1966 Round 1
Pukekohe

This year there was only one day of practice before the race, in weather that ranged from sunshine to torrential rain. This year there were to be no heats for the Grand Prix so that practice times really meant something. The lack of training time caused some discontent, particularly among the overseas visitors. Clark was one of the first out to sample the new Firestone tyres on the Lotus. It was not long before he produced his best time of the day, 1 min 25.5 sec.

When the qualifying times were posted after the two half-hour training sessions, it was found that Scuderia Veloce's Spencer Martin was second quickest with 1 min 26.3 sec, and 0.1 sec better than Stewart. That made the Grand Prix front row Hill, Clark and Martin. Stewart was on the next row with Palmer (1 min 26.8 sec). Third row was Marwood (1 min 29.8 sec). Surprisingly, Gardner, second in the 1965 GP, could do no better than 1 min 29.9, while fellow-Australian Geoghegan managed a good 1 min 30 sec with the small Lotus-Ford. The next row was Dawson and Lawrence; then Riley, Buchanan and Sager; Smith and Whittaker; Hollier, Levis and Stone; and Thackwell at the rear.

A crowd of about 35,000 gathered under a leaden sky to see the start of the big race. Dark clouds did not deter Clark from deciding to run on the 'dry' Firestones. Both Hill and Stewart were on all-weather Dunlop R7s. The field was depleted by two as Bill Caldwell and Brian Innes (1.5 Brabham-Ford and 1.5 Lotus-Ford) had tangled in the earlier 1.5-litre event, fortunately without serious consequences.

With less than half a minute to go, the first drops of rain came down and when the flag fell the bottom really dropped out of the bucket. Martin made the best of the start with Hill fractionally slower. Clark had stripped first gear and tried to warn everyone by raising both hands high in the air. Gardner got the message and swerved to get around the stricken Lotus but tangled with Buchanan in the process. These two Brabhams were out of the contest and the rest were well on their way by the time Clark was pushed away.

After six laps Clark pitted amid a flurry of mechanics and deliberately removed his helmet and gloves, his GP over again in similar fashion to his 1965 race when he was shunted out in his second lap. Also out was Stone, who had collected a fence post at the hairpin. Lawrence also stopped with clutch problems.

With ten laps gone, Hill and Stewart were averaging 85 mph and hitting 150 mph on the back straight. They were about 20 sec clear of Palmer who had a similar advantage over Marwood. Then down came the rain again. Lap times for the 2.2-mile circuit immediately dropped 10 sec to about 1-37 for the leading pair, while the remainder slipped back even farther. The BRM’s were now getting among the slower cars. They doubled Marwood in lap sixteen and Palmer's turn came three laps later. Smith had a spin on lap 12, but managed to get going again. Geoghegan stopped to change his goggles for a visor to try and improve his visibility in the rain.

First corner with Martin leading from Hill, Stewart and Palmer.

The rain ceased shortly after Hill and Stewart had covered half the distance and by then the BRM’s were out on their own. On lap 21 Riley went out with electrical problems

Back in the ruck, Geoghegan and Sager began to make up some of their lost ground, but it was not until Levis spun out in the Loop in the thirty-first lap that they made fifth and sixth spots, Sager being in front at the time. Three laps later Geoghegan took him.

13th New Zealand Grand Prix

Date: 8th January 1966
Venue: Pukekohe

Fastest lap: Graham Hill, 1 min 25.7 sec.

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