German Grand Prix

Nürburgring, 7 Aug 1966

All cars are 3-litre F1 unless noted.

Notes on the cars:

1. Brabham BT18 [F2-22-66] (Hans Herrmann): New to Roy Winkelmann Racing for Jochen Rindt to race in European F2 in 1966, winning at the Nürburgring in April and at Brands Hatch in October. Sold to Reg Armstrong (Northern Ireland), fitted with a 1600cc Ford twin cam and raced in Northern Ireland in 1967. Later to Tommy Reid (Tandragee, County Armagh) for 1969 as a backup to his Brabham BT23 and used in events where the FVA-engined car was not eligible. To John Smith (Ballymena, County Antrim) and raced again in Irish libre racing in 1970. Smith acquired a BT30 for 1971 and the BT18 was sold to English dealer Bobby Howlings who sold it on, less engine, to RAF pilot John Walmsley. Walmsley fitted a 997cc ex-F3 Cosworth engine and ran it in sprints and hillclimbs, winning the novice award at Blackpool in June 1971. He fitted a Vegantune twin cam for 1972. The car was next seen with John Hart on the hills in 1975, when it still had the Vegantune twin cam, but he apparantly fitted a Cosworth FVA for the 1976 season. Then sold to Jimmy Johnstone for 1977, when it was back to its Vegantune powerplant. Traded to dealer David Winstanley (Winsford, Cheshire) for a Brabham BT30 and then unknown until raced between 1979 and 1981 in Monoposto by Barry Whitehurst (Wombourne, Staffordshire). Peter Speakman (Broughton-in-Furness, Cumbria) acquired the car for the 1984 season, and hillclimbed it for many years. It was displayed by Speakman in a Rindt tribute at the Essen Motor Show in 1993. Some time around 2007, this car was bought from David Crowther by Joe Willenpart (Austria). By 2019, this had moved to a private collection.
2. Lotus 44 [44-F-3] (Pedro Rodriguez): To Ron Harris Team Lotus (RHTL) for 1966 and first raced by Mike Spence at Reims in July. It then became Jim Clark's regular car for the rest of the season, finishing second at Montlhéry in September but it was not competitive against the Brabham BT18s. Advertised in December 1966 and probably the car sold to the US. John Hick (East Orange, NJ) had a Lotus 44 for Formula C in May 1968 but later that season the car had transplanted to the west coast and was raced by Peter Darr (Government Camp, OR) in Formula B. Raced again in FB by Darr in 1969 and advertised in September 1969 as "Clark's own". Sold to Robert "Denny" Ericson (Spokane, WA) of Repco NW in 1970 and then to Don Breidenbach (Oakland, CA) by 1973. Breidenbach raced the car in SCCA Regionals in 1973 before buying himself a brand new March 74B for 1974. Last seen when advertised by Breidenbach in February 1974. Subsequent history unknown. Philipp Buhofer owned a Lotus 44 in 2019 that was said to be 44-F2-3. The car's preparers say that it is the car owned at one time by Cedric Selzer, then sold to Japan. It was later sold by Lutziger Cars to Philipp Buhofer some time before 2014.
3. Brabham BT18 [F2-23-66] (Alan Rees): New to Roy Winkelmann Racing for Alan Rees to race in European F2 in 1966. Also driven by Jo Bonnier at Karlskoga and Keimola in August. Subsequent history unknown.
4. Brabham BT18 [F2-7-66] (Kurt Ahrens): New to Kurt Ahrens and raced in Formula 2 in 1966, using a Cosworth SCA engine. Sold to Ronnie Peterson for Formula 3 in 1967. To Gustaf Dieden for F3 in 1968. To Bertil Roos (Gotenborg, Sweden) for F3 in 1969. Chris Townsend advises that this car went to Stig Johansson for 1970. Subsequent history unknown.
5. Lotus 44 [44-F-2] (Piers Courage): The second Ron Harris Team Lotus (RHTL) Lotus 44 was driven by guest drivers in 1966, including Piers Courage and Pedro Rodriguez before becoming Eric Offenstadt's car in the final races. Advertised in December 1966. As far as can be determined, this was the car that went to Pierre de Siebenthal (Switzerland) and was used in Swiss national events in 1968 and 1969. At Ollon-Villars in 1969 it was running in the 1100cc class, implying it had its original F2 engine. De Siebenthal kept this car for many years and Ted Walker saw it in Switzerland in the 1980s when it had a BRM 1-litre engine. Kevin Whittle reports being told of a 44 with a BRM engine in southern France in 2003. Nothing more known.
6. Lotus 44 [44-F-1] (Gerhard Mitter): The first Lotus 44 run by Ron Harris Team Lotus (RHTL) and driven by Jim Clark and John Cardwell in the early races of 1966 and thereafter by Peter Arundell. Advertised by RHTL in November 1966 but apparently unsold and believed to be the "driven by Clark" car advertised by Ron Harris Racing Division in November 1968. As the other two 44s were in the US and Switzerland respectively by this time, this must be the car acquired by Roy Pickton and fitted with a Ford twin cam engine for libre racing in Britain in 1970. Then unknown until 1973, when it was raced in Monosposto Formula's 1600cc class by Miki Dee. Advertised by Dee from a Surrey address in 1974. This is presumably the Lotus 44 entered by a T.P.C. Watkins in a Silverstone libre in May 1974. Then unknown until acquired by Cedric Selzer in the 1980s, restored with a Cosworth SCA engine and sold to Japan. Subsequent history unknown.
7. Brabham BT16 [F2-2-65] (Silvio Moser): Driven by Jochen Rindt for Roy Winkelmann Racing in 1965. Presumably Rindt raced the same car all season. Also driven at Solitude 1965 by Gerhard Mitter. In 1966 it was entered by Martinelli Sonvico for Silvio Moser in Switzerland and subsequently to Hans Bütsch and Hans Obrist by late 1968 for hill climbs. Much later reported to be with Konrad 'Koni' Lutziger (Rudolfstetten, CH) for historic racing. Raced by Lutziger at the 2013 Solitude Revival.

Sources

Note that the identification of individual cars in these results is based on the material presented elsewhere in this site and may in some cases contradict the organisers' published results.

3-litre Formula 1 World Championship events 1966-1985

These 1966 to 1985 results were initially compiled by Allen Brown, but these were in the very basic form required to track individual car histories. Since then further details, such as laps completed, qualifying times and so on, have been added from Rob Ryder's extensive database.

All comments, clarifications, corrections and additions are most welcome. Please email Allen at allen@oldracingcars.com if you can help with our research.

Individual sources for this event

Autosport 12 Aug 1966 pp276-281. Motor Sport September 1966 pp793-794,800. Motoring News 11 Aug 1966 pp1,8-9,15.