1968 Round 1
Pukekohe

An impressive first up win for Amon in the Ferrari in the NZGP.

Official practice sessions were held two days before the race and most of the people who mattered were on hand for the first day, but there were long faces in the Lotus and Ferrari camps as the latest Firestone tyres had not turned up. Amon pitched for Goodyears, but Clark experimented with the available Firestones then switched to Dunlops, which proved quicker, and stuck with them. The BRMs, Gardner, Hulme and Palmer were on Goodyears, while Courage was on Dunlops.

What with the chopping and changing, this was a mixed-up day, but Clark came out fastest with a 60 sec (105 mph) lap, while Amon managed 60.5 sec. The BRMs were off-key, manager Tim Parnell attributing the trouble to lack of spark.

On the second day Clark went round at 105.5 mph, a time of 59.8 sec and just 0.1 sec better than Amon's best. Rodriguez and McLaren tried the 2-litre V8 BRM and returned 61 sec but had to bow to Gardner who returned the figure first. Hulme hurled the Brabham-FVA around for 61.4 sec, while Courage returned 62.2, tried to improve and ran out of road, damaging his McLaren's suspension. Brownlie was the fastest of the 1.5's with 65.6 sec, followed by Levis on 66.5 sec and Lawrence 67.0 sec.

Amon made the best of the start, with Clark, Gardner, Rodriguez, Hulme and McLaren next. Palmer was badly left after flooding his engine and, by the time he was rolling, Clark had taken Amon and was well in front. At the end of the first lap the Lotus and Ferrari had a few yards on Gardner. Then came Rodriguez, Hulme, McLaren and Courage. Bolton in the elderly Brabham-Climax was next; with Roly Levis, Lawrence and Brownlie, in their 1.5 Brabham-Fords, tagging along clear of the rest.

Clark settled in to lap consistently about 103 mph but could not shake off Amon, although these two had soon shrugged off Gardner. Rodriguez had Hulme too close for comfort, while McLaren had drifted back a little with a clutch that wasn't engaging properly, so Courage was looming large in his mirrors.

By lap 5 Palmer had already got up to fourteenth. Lap 6 saw Anderson in the pits with plug trouble and Yock hitting the bank and losing the front of his Lotus. He continued for a couple of laps before retiring with a huge oil leak. Anderson went missing after a driveshaft fractured. McLaren was now having fuel injection problems to go with his misbehaving clutch.

After ten laps Clark led Amon by 6 sec. A lap later Rodriguez pitted for clutch adjustments and Levis also made a stop. Now the order was Clark, Amon, Gardner, Hulme, Courage and McLaren. Then, some distance back, came Bolton, Palmer, who had pulled out all the stops, Brownlie and Lawrence. Tailend doubling had already started and, to all intents and purposes, the rest were out of the contest.

A lap later and McLaren was in the pits to get the injection system checked. He made one more desultory lap, then abandoned to watch team-mate Rodriguez resume and circulate well out of contention until he, too, finally had to call it a day also with clutch trouble. Oxton also retired on the same lap as McLaren, with a broken driveshaft.

It then became clear that the Australian was having trouble. The Brabham-Alfa slowed appreciably as its battery lost its charge and it looked as though Hulme might take Gardner's place before the finish. Meantime, Palmer had finally taken Bolton; then came Brownlie and Lawrence. With Amon circulating at diminished pace, most interest centred on the Gardner-Hulme duel. The Australian managed to slip by Brownlie, who was being doubled for the fourth time, just before the right-hander leading to the Esses and sharper right-hander that leads to the back straight. Hulme was not so lucky and had to tuck in behind the 1.5 Brabham-Ford until they cleared this section. Then on the gentle swerve that warns of the hairpin their cars touched and there was flying debris everywhere. Both were catapulted onto either side of the track, both turning over and disintegrating. Brownlie had also hit a pole in the disaster. Brownlie was trapped inside his car with a broken leg and foot and underwent many hours of surgery. Hulme appeared unscathed though furious.

Fastest lap: C. Amon, 59.3 sec (106.07 mph)*           *record