The Italian Grand Prix 1967 - Practice
There always seems to be ample time for practice at Monza, with three
hours on Friday afternoon and another three hours on Saturday, and after
a preliminary run round in the first hour by most drivers a lot of time
was spent making alterations to this and that, and mid-afternoon was very
quiet. It was also very hot, so there was a general air of waiting until
the sun started to go down, as practice lasted until 6.30 p.m. However,
not everyone was waiting for Hulme had started out at a good pace, with
laps below the old race record lap time of 1 min. 32.4 sec., but not as
fast as Parkes (Ferrari) best practice time of last year of 1 min. 31.3
sec., and then came to a stop with a head-gasket broken, so his practice
ended and the engine was taken to bits. Clark had set off in Lotus 49/2
only to find the gearbox ratios not to his liking, so while it was
changed for another one he went out in Baghetti's car, but the driving
position was all wrong and he could not see over the windscreen properly,
so he did not put in any very fast laps, although he was well below any
previous best time and was approaching 1 min. 30 sec. The new Ferrari was
having glassfibre "collector boxes" fitted to the air intakes, so Amon
went out in the earlier car and Surtees had done only a few laps in the
new Honda when the front anti-roll bar mountings began to fail, so he
transferred to the old car. Brabham tried his car with the tail fairing,
but not the "bubble-top"***pit, and found that the gearbox was
overheating, so it was discarded. McLaren had been having trouble getting
his B.R.M. engine to start, and when he finally got going it was
breathing crankcase fumes in a rather unhealthy fashion. NEW CAR -
Surtees' new Honda, which showed a great deal of Eric Broadley influence
, made its first public appearance at Monza
Stewart was trying the latest B.R.M. 16-cylinder and also one of the
early ones, and Scarfiotti was doing an enormous number of laps in his
Eagle until it came in with steam coming from the overflow and showed
signs of a cylinder liner Cooper-sealing-ring having failed. When the new
Ferrari was complete Amon took it out and was soon showing the potential
of this new engine, with laps under 1 min. 30 sec., and set the pace with
1 min 29.4 sec. Clark's car was now fitted with another gearbox and he
quickly went out and did 1 min. 28.5 sec., just to stop any complacency
spreading in the Ferrari pits, but even at that had not extended the
Lotus fully, especially on braking, so it was clear that when things
started to get serious all the works cars would have to be below 1 min.
30 sec. if they were to be in the hunt, and pole position on the grid was
going to be under 1 min. 28 sec., and even as low as 1 min. 27.0 sec.
These sort of lap times were representing an average speed of over 145
m.p.h., so that at those sort of speeds every tenth of a second was going
to count for a great distance between two cars. Brabham tried his "bubble
top"***pit cover and found he was 4 sec. slower per lap because he
could not see clearly enough under the trees around the Lesmo corners.
Any extra speed it gave him on the straights was cancelled out by the
slower cornering, so it was soon discarded. With the car in its normal
form he did some crafty slip- streaming behind Amon in the new Ferrari
and got himself a lap in 1 min. 29.3 ec., a long way off Clark's time,
but second fastest none the less. Gurney was out with them and going
well, as was Graham Hill, and by the end of the afternoon five cars were
below 1 min. 30 sec., six below Parkes' fastest practice lap of last
year, and eleven were below the official lap record, which were
encouraging results for a year of work and progress. Of these the engines
of the Ferrari, Lotus, Cooper and McLaren were new since last year, and
the Weslake engine was exactly 12 months from when it first appeared in
public.
Practice finished with the Eagle team starting on a major engine-changing
session, Hulme's engine being repaired and Stewart's B.R.M. having a
better engine installed. Amon had caused a flutter in the Ferrari pit as
the new engine suddenly stopped as he was passing the pits, but it was
nothing more serious than a shortage of petrol, Baghetti did not get a
chance to drive the spare Lotus 49, Siffert's Cooper-Maserati had not
arrived as the engine had broken a camshaft while on the test-bed the day
before, and de Adamich decided he did not want to drive Ligier's Cooper-
Maserati after all. The signs were that there was going to be some fast
motoring during the second practice afternoon, when everyone got really
worked up and began using each other's slip-stream. Although the three
training cars were in use, no lap times were given for them.
Next day Gurney had a new engine in his Eagle and his old one had been
put into Scarfiotti's car, Hulme's engine was complete again, and Stewart
had a better engine in his B.R.M. The new Honda had been strengthened,
Siffert's Cooper-Maserati had arrived, and Baghetti was ready to have a
drive in Lotus 49/1. The weather did not look too promising so those who
were ready at 3.30 p.m. started lapping pretty quickly from the word go
and Brabham did some more slip-streaming and got in a lap at an
incredible 1 min. 28.8 sec. Stewart's new engine was going really well
and got him into the under 1 min. 30 sec. group, and Hulme was there as
well. Qualifying time was 15% of the fastest time and Siffert soon
managed this, which was very fortunate as it turned out later, and
Baghetti found the powerful Lotus 49 quite a handful, but managed all
right. McLaren joined the elite by reason of some slip-streaming and
Clark was preparing to try some Goodyear tyres, as he did not like the
way the Firestone tyres seemed reluctant to slide, although they were
holding the road well. Practice had only been going for a little over 30
minutes when the first spots of rain fell, and with the exception of
Brabham and Scarfiotti everyone rushed for shelter. It was just as well
for the storm clouds got thicker and then the sky opened and the rain was
bouncing two inches off the ground, and hailstones began to fall.
Torrential rain fell for nearly an hour, and even when it had stopped and
people ventured out again the track was too wet for any more record lap
times and all the battling for grid positions was over. The session was
extended for 30 minutes, until 7 p.m., but it was no use, and no-one
could approach 1 min. 30 sec., for under the trees at Lesmo it was still
damp and slippery. Clark did some comparative rests with Goodyear and
Firestone tyres, but they were not really conclusive as road conditions
were changing all the time, but at least it kept the tyre people on their
toes. As practice was ending Baghetti ran out of petrol in Lotus 49/1,
which meant a long wait for him until he was collected, but this
satisfied Team Lotus that the fuel system was working properly and
picking up the last gallon from the tanks, so that they were able to do
an accurate consumption check. Also as practice ended the new Cooper-
Maserati that Rindt was driving broke a drive-shaft universal and the
wayward shaft smashed a rear brake and hub carrier, which meant some late
night work for the mechanics.
The rain had made rather a nonsense of the starting grid, for Gurney,
Amon and Hill had a lot more to come, and Brabham and McLaren were on the
front row with lap times they could not repeat without a slip-streaming
"tow" from a faster car. However, it did mean that there were five
different makes of car on the first two rows, having little in common
except the 3-litres capacity of the engine. The Cosworth engine has eight
cylinders, four valves per cylinder, centre inlets and side exhausts; the
Repco has eight cylinders, two valves per cylinder, single o.h.c.,
vertical inlets and centre exhausts; the B.R.M. has 12 cylinders, two
valves per cylinder, vertical inlets and side exhausts; the Ferrari has
12 cylinders, four valves per cylinder, side inlets and centre exhausts;
and the Weslake has 12 cylinders, four valves per cylinder, centre inlets
and side exhausts; all of which shows a healthy competition among engine
designers, and in the third row was an H16-cylinder B.R.M.
