1966 RAC Tourist Trophy

1966 saw the world’s oldest motor race,organised by the Royal Automobile Club, return to Oulton Park, for the 31st running of the RAC International Tourist Trophy Race sponsored by Daily Express . The TT, was the second round of the British Sports Car Championship. This was held at the Oulton Park circuit, in Cheshire, England, on 29 April.^[1][2]

Report

Entry

Despite the race being dropped from the World Sportscar Championship, the event still attracted a total of 30 sports cars, across two classes, however just 21 took part in qualifying. ^[2]

Qualifying

The F1 regular and winner of last year’s TT, Denny Hulme took pole position for the Sidney Taylor team, in their Lola-Chevrolet T70 Mk.2, averaging a speed of 102.012mph, around 2.761 miles circuit. ^[2] Dick Protheroe lost his life at the wheel of a Ferrari 330P-64 following an accident during a practice session.^[3]

Race

The final was held over 140 laps of the Oulton Park circuit, split into two heats of 70 laps. Denny Hulme took impressive overall victory, winning with an aggregated time of 4hrs 06:11.200mins., averaging a speed of 94.760mph. Second place went to Tony Dean, in his Brabham-Climax BT8. The podium was complete by Peter Sutcliffe, in his Ford GT40. As Sutcliffe was also the Group 6 class winner, he was awarded The Oulton Trophy. For Hulme, this victory was his second TT, he would go on and win a further two, last being in 1986. ^[4][2]

Classification

Aggregate Results

Pos.	No.	Group	Driver(s)	Entrant	Car - Engine	Time, Laps	Reason Out
1st	4	Gr. 7	Denny Hulme	Sidney Taylor	Lola-Chevrolet T70 Mk.2	4hrs 06:11.200 140 laps
2nd	14	Gr. 7	Tony Dean	Race Proved by Willment	Brabham-Climax BT8	135
3rd	48	Gr. 6	Peter Sutcliffe	Peter Sutcliffe	Ford GT40	134
4th	58	Gr. 7	Geoff Breakell	G.H. Breakell	Brabham-Climax BT8	132
5th	18	Gr.7	Tommy Weber	Vegantune Engineering	Lotus-BRM 23	131
6th	36	Gr.6	Peter de Klerk	Porsche Cars (GB) Ltd.	Porsche 906	131
7th	26	Gr. 7	John Coundley	John O. Coundley	McLaren Elva M1A Oldsmobile	126
8th	24	Gr. 7	Peter Gethin Derek Bennett	Robert Ashcroft Racing Ltd.	Crosslé-BMW 9S	125
9th	38	Gr. 6	David Piper	David Piper	Ferrari 365 P2	123
10th	56	Gr. 7	Peter Sadler	Peter Sadler	Lotus-Ford 30	122
11th		Gr. 6	Alan Rees	Maranello Concessionaires Ltd.	Ferrari 250 LM	119
12th	20	Gr. 7	Mike Garton	Vegantune Engineering	Lotus-Ford 23	114
13th	28	Gr. 7	Brian Redman	Red Rose Racing Team	Lola-Chevrolet T70 Mk.2	111	2: Final drive
DNF	54	Gr. 7	Malcolm Wayne	Malcolm Wayne	Elva-BRM		DNF
DNF	6	Gr.7	Hugh Dibley	Racing Partnership (Jersey) Ltd.	Lola-Chevrolet T70 Mk.2		2: Oil pressure
DNF	30	Gr. 7	Keith St. John	Radio London Racing	McLaren Elva-Ford Mk II		DNF
DNF	16	Gr.7	Mac Daghorn	Felday Engineering Ltd.	Felday-BRM 4		Mechanical
DNF	8	Gr.7	Frank Gardner	Alan Brown	McLaren Elva-Ford Mk I		DNF
DNF	2	Gr.7	Jack Brabham	Brabham Racing Organisation Ltd.	Brabham-Repco BT17		2: Oil Leak
DNF	32	Gr.7	David Prophet	David Prophet	McLaren Elva-Chevrolet		DNF
DNF	42	Gr.6	Mike Parkes	Maranello Concessionaires Ltd.	Ferrari Dino 206 S		1: Ring & pinion
DNS	44	Gr.6	Dick Protheroe	Dick Protheroe	Ferrari 330 P-64		Fatal accident in practice
DNS	46	Gr.6	Richard Bond	Nick Cussons	Ford GT40
Source: [5][6]

• Fastest lap: Denny Hulme, 1:37.400secs. (102.646mph) ^[2]

References