On Sunday, June 5, 1966, John Surtees' Ferrari starts in pole position in the 1000 Kilometres of the Nürburgring, the sixth round of the World Championship for Makes and the International Prototype Trophy. The new lap record set by the Englishman on the famous German circuit during Friday practice remains unbeaten in the following day's practice session. Surtees lowers the limit he himself has set last year by eighteen seconds, and thus emerges as the favourite in the competition. The most formidable opponents of the Italian 330 P3 will be the Chaparral and the Porsches, considering that no seven-litre Ford prototypes will take to the track, as only the slightly inferior GT 40s will race. Phil Hill, who will take turns with Swede Bonnier at the wheel of the mighty American car, sets the second-best time. In the Chaparral team, however, they are warried about their chances of victory. Hap Sharp, the car's builder, says he is concerned about the car's road holding:
"There are still some problems to be solved".
Chaparral participates in the test with the intention of perfecting the cars for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Along with the Ferrari of John Surtees (who will have Mike Parkes as his partner) and the Chaparral of Phil Hill (the first car with an automatic transmission to take part in a 1000 kilometres race), the new 2.2-litre prototype Porsche of Jochen Rindt and Nino Vaccarella will aim for success. The Austrian driver lowered his own time by three seconds and set the third best time during Saturday's practice. Fourth on the grid is the Ferrari Dino of Ludovico Scarfiotti and Lorenzo Bandini. At least 200.000 spectators will attend the race. The weather is splendid, the track in excellent condition. To the surprise of the engineers and the 200.000 or so spectators crowded along the most difficult road circuit in Europe, on Sunday, June 5, 1966, the American Chaparral Prototype car, driven by Phil Hill and Joaquim Bonnier, wins the 1000 Kilometres of the Nürburgring, valid for the International Prototype Trophy and the World Sport Championship. Actually, a new duel was expected between the 4-litre Ferrari entrusted to Surtees and Parkes and the Fords: the mighty Italian car, which a fortnight ago had brilliantly asserted itself at Spa, was the tipped to win. On the other hand, the Chaparral - which is equipped with an automatic gearbox, which until this race had been judged not very rational, especially on a track like this one - behaved splendidly, even if favoured by the withdrawal of the Ferrari 330 P3 driven by John Surtees after just six laps. A sensational performance also from the 2-litre Dino cars, which finished second and third respectively, with the Scarfiotti-Bandini and Rodriguez-Ginther teams; the Italian pair came in just 42 seconds behind Hill-Bonnier, and were a constant threat to them.
In the 2000 class, the Porsches are clearly beaten by the lively Italian cars, which take great revenge after the Targa Florio. As for the Fords, they were never in the top positions: the fastest of them, driven by Ligier-Schlesser, finished fifth, more than a lap behind. After the Chaparral took the lead on lap seven, only once did its lead appear in jeopardy: it was when, on lap 37, Hill and Bonnier stopped to switch to wet tyres. Unlike most racing cars, the Chaparral has bolt-on wheels, like normal touring cars: so, it took more than three minutes to make the change, and the lead over the pursuing car, the Ferrari Dino of Scarfiotti and Bandini, dwindled to 55 seconds. But three laps later, the Chaparral had a lead of over a minute and a half again. Then, still under the pouring rain, Phil Hill and Bonnier slowed their pace, allowing Scarfiotti-Bandini’s Dino to reduce the gap considerably. It should be noted that at the start of the race John Surtees had set a new lap record for the Prototype category by running 8'37"0, at an average speed of 158.800 km/h. The overall average for the winners was 143.800 km/h, more than two kilometres per hour slower than that achieved in 1965 by Surtees-Scarfiotti on a Ferrari. Chaparral's success on the German Nürburgring circuit represents an important moment for international motorsport. It means that another major manufacturer, General Motors, is joining Ferrari and Ford, protagonists in recent years of a close duel in the Prototype Trophy, even though, not in an official capacity. Chaparral cars, in fact, are produced in a small workshop in Midland, a Texan town of 60.000 inhabitants, by two oil industrialists, Jim Hall and Hap Sharp. Research, testing and experience, however, take place at the American company's Technical Centre.
The car is two years old, boasts a fair number of victories (last year it won the 12 Hours of Sebring) and has an interesting peculiarity: the automatic transmission. This is of the Powerglide type, the same used on General Motors Chevrolets. The driver does not have to think about shifting or clutching, there are only the accelerator and brake pedals. Adopting this device on a large-capacity racing car was a remarkable innovation, which puzzled many engineers and sportsmen. Its victory at the Nürburgring should put an end to any criticism, though. The German circuit is famous for its number of corners: 174, a real record. Many are very tight, uphill, or downhill. It has been calculated that in the 1000 kilometres it is necessary to use the gearbox twelve thousand times. This manoeuvre requires an effort from the driver, both physically and mentally, for it distracts him from the road, even if only for a moment. Phil Hill and Bonnier had no such concern: it is logical that they had a much easier life and could fully focus on the track. Which, in the long run, translates into gaining precious seconds. The Chaparral's engine is a Chevrolet eight-cylinder aluminium V-cylinder, 5354 cc, producing 450 horsepower at 6800 RPM. The car is 4 meters long, 1.63 metres wide and 0.60 meters high; the front track measures 1.35 meters, the rear track 1.32 meters; the wheelbase is 2.28 meters. It has a weight of 600 kilos when empty (125 kilos more with the driver and the fuel), independent-wheel suspension, four dual-circuit disc brakes, and an all-aluminium structure. The body is made of plastic. It can reach a top speed of 320 km/h. Among the refinements made to the current model (named MK III, as it is the third in the series that the manufacturer started producing in 1964), a drift calculated transversely to join the two rear fins. The device is mobile and can be controlled by the racer while driving. Three different positions are provided, so that the best grip on the ground, and thus a perfect road holding, can be achieved under all circumstances. The system is not new, Mercedes had successfully tested it twelve years ago on the 300 SLR participating in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Another special feature of the Chaparral is the wheels secured by bolts, like a normal touring car. Finally, a few words about the driving force behind the Chaparral enterprise, Jim Hall.
He is in his thirties, has three brothers, a wife - Sandy - who takes care of the administrative side of things, an engineering degree and many of the oil wells in the Midland region. Hall’s interest in racing actually started as a hobby; today it has become his reason for living. This year his car has not performed very well, having retired at Daytona and Sebring. There are many things to fix. Then he has spent two months in the workshop to prepare for the 1000 kilometres of the Nürburgring and the next round of the world championship at Le Mans. He can be satisfied. Seven days later, exactly on Sunday, June 12, 1966, the Belgian Grand Prix, the second round of the Formula One Drivers' World Championship, is held at Francorchamps. At Monte-Carlo, in the first race of the season, the young Scotsman Jackie Stewart, at the wheel of his B.R.M., had won ahead of Lorenzo Bandini. At Francorchamps - and this appears to be the most important news - the 3000 cc engined B.R.M. and Lotus cars will make their debut, i.e. equipped with the new 16-cylinder engine prepared by B.R.M. for its own cars and Colin Chapman’s ones. At Monte-Carlo it was tested for a few laps, but the single-seater it had been fitted into did not take part in the race. The outcome was not too surprising, considering the characteristics of the Monaco circuit, full of tight curves and ups and downs; it was not the power that mattered the most (the 2000 cc cars develop 250-270 horsepower against the 350-360 horsepower of the 3000 cc), but the handling. The Belgian track, on the other hand, is more suitable for three-litre cars, as it allows to reach very high speeds and averages. What counts is precisely the power of the engines. That's why B.R.M. decided to debut its 16-cylinder engine, which will be driven by Jackie Stewart and Graham Hill, while at Monte-Carlo they preferred to give it up. The situation at Ferrari is quieter. Three single-seaters are dispatched to Belgium, two 12-cylinder and one 6-cylinder. Surtees and Bandini will probably take to the track at the wheel of the former two, both of which received special care in Modena after the car they deployed in the Monte-Carlo race retired, showing some flaws. Also in Modena, the Cooper-Maserati cars have been tuned and will be driven by Rindt, Ginther, Bonnier, Siffert and Ligier. Jack Brabham will use the Brabham V8 Repco, the same one used at Monte-Carlo, while his team-mate, Denny Hulme, will race in the Grand Prix with a Coventry-Climax 4-cylinder 2.7-litre engine.
Team Lotus presented their first car with a B.R.M. H16-cylinder engine, driven by Jim Clark and Peter Arundell. Bruce McLaren brings the same car used in Monaco for the Spa Grand Prix, but has fitted a V8 Serenissima engine instead of the Indianapolis-type Ford V8, which is undergoing some redesigning. Gurney has his first All-American Racers Eagle cars, which temporarily runs a 2.7-litre Coventry-Climax four-cylinder engine until the V12 Weslake is ready. Reg Parnell's team brings the Lotus-B.R.M. 2-litre V8, which will be driven by Mike Spence, while Vic Wilson and Bob Bondurant will race the Chamaco-Collect team's B.R.M. 2-litre V8. The first practice session begins on Friday, June 10, 1966, in the afternoon. Jackie Stewart is soon setting the pace with a 2-litre V8 B.R.M., but the Ferrari team seems very happy and confident, and it is clearly only a matter of time before Surtees begins to extend the 3-litre V12 Ferrari. Although the Grand Prix lap record stands to Gurney in a 1 1/2-litre Brabham-Climax V8 with 3'49"2, set up in 1964. Earlier this year Parkes had set a new record with the 330P3 in 3’46”4. Weather conditions are splendid as Stewart keeps knocking seconds off his lap times, being down among the 3'43"0 to 3'42"0 bracket quite early on. Bandini is practising with the 2.4-litre V6 and going very fast, while Brabham is quietly getting on with the job and is well in the running. Others are in dire trouble, Richie Ginther’s Cooper-Maserati V12 breaks its self-locking differential while he is getting ready to practise, Rindt has barely begun to learn his way round before his Cooper’s Maserati engine brakes, too, and Clark only does one lap in his Lotus to discover that the wrong final drive ratio has been fitted. Arundell does three exploratory laps with the brand-new Lotus, with 3-litre H16-cylinder B.R.M engine, before it suffers an internal breakage, and Bruce McLaren is having oil-leaking problems amongst others, with his temporary Serenissima V8 engine. Dan Gurney is running his Eagle with a 4-cylinder Coventry-Climax engine and Hewland gearbox in order to get experience with the new chassis, until the proper engine is ready, but he is having minor troubles with the mechanical components. Both B.R.M. works drivers have a new H16 16-cylinder car at their disposal and do some tentative laps, but seem to be concentrating on the V8 engined cars.
The timekeepers are given no indication of which car a driver is using, so that they do not know which car does the fast times, only from the pits do they know that both Graham Hill and Jackie Stewart made their fast laps with the 2-litre V8 engined B.R.M. cars. Surtees tries the V12 Ferrari on Firestone tyres as well as Dunlop, his car being the one he used at Monaco, and is fitted with knock-off rear hubs and wheels as used on the P3 sports prototype. Bandini’s V12 Ferrari, which he does not use until the second practice, has this same type of hub and wheel both back and front. The V12 Ferrari trouble at the Monaco Grand Prix has proved to be a broken differential housing, caused by the fact that the twisty circuit and extra power of the 3-litre engine was demanding that the differential was working overtime, the car seldom running absolutely dead straight. Nothing seems to be going right for Jim Clark, or Team Lotus, as their new car cannot be repaired and the 2-litre is giving trouble with its gear-change, the engine is not going well, and it finally brakes. To make things worse, grease used to lubricate the components during assembly runs out of the front hubs all over the brakes. Through all this Clark is getting more and more disgusted and making very little progress. Coopers are not much happier, for though they have made redesigned drive-shafts to obviate their Monaco troubles, and have fitted the three private owner cars as well as their own with them, other troubles have arisen. Once the V12 Ferrari has been adjusted right, Surtees begins to use its potential and he is very soon going faster than Stewart, and without too much effort he records 3'40"4, to set FTD for the afternoon, an average of just over 143mph, and there is more to come. During the first two-hour session, which is barely long enough, US driver Phil Hill has been circulating in MGM’s McLaren-Ford V8 single-seater with a camera on the front, taking films of people practising. The American driver is given the task of filming by a film company, which is making a car film called Grand Prix. However, before practice begins on Saturday, June 11, 1966, the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association foregathers and decides that this business of a camera-car circulating amongst them, while they are practising for a serious event, is getting a bit out of hand and in future should be restricted to a special period at the end of official practice.
The Saturday practice is delayed for 45 minutes while the local fire-brigade deals with a forest fire up in the Burnenville hills, but it has not been started by the film-making crowd as some unkind people suggested. Surtees is all set to go, mounted on Firestone tyres, and the moment the circuit is clear he is off and in no time at all has clocked a shattering 3'38"0, nearly 233 km/h average, and at that seems content to sit back and see if anyone can match his performance. Needless to say, no-one can compete with the Ferrari driver, for the new B.R.M.s are far from right, and Jakie Stewart and Graham Hill are concentrating on the old 2-litres while Team Lotus has no cars at all to test. About this, Colin Chapman and Jim Clark have flown to England to rustle up some parts for the V8, the new H16 B.R.M.-engined car being beyond immediate repair. Hulme is just leaving the pits when a front-wheel bearing seizes solid, but Brabham is getting on all right. Coopers seem to be overcoming their troubles and Rindt does a praiseworthy 3'41"2, to take second FTD from Stewart, but Surtees is still unapproachable. Neither Gurney nor McLaren seem to be making any headway at all, both suffering at times from a surplus of oil in the wrong places, and they cannot not even approach a good 1 1/2-litre lap time. Bruce McLaren’s sports-type Serenissima engine finally brakes up its bearings, which puts paid to his hopes of starting the race as he and his mechanics have no spare engine available. Bonnier’s Cooper-Maserati V12 is going well and Spence makes a very good time with Parnell’s Lotus-BRM 2-litre. Bonnier's Cooper-Maserati V12 manages to run good times and Mike Spence also sets good times in his 2-litre Lotus-B.R.M. of the Parnell team. While practice for the Belgian Grand Prix is taking place at Spa, it is worth mentioning that even a driving ace can be the protagonist of an ordinary road accident, even in the streets of his hometown. This is what happened on Saturday, June 11, 1966, in the morning, to Nino Vaccarella, the driver from Palermo who won a Targa Florio, a 1000 kilometre of the Nürburgring race and many other world championship races driving a Ferrari. Vaccarella hit a telephone company van with his powerful car, bending it on one side, at an intersection in the centre of Palermo. Fortunately, he was unhurt, as was the driver of the other vehicle.
The accident blocked the traffic for a long time: the Palermitani, among whom Vaccarella counts his most loyal fans, took the opportunity to ask the driver for autographs. The driver of the phone van also asked him! Going back now to the Belgian Grand Prix, for both days of practice the weather has been superb, but on Sunday, June 12, 1966, in the morning the sky is cloudy and overcast and rain is in the offing. Team Lotus have repaired Clark’s car and during the morning he goes out to try it, but has not gone far when a rear suspension part collapses and he skates to rest on the chassis. There is a panic as the car is rushed back to the garage for repairs and inspection, with the result that they are very late in arriving at the pits after lunch, for the 3:30pm start. Both works B.R.M. drivers, Jackie Stewart and Graham Hill, have been delegated to the 2-litre V8-engined ears, Bandini has decided to stick to the V6 Ferrari until he has become more accustomed to the more powerful V12 Ferrari: he and his teammate Surtees have their cars mounted on Firestone dry-road tires. Before the start of the Grand Prix, Siffert’s Maserati engine is showing signs of an internal water leak, and Bondurant’s B.R.M. has been painted to look like the works McLaren and is carrying McLaren’s number, for the benefit of the film people, to whom accuracy would appear to be of secondary importance. As starting time draws near, rain is imminent, so Ferraris change back to Dunlop wet-road tyres rather than take a risk with Firestone wet-weather tyres that they have not tried. After the drivers have been taken round the circuit on a parade lap in the passenger seats of various open cars, and the film people has used up time on “mock racing,” the cars are assembled on the grid and with two minutes to go all fifteen engines are running and making a fine sound. As they move down to the start line, an anxious Jochen Rindt is in the centre of the front row, with Surtees on his left and Stewart on his right, and rain-clouds can be seen over the hills ahead of them. Jim Clark, Surtees' direct competitor for the World Championship, was not sure whether he would participate until the last moment, due to problems with his Lotus-Climax the previous day. Luckily, however, the Scot is able to start the Grand Prix with his Lotus equipped with the Coventry-Climax 8-cylinder engine, starting on the fourth row together with Graham Hill. It is indeed strange to see Clark and Graham Hill side by side on the fourth row of the grid as the flag falls, some seconds prematurely, Clark is not ready and gets left behind.
The leaders are over the Eau Rouge, with Surtees already in front, as Clark gives his Lotus-Climax a great bootfull of revs and storms off in pursuit. The cars are still within earshot when the loudspeakers announce that the rain previously reported at Stavelot has now reached Malmedy, and the order is Surtees (Ferrari), Rindt (Cooper-Maserati), Brabham (Brabham-Repco), Bandini (Ferrari) and Stewart (BRM). During the first lap there is a frightening accident involving eight drivers. Suddenly Denny Hulme skids and ends up sideways: the drivers following the New Zealander, in order to avoid him, are forced to carry out risky manoeuvres, giving rise to a series of spins, off tracks and crashes. The drivers who are furthest behind manage to avoid contact by passing between the cars involved. Jim Clark is among them, as the engine of his Lotus breaks down before reaching the top of the Burnenville hill. Shortly afterwards, Bonnier and Spence also lose control of their cars due to the wet track, as do Jochen Rindt and Jo Siffert, who are fortunately involved without serious consequences. Jackie Stewart, Bob Bondurant and Graham Hill spin: the first two crash, while Graham Hill comes to a halt between hay bales. The one who suffers most damage is Jackie Stewart, who ends up against a protective barrier, ending his race inside a gutter with his B.R.M. completely destroyed. At this point an episode of true sports solidarity unfolds: Graham Hill, who was also involved in the accident, but could have restarted the race, as his B.R.M. was not damaged in any way, seeing his young team-mate bent over in his seat, with his overalls now soaked in petrol and one leg blocked by the sheet metal of the car bent to one side, gives up and, getting out of his car, rushes to help him, extracting him from the narrow cockpit.
"I stayed like that for twenty-five minutes, unable to move. Bob Bondurant and Graham Hill came to my aid. The latter managed to get a spanner from a spectator's toolbox and after forcing the metal sheets they pulled me out. There was no doctor, no place for me to lie down: they put me in the back of a van and took me away. Then the ambulance arrived and took me to the first aid station, near the control tower. They laid the stretcher on the floor, among cigarette butts. Then they put me into another ambulance with a policeman on a motorbike who had to escort me to the hospital. Then the policeman lost the ambulance, and the driver of the ambulance did not know how to get to Liège".
He continues:
"At the time they thought I had a spinal injury. Fortunately, it was less serious, but they didn't know that. I realised that if this was the best that could be done, there was something terribly wrong with the track, the cars, first aid, firefighting, the emergency personnel. The runway had grass verges that were like stepping stones, obstacles that you risked crashing into, unprotected trees, bends with no escape paths and so on. But this kind of situation is quite widespread: on many circuits there are pits with no guardrails to protect them, where a car could crash every lap, perhaps into the bins in which the fuel is kept. We drivers ourselves did not even have the indispensable full-face helmets yet. Even the public was not always sufficiently spaced out and protected. It was ridiculous and at the same time dramatic".
Those were moments of great apprehension in the pits, since only seven of the fifteen cars passed by, while conflicting news came in. Clark, Stewart, Graham Hill, Bonnier, Hulme, Siffert, Spence, Bondurant are missing. Only several minutes later did everybody learn what had really happened, and then the first details about the accident are disclosed, calming everyone down. The most reliable and objective testimony of the multiple accident involving Clark, Stewart, Graham Hill, Spence, Bondurant, Bonnier, Hulme and Siffert during the Belgian Grand Prix is provided by Phil Hill, who had won the 1000 kilometre of the Nürburgring race with Bonnier the previous Sunday. Phil Hill, an American driver with a long career (he was also World Champion, in 1961, with Ferrari) is on the track - thanks to a special authorisation - outside the race; a camera is installed on his car to portray the phases of the race.
The task of driver-operator is entrusted to him by several film companies (Douglas & Lewis Productions, Joel Productions, John Frankenheimer Productions Inc., Cherokee Productions) that are making a film on motor racing, called Grand Prix, starring Yves Montand. Phil Hill was following the leading group when suddenly, as he exited the fast Burnenville curve, which is about five kilometres past the finish line, he saw a group of cars fan out in front of him amidst great spray.
"They were spread in all directions, but I didn't immediately realise what was happening. Luckily, I had plenty of time to slow down, and I could see Jackie Stewart's B.R.M. crashed into a metal barrier".
Later, after the film work was finished, Phil Hill himself would attempt to give an explanation for the frightful accident, which together with the witnesses of the other drivers can be reconstructed as follows. The start for the fifteen cars taking part in the Grand Prix had been given less than two minutes before, in pouring rain. After the Eau Rouge climb, the track bends to the right and after a short straight stretch heads into the wide fast curve known as Burnenville. In the leading group there were Rindt's Cooper-Maserati, the Ferraris of Surtees and Bandini, and Jack Brabham's Brabham, but the positions had not yet been delineated, not least because visibility was poor due to the sprayed water raised by the cars' tyres. If the consequences were not as tragic as it could have been, the event has almost something miraculous about it. The next lap Lorenzo Bandini crosses the finish line in the lead, followed by John Surtees, Jochen Rindt and Jack Brabham, with Richie Ginther and Guy Ligier following at a distance, already finding it very difficult to keep up with the pace of the leaders. During the course of the fourth lap Rindt takes the lead of the race while Surtees, after being overtaken, pulled away so as not to be bothered by the water raised by the Cooper-Maserati's wheels. With rain all round the circuit, the race speed is relatively low. Jochen Rindt is lapping in around 4'30"0, but he is doing a most courageous job of work at an average speed of nearly 105mph. Surtees is content to let the Cooper driver set the pace and stays just clear of the flying spray and by the eighth lap they have lapped Ginther, as has Bandini who is holding a lonely third position.
A few laps later Guy Ligier stops at the pits to adjust his clutch and lower his tyre pressures, and there are only seven cars circulating, Gurney being a long way last and going slow enough at times to hear the race order on the loudspeaker system. The rain keeps on and on and there is no question of any overtaking, it is a matter of keeping going and not sliding off the road. Brabham is now fourth and each time past the pits he seems surprised to find his pit crew are still there and are signalling him how the race is progressing. In past years, the Belgian Grand Prix has been over 36 laps, last year (1965 edition) it was 32 laps, and this year it has been shortened still further to 28 laps, for which everyone is grateful under the prevailing conditions. By 20 laps the rain is easing, and Surtees can see the Cooper-Maserati in front of him, instead of merely a cloud of spray. In the meantime, Rindt’s car is having troubles with the limited-slip differential, which does not affect the car too badly on the streaming wet roads, but as the surface dries, the Austrian driver is troubled more and more, and when Surtees goes by into the lead on lap 21, as expected, Rindt cannot do much about it. They both lap Bandini before the end and complete the entire race distance in just over two hours. John Surtees wins a gruelling and unhappy Belgian Grand Prix, with a very courageous Jochen Rindt, forty-two seconds behind in second place, much to the joy of the Cooper team. The young Austrian driver has begun to show the possibilities of the Cooper-Maserati in practice, and has done a splendid job of work in the very difficult race conditions, and it is no disgrace to be beaten by John Surtees and the V12 Ferrari. Third, one lap down, is Lorenzo Bandini’s Ferrari 2.4. Jack Brabham and Richie Ginther occupy fourth and fifth place respectively, and scored 3 and 2 points, important for the drivers' classification. The new FIA rules state that competitors must complete 90% of the total race distance in order to be classified as a finisher, and poor Guy Ligier misses out by less than a lap, after persevering so hard, and despite managing to finish the race in sixth place he does not win any points.
If the rain had not stopped and the track dried out it would have been interesting to have seen the outcome, but no-one would have wished the seven survivors to drive in the rain longer than was necessary. John Surtees, at the wheel of the three-litre Ferrari, wins the Belgian Grand Prix, the second round of the Formula 1 Drivers’ World Championship, on the very fast Francorchamps circuit. The success of the Maranello team has been well-deserved and they have been the tipped to win since Saturday (Surtees had lapped in the most amazing time of 3'38"0 at an average of 232.844 km/h during practice); however, his win has been kind of simplified by the accident at the beginning of the race. The race continued with only seven cars; it started raining heavily before the start, making the asphalt slippery, then becoming thicker and thicker, hindering the drivers. John Surtees knows something about this: for twenty-four laps he tailed Rindt's Cooper-Maserati without managing to overtake him because of the water and mud trial raised by the Italian-English car. At the end of the eighteenth lap rain stopped, while Rindt was still in the lead, chased by Surtees, who, six laps later - when the track had partially dried out - finally managed to take the lead. There were four laps to go before the end of the race, and Surtees' Ferrari was increasing more and more its lead over the Cooper-Maserati, which was beginning to struggle. It was unfortunate that the dramatic accident at Francorchamps, during the Belgian Grand Prix, disrupted in a way the regularity of the highly anticipated second round of the Drivers' World Championship, although it is more than likely that none of the drivers involved would have been able to thwart the fine victory of John Surtees and his Ferrari. This car now seems to be definitively on point, more efficient than the English single-seaters, including the Cooper-Maserati, which is improving from race to race (in second place with the young Austrian driver Jochen Rindt, who for many laps managed to hold off Surtees' offensive). It is clear, though, that had all their rivals managed to complete the race, the Ferrari team’s win would have been even more important. And to think that at the end of the race, Franco Gozzi, Enzo Ferrari's secretary, wanted to fire John Surtees. Logically, the Modenese manufacturer's intention is promptly stopped.
From the beginning of the season, relations between Surtees and Parkes were never good at Maranello, and in the factory - but especially in the racing department - alliances were formed. Mike Parkes, who wants to race not only in the Prototypes category but also in Formula 1, has long understood that there is no feeling between sporting director Dragoni and Surtees, and therefore takes advantage of this situation to feed the mood of suspicion. The tense situation explodes on Saturday, May 21, 1966, at Monte-Carlo when, during the practice sessions, John Surtees and Ferrari's sports director start to argue in front of the team, the journalists and the public. Surtees calls Dragoni an incompetent and dictator, and of course the sports director answers back with adjectives like rude and treacherous. Despite the tension, Surtees conquers the first row, and at the start of the race he takes the lead, keeping it for thirteen laps, until he is forced to withdraw due to the breaking of the differential of his 312. Back in the pits, Surtees and Dragoni quarrel again. Dragoni accuses Surtees of having caused the differential breakage with deliberately brutal driving, and once back in Maranello, he tries to convince Enzo Ferrari to get rid of his former World Champion. On Monday, May 23, 1966, in the afternoon, Enzo Ferrari calls a meeting and John Surtees is also invited. The Modena manufacturer listens to both parts, the British driver, and the sports director, but apparently makes no decision. Nevertheless, at the end of the meeting, Enzo Ferrari orders Franco Gozzi - his secretary - to call 26-year-old Italian-American Mario Andretti to find out whether he is free and interested in driving for the Maranello team. The following day, Tuesday, May 24, 1966, Enzo Ferrari calls a second meeting, this time John Surtees is not present. The main topic is the possible departure of the British driver. Ferrari does not express his own opinion, but is interested in knowing the one of the other men sitting around the table. Among them, only a few are in favour (Forghieri), others are undecided, while Piero Gobbato, the General Manager, is against. Analysing the situation, Franco Gozzi shares his idea: Bandini is not a number one, Parkes is not as good on Formula 1 single-seaters as on Prototypes and Andretti - whom he called the previous day - would have been happy to drive for Ferrari, but he cannot leave his team before the end of the season.
"As things stand, we can't lose a top driver, because Bandini is not a number one, Parkes is just a beginner in Formula 1 and, above all, Andretti, after last night's call, replied that at least for a year he can't come".
Dragoni speaks as last, reminding those present at the meeting that Surtees, when he is in the factory, always looks with great interest at the 330 P3: the reference to the Lola issue is clear to everyone, including Ferrari. At the end of the meeting, Enzo Ferrari decides to announce the dismissal at the end of the next race, the Belgian Grand Prix. To manage the situation in the best possible way - although the conflict within the team is known to all - and to make it clear that the decision was taken directly by him, Enzo Ferrari sends Franco Gozzi to Belgium. But at Spa, in a race that saw a violent downpour in the opening stages and precisely John Surtees’s victory, at the end of the race Franco Gozzi is frantically searching for a telephone to tell Ferrari the outcome of the Grand Prix and receive instructions, and he is stopped: Surtees’ dismissal is temporarily suspended. And to think that Franco Gozzi had set off with the intention of entering the press room and announcing his dismissal.
"You go there and at the end of the race you make the announcement. Nothing else".
Said Ferrari. And so, Franco Gozzi had set off on an interminable eighteen-hour journey by car, because he does not like travelling by plane, together with Luciano Conti (who was driving the car) and Marcello Sabbatini (editor of the Italian newspaper Autosprint). But what is even worse, is that both of them will pester Franco Gozzi for the whole trip and the whole weekend to know something in advance. On the other hand, it is a genuine miracle if the accident did not assume the proportions of a catastrophe, and if the only one to come off badly was the unfortunate Jackie Stewart, the strong Scottish driver who, having won the first round of the World Championship three weeks ago in Monte-Carlo, seemed to be Surtees' most formidable adversary. But in the Belgian race there was also proof of the excellent form of Lorenzo Bandini, who achieved third place at the wheel of the old Ferrari, 2.4-litre engine, which gives him the top of the Monde Championship standings, with 10 points against Surtees and Stewart's 9.