabham-Ford 0 30 Gerhard Mitter Lotus-Ford 0 Note: The race was held with both Formula One and Formula Two cars competing together. Formula Two entries are denoted by a pink background.
Notes
This was the Formula One World Championship debut race for British drivers Piers Courage and Alan Rees, German drivers Kurt Ahrens, jr. and Hubert Hahne, Belgian driver and future Grand Prix winner Jacky Ickx, French drivers Jo Schlesser and future Grand Prix winner Jean-Pierre Beltoise and Swiss driver Silvio Moser. This was the Formula One World Championship debut for French constructor Matra. This was Cooper's 50th and 51st podium finish.
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings PosDriverPoints 1 Jack Brabham 39 2 Graham Hill 17 4 3 John Surtees 15 4 Jochen Rindt 15 2 5 Jackie Stewart 14Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Brabham-Repco 39 2 Ferrari 23 3 BRM 22 4 Cooper-Maserati 17 5 Lotus-Climax 7Source:
Notes: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
References
External links