For me as a car mad schoolboy of 11 (pictured with Peter Arundell’s F2 test Lotus), the major sporting event of 1966 was the closure of Goodwood for regular motor race meetings.

While I soon developed a more cosmopolitan attitude to racing elsewhere within easy reach of home (such as Brands Hatch, Crystal Palace and Thruxton), in 1966 Goodwood was my favourite circuit, especially as it was the first circuit to which I had been taken by my parents back in 1963.

Much has been said and written about the friendly atmosphere of a Goodwood race meeting in the 1960s, and I would concur with this view. Free admission to the Paddock, and the Grandstands at Woodcote and the Chicane at Members’ Meetings emphasised this too.

The Lloyd family visited Goodwood four times during 1966, in March, April (including Members’ Days and the practice day for the Easter Monday event) and June.

I am not sure whether prices had risen so high that my Dad felt that it was too expensive for a family of four to attend the Easter race day, or that first, the crowds were too big for small kids, second, the circuit’s new 3-litre limit for Racing and Sports Racing Cars or third, the fact that the big race was for the 1-litre Formula Two cars, I am not sure, but in any event we went to the practice, which I recall we also did in 1965.

Ironically we went as a family to the Brands Hatch race meeting on the Monday.

I was excited that the freedom of movement we were allowed gave me the opportunity to snap a number of cars with either the family Baby Brownie or my sister Julia’s Ilford 127 camera. I took pictures of a number of cars which grabbed my attention during the days racing or which looked good or different in the paddock.

My own memories include an intense battle at the March meeting between the Fraser Imps and Roger Nathan’s version, which ended with Nathan and one of the Fraser cars in the bank at Woodcote.

An equally intense battle at the June meeting involved  Don Jones (Anglia), Peter Bevan (A40) and 2 Minis driven by David George and David Meer.

Saloon cars I particularly remember are Doc Merfield’s Cortina V8, Peter Wardle’s Renault R8 with a Lotus twin-cam in the boot (the original Super Saloons!), and Mick Cave’s very fast grey A40 which he shared with Harry Digby.

Other drivers included Clive Lacey and his beautiful BT8 Brabham, which became the Courtenay Brabham GT a couple of years later, Dickie Metcalfe, Len Gibbs and his wife, Bluebelle Gibbs, all of whom I recall, from my research, raced at the opening meeting in 1948 as well as the closing one in July 1966.

Also there was John Bromilow who won a number of Clubmans Sports Car races in his DRW (pictured).

If my memory is correct, Geoff Mabbs, who drove the pictured Mini Marcos, is the chap who gave his name to Mabbs’ Bank at Lydden Hill, when he hit the bank during a Rallycross Meeting televised by the BBC.

A Busy weekend for some

The Easter weekend in 1966 was a busy one for the Formula Three and Saloon (Touring) Car teams and drivers because there was an International race meeting at Snetterton on Good Friday, practice at Goodwood on Saturday and the races at Goodwood on Easter Monday.

Motor Sport’s reports and centre spreads give a good impression of the intensity of the battles in both classes. The Saloons had a terrific field at both venues and the leaders were largely the same: Brian Muir in the fearsome Willment Galaxie and Jack Brabham in Alan Brown’s Mustang (pictured below) took a first and a second each but battled with Jim Clark in the Lotus Cortina, Mike Salmon’s Mustang and Gawaine Baillie’s Falcon V8. This car was the first to appear in British racing of the cars from the former Ford Rally Team prepared by Alan Mann Racing in 1964 or ’65.

A close look at the tow vehicle in the picture of the Mustang clearly shows the link between the Car’s owner and entrant, Alan Brown and the former Connaught Grand Prix team. Alan Brown was one of the principals of the team and was using the team’s truck to tow the Mustang on that Easter Weekend.

To finish this small piece about the Touring Car races, the picture below is rather special as it shows the Cooper Car Company’s transporter leaving the Goodwood paddock with its pair of Cooper Ss, for John Rhodes who drove the 1275 car (no 100) and Warwick Banks, the 970 car (No 111).

The Formula Three races at Snetterton and Goodwood were typically frenetic affairs for the 1-litre screamers and featured many of the top drivers of the day.

From Motorsport’s reports it looks as if Chris Williams was the one of the biggest losers of the Weekend as he was forced into a mistake by Roy Pike while leading at Snetterton and also spun while leading at Goodwood to finish 4th and 7th respectively.

Roy Pike, Peter Gethin and Brian Hart took the top 3 at Snetterton and at Goodwood the order was Chris Irwin, John Fenning and Peter Gethin.

To round off properly about Easter Weekend and fill the page a bit more, Jack and Denny established the pattern for F2 in 1966 by taking a 1-2 at Goodwood in the Brabham Hondas, against a strong field comprising names like Stewart, Clark, Hill, Ickx, and Arundell among others.

At Snetterton the big race was the first race for big Sports Racing cars under the newly formed FIA Group 7. Motorsport’s reporter, MJT, was disappointed by the 13 car field, the fragility of the cars as only 6 finished, and the scarcity of true Group 7 cars, of which there were nine. These were 4 McLarens; 2 M1Bs (called Mark 2s at this stage by the press) for Bruce himself and Chris Amon and 2 1965 M1As (for David Prophet and John Coundley), 4 Lolas for Denny Hulme, Graham Hill, Hugh Dibley and Brian Redman and a privately entered Lotus 30. Completing the field were David Piper with his 365P2 Ferrari (with open style body) and 3 GT40s for Richard Attwood, Eric Liddell and another who Motorsport did not mention.

After a processional race, the six finishers came home in the order Amon, Hulme, Attwood, Coundley, Liddell and Piper. At least Group 7 got better during the year with more cars and greater reliability but even so the RAC and promoters such as the Grovewood (Brands Hatch) group of circuits dropped its support for the category for 1967 onwards in favour of the 1.6 litre Formula Two and Group 4 Sports Cars.

And finally, my memory of  Brands Hatch at Easter 1966 is sparse but I recall that Chris Lambert won the Formula Three race while my memory of the saloon race is only of the  East Anglia Racing Team Anglias of Alan Peer and Roger Taylor, Terry Drury’s Lotus Cortina V8 and Brian Tarrant’s A40 Chevrolet, but I don’t remember  who won this or any other races.
Yours in Motorsport,

Charles