1967 French Grand Prix

  1967 French Grand Prix

Race details
Race 5 of 11 in the 1967 Formula One season
Date	2 July 1967 (1967-07-02)
Location	Bugatti Circuit, Le Mans, France
Course	Permanent race track 4.430 km (2.753 mi)
Distance	80 laps, 354.40 km (220.24 mi)
Pole position
Driver	Graham Hill	Lotus-Ford
Time	1:36.2
Fastest lap
Driver	Graham Hill	Lotus-Ford
Time	1:36.7
Podium
First	Jack Brabham	Brabham-Repco
Second	Denny Hulme	Brabham-Repco
Third	Jackie Stewart	BRM

The 1967 French Grand Prix was a Formula One race held at the Bugatti Circuit, Le Mans on July 2, 1967. It was the first French Grand Prix to be held in Le Mans since the first ever running of the race in 1906 and as of 2013 is the only time the Bugatti Circuit has been used for the Grand Prix.

The new Bugatti circuit used the main pit straight at Le Mans, which back in 1967 did not have the Dunlop Chicane, but then turned right at "La Chapelle" into an infield section comprising the third gear "Le Musée" right hander and the second gear "Garage Vert" corner which led onto the back straight, who's only distinctive feature was the "Chemin Aux Boeups" left hand kink (now a left-right chicane) some two-thirds along, before heading back to the pit straight via the "S Bleu" and "Raccordement" corners near the entrance to the pits. The circuit was seen as somewhat boring and was universally unpopular with both drivers and crowds with only a reported 20,000 attending the race, with some of the drivers reported to have privately wished the race was run on the full 13.461 km (8.378 mi) long Circuit de la Sarthe where the 5.7 km (3.5 mi) Mulsanne Straight was 1.3 km (0.8 mi) longer than the entire Bugatti circuit.

At the time, circuit lengths of 10 km (6.2 mi) or longer were common in Grand Prix racing with the 14.120 km (8.770 mi) Spa-Francorchamps used for the Belgian Grand Prix, and the infamous 22.835 km (14.189 mi) Nürburgring used for the German Grand Prix, so many of drivers felt using the full 24 Hours circuit should have been considered as the venue by the Automobile Club de France.

Race report [edit]

Graham Hill was on pole and led away for the first lap until Jack Brabham took over. On lap 7 Jim Clark took the lead and Hill passed Brabham to make it a Lotus 1-2. Hill then retook the lead until his crown-wheel and pinion failed on lap 14. The same problem caused Clark's retirement from the lead on lap 23, leaving Brabham ahead of Dan Gurney, Chris Amon and Denny Hulme. On lap 41 a fuel line broke on Gurney's car, making it a Brabham 1-2 and Amon's throttle cable broke several laps later. Brabham drove home serenely to win his first race in eight Grands Prix by 49.5 seconds and justify his position as reigning World Champion.

Classification [edit]

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	3	Jack Brabham	Brabham-Repco	80	2:13:21.3	2	9
2	4	Denny Hulme	Brabham-Repco	80	+ 49.5	6	6
3	10	Jackie Stewart	BRM	79	+ 1 Lap	10	4
4	18	Jo Siffert	Cooper-Maserati	77	+ 3 Laps	11	3
5	15	Chris Irwin	BRM	76	Engine	9	2
6	14	Pedro Rodríguez	Cooper-Maserati	76	+ 4 Laps	13	1
NC	16	Guy Ligier	Cooper-Maserati	68	Not Classified	15
Ret	2	Chris Amon	Ferrari	47	Throttle	7
Ret	9	Dan Gurney	Eagle-Weslake	40	Fuel Leak	3
Ret	12	Jochen Rindt	Cooper-Maserati	33	Engine	8
Ret	8	Bruce McLaren	Eagle-Weslake	26	Ignition	5
Ret	6	Jim Clark	Lotus-Ford	23	Differential	4
Ret	17	Bob Anderson	Brabham-Climax	16	Ignition	14
Ret	7	Graham Hill	Lotus-Ford	13	Differential	1
Ret	11	Mike Spence	BRM	9	Halfshaft	12

Championship standings after the race [edit]

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Denny Hulme 22 4 2 Jack Brabham 16 1 3 Pedro Rodríguez 12 1 4 Chris Amon 11 1 5 Jim Clark 10

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Brabham-Repco 27 2 Cooper-Maserati 17 3 3 BRM 11 1 4 Ferrari 11 1 5 Lotus-Ford 10

• Notes: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References [edit]

• "The Official Formula 1 website". Retrieved 2008-01-16.