Jack Brabham looking very comfy in his Brabham BT20 Repco with ‘lightweight’ head-cam attached during practice at Watkins Glen in 1966…
When looking at this shot it’s amazing to reflect on such equipment, every man and his dog have ‘GoPros’ to capture their sporting triumphs these days whatever they might be.
What Jack was up to is interesting, and not covered in the MotorSport report of the race. ‘Grand Prix’ was released on 21 December 1966, the date of this footage is the Watkins Glen weekend of October 1/2 that year.
Given James Garner’s presence is this some late footage for the classic which would have been in the final production stages or some other sort of promotional activity?
I’m interested to know from you ‘Grand Prix’ anoraks or any of you who were there.
Brabham, Bandini and Surtees at the start. Brabham BT20 Repco, Ferrari 312 and Cooper T81 Maserati respectively (Upitis)
Jacks car is not his regular 1966 mount, the one-off 1965 BT19 chassis but rather a BT20, the 1966 F1 design raced by Denny throughout the year.
Brabham put the Repco V8 engined car on pole, a good effort as he was experimenting with both Lucas and Bosch ignition systems during practice which hampered him putting sequences of quick laps together.
He led the race convincingly until a cam follower broke, jamming the camshaft and breaking its drive chain. Jim Clark lead from that point, lap 55 in the Lotus 43 BRM. The engine of Jim’s car, BRM’s spare, was still being fitted and finessed right up to the start of the race.
It was a famous win, the H16’s only victory and ironic that the complex, heavy, powerful lump was in the back of a Lotus rather than the BRM chassis the Bourne boys had laboured so long and hard to perfect. Tony Rudd’s mob deserved the win more than Chapman’s but that’s motor racing! Cooper Maserati were second and third, Rindt in front of Surtees after the 1964 World Champs T81 tangled with Peter Arundell’s Lotus 33 Climax early in the race.
Click here for an article on the Lotus 43; https://primotipo.com/2015/02/17/jim-clark-taking-a-deep-breath-lotus-43-brm/
Clark heads to the dummy grid whilst Richie Ginther walks behin- #5 is the nose of Jack’s car
Credits…
Alvis Upitis
Tailpiece: Jack being plumbed for the camera before the off, the new World Champ has everything to smile about…
Finito…
primotipo... 