1967 Round 1
Pukekohe

The official training session saw Stewart record 1 min 2.6 sec (100.7 mph) for a lap of the revised circuit on his 43rd round of the day. This was accomplished on Goodyear tyres, signaling that the tyre war was on, because he also tried Dunlops which proved fractionally slower. Clark was having rear suspension bothers and was running on old Firestones, the new Super Sports GP R125 tyres having not yet arrived. He finally got down to 1 min 4.4 sec. which was 1.8 sec slower than Stewart.

Gardner and Attwood managed rather better with 1 min 3.5 sec each, while Palmer posted 1 min 6 sec, just 0.8 sec slower than Bartlett. Lawrence was next with an amazing 1 min 7.2 sec. Hulme, without a car, spectated, and Brabham, who was busy fitting the V8 engine into Hulme's Formula I car, did not show up.

There was near tragedy in practice when Kerry Grant clipped the wheel of another car at the end of the straight. The Brabham spun to a halt without hitting anything but was already on fire and before Grant could get clear he was badly burned. He never drove a single-seater again.

Feo Stanton offered Hulme the use of his Brabham BT7A, the car Hulme had used in the 1964 series. Stanton had acquired the car off Andy Buchanan and Hulme gladly accepted it.

The following day Brabham, Hulme and Clark with the rear suspension of the Lotus fixed and the new Firestones, had unofficial runs. Clark quickly returned 1 min 2.7 sec and called it a day. Brabham, experimented with tyres and gear ratios and persisted until he returned 1 min 2.2 sec, thereby leaving most of those on hand with the feeling that he would be the man to beat in the GP. Hulme managed 1 min 4.3 sec in the old car.

Stewart hit the front from the start and remained there with Clark in close attendance, after Clark had displaced Attwood in the course of the sixth of the 12 laps, until the end.

Defections came early. Gardner soon departed the scene when a piston and valve contacted. Brabham was carving a path through the field in spectacular fashion and, with Gardner off the stage, took fourth spot ahead of Bartlett and Palmer in his third lap. The pace was a cracker and the leaders were already doubling the tail-enders. In the fourth lap Attwood took to the grass in front of the stands to pass two slower cars. Up front, Stewart had 100 yards on Clark, and then down came the rain.

Brabham, apparently unconcerned about the changed conditions, pressed on at undiminished speed in his eighth lap when he struck an oil patch in the new Esses, put a wheel on the soft shoulder and spun off into a ditch, well and truly out of the race. Within seconds Roly Levis joined him. Now Hulme had taken Bartlett for fourth and next in line was Palmer. They finished in that order, with Lawrence a lap behind in seventh spot. Stewart cut out the race in 12 min 46 sec to average more than 100 mph. Other casualties were Thomasen, who blew a motor, as did Dawson, and Smith also did not finish. Only Brabham, Smith and Levis managed to get their cars into shape for the main race.

The sun was shining and the track dry when the field, with latecomer Brabham tagging along behind, completed the GP warm-up lap. Clark made the best of the start, but within yards Stewart had nosed to the front. Then came Attwood, Bartlett and Hulme. The field swarmed through the Esses after the right-hand swerve beyond the pits and as they cleared away from Castrol Curve down Firestone Straight the BRM and Lotus could be seen pulling clear of the bunch. First time round Stewart and Clark were 100 yards clear of Attwood, Hulme, Bartlett and Palmer. Then there was another gap to Marwood, Lawrence, Brownlie, Hollier and Boyd. With six laps gone, Stewart and Clark, glued together, were lapping the tail-enders and turning in 'ton' laps. Brabham was among the spectators, after breaking a half-shaft on lap 5, and the field was strung out with Attwood and Hulme having their own race fairly well clear of Bartlett and Palmer who were similarly engaged. With about 14 laps completed, the Scots had pushed their average up to 101 mph and still the pace was on. The next two laps were at 102 mph and Stewart was doing all he knew to shake off Clark, but to no avail.

By lap 24 Bartlett and Palmer, fifth and sixth, had been doubled, and Marwood and Lawrence, who were not far apart, had been doubled twice. The two in front were half a lap clear of Attwood and Hulme. Three laps later Bartlett made a quick stop. After two more laps he retired with magneto problems. Marwood had already abandoned on lap 24 with a broken crown wheel. In the 29th lap Hulme took Attwood who was getting apprehensive when his engine temperature soared, but it was to no avail, as he broke a stub axle with just seven laps to go.