The 1967 French Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the Bugatti Circuit, Le Mans on 2 July 1967. It was race 5 of 11 in both the 1967 World Championship of Drivers and the 1967 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. The race was the first French Grand Prix to be held in Le Mans since the race in 1929, and is the only time the Bugatti Circuit has been used for the Grand Prix, though the circuit continues to host the French motorcycle Grand Prix.
The new Bugatti circuit opened in 1965 and used the main pit straight at Le Mans, which back in 1967 did not have the Dunlop Chicane. After the start and the Dunlop Curve, instead of the left turn at the Esses at the bottom of the hill, the Bugatti Circuit instead turned right at "La Chapelle" into an infield section comprising the third gear "Le Musée" left hander and the second gear "Garage Vert" corner which led onto the back straight, whose only distinctive feature was the "Chemin Aux Boeufs" left hand kink (now a left-right chicane) some two-thirds along, before heading back to the pit straight via the "S Bleu" and "Raccordement" corners near the entrance to the pits.
The Bugatti circuit was seen as somewhat boring and was universally unpopular with both drivers and crowds, with only a reported 20,000 attending the race. Some of the drivers were reported to have privately wished the race was run on the full long Circuit de la Sarthe, where the Mulsanne Straight was actually longer than the entire Bugatti circuit. At the time, circuit lengths of or longer were common in Grand Prix racing, including the Spa-Francorchamps used for the Belgian Grand Prix and the Nürburgring used for the German Grand Prix, so many drivers felt that using the full 24 Hours circuit should have been considered as the venue by the Automobile Club de France.
Race report Graham Hill was on pole and led away for the first lap until Jack Brabham took over. On lap 7 Jim Clark took the lead and Hill passed Brabham to make it a Lotus 1–2. Hill then retook the lead until his crown-wheel and pinion failed on lap 14. The same problem caused Clark's retirement from the lead on lap 23, leaving Brabham ahead of Dan Gurney, Chris Amon and Denny Hulme. On lap 41 a fuel line broke on Gurney's car, making it a Brabham 1-2 and Amon's throttle cable broke several laps later. Brabham drove home serenely to win his first race in eight Grands Prix by 49.5 seconds from teammate Hulme, and over a lap in front of the BRM of Jackie Stewart.
Classification Qualifying Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap1 7 Graham Hill Lotus-Ford 1:36.2—2 3 Jack Brabham Brabham-Repco 1:36.3 +0.13 9 Dan Gurney Eagle-Weslake 1:37.0 +0.84 6 Jim Clark Lotus-Ford 1:37.5 +1.35 8 Bruce McLaren Eagle-Weslake 1:37.6 +1.46 4 Denny Hulme Brabham-Repco 1:37.9 +1.77 2 Chris Amon Ferrari 1:38.0 +1.88 12 Jochen Rindt Cooper-Maserati 1:38.9 +2.79 15 Chris Irwin BRM 1:39.4 +3.210 10 Jackie Stewart BRM 1:39.6 +3.411 18 Jo Siffert Cooper-Maserati 1:40.1 +3.912 11 Mike Spence BRM 1:40.3 +4.113 14 Pedro Rodríguez Cooper-Maserati 1:40.5 +4.314 17 Bob Anderson Brabham-Climax 1:44.9 +8.715 16 Guy Ligier Cooper-Maserati 1:45.2 +9.0 Source:
Race Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 3 Jack Brabham Brabham-Repco 80 2:13:21.3 2 9 2 4 Denny Hulme Brabham-Repco 80 + 49.5 6 6 3 10 Jackie Stewart BRM 79 + 1 Lap 10 4 4 18 Jo Siffert Cooper-Maserati 77 + 3 Laps 11 3 5 15 Chris Irwin BRM 76 Engine 9 2 6 14 Pedro Rodríguez Cooper-Maserati 76 + 4 Laps 13 1 16 Guy Ligier Cooper-Maserati 68 + 12 Laps 15 2 Chris Amon Ferrari 47 Throttle 7 9 Dan Gurney Eagle-Weslake 40 Fuel Leak 3 12 Jochen Rindt Cooper-Maserati 33 Engine 8 8 Bruce McLaren Eagle-Weslake 26 Ignition 5 6 Jim Clark Lotus-Ford 23 Differential 4 17 Bob Anderson Brabham-Climax 16 Ignition 14 7 Graham Hill Lotus-Ford 13 Differential 1 11 Mike Spence BRM 9 Halfshaft 12 1 Ludovico Scarfiotti Ferrari 5 John Surtees Honda 19 Jo Bonnier Cooper-Maserati 20 Jean-Pierre Beltoise Matra-Ford 21 Johnny Servoz-Gavin Matra-Ford
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings PosDriverPoints 1 Denny Hulme 22 4 2 Jack Brabham 16 1 3 Pedro Rodríguez 12 1 4 Chris Amon 11 1 5 Jim Clark 10Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Brabham-Repco 27 2 Cooper-Maserati 17 3 3 BRM 11 1 4 Ferrari 11 1 5 Lotus-Ford 10Source:
References