The 1966 British Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Brands Hatch on 16 July 1966. It was race 4 of 9 in both the 1966 World Championship of Drivers and the 1966 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. It was the 21st British Grand Prix and the second to be held at Brands Hatch. It was held over 80 laps of the four kilometre circuit for a race distance of 341 kilometres.

The race, the first of the new three-litre engine regulation era where starters reached 20 cars, was won for the third time by Australian driver Jack Brabham in his Brabham BT19, his second win in succession after winning the French Grand Prix two weeks earlier. New Zealand driver Denny Hulme finished second in his Brabham BT20, a first 1–2 win for the Brabham team. The pair finished a lap ahead of third placed British driver Graham Hill in his BRM P261. Ferrari did not participate in this Grand Prix weekend to honour a metalworkers strike in Italy.

Brabham's win ended a streak of 4 consecutive wins by Jim Clark at the British Grand Prix.

Brabham's win put him ten points clear in the championship chase over Austrian Cooper racer Jochen Rindt with Hulme and Ferrari's Lorenzo Bandini a point further back.

Race summary Brabham and Hill duelled at the start, until rain storms arrived on the circuit. Whilst Brabham maintained his lead, Rindt who had changed to rain tyres was catching him rapidly, whilst John Surtees in the Cooper was in third, well clear of the rest of the field. Hill and Jim Clark then battled for second and third until Clark pitted and then Hulme took over second place. As the rain dried, Rindt fell back. Surtees retired with mechanical problems, leaving Clark in fourth. Brabham duly led home teammate Hulme, Hill, Clark, Rindt and Bruce McLaren.

Classification Qualifying Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap1 5 Jack Brabham Brabham-Repco 1:34.5—2 6 Denny Hulme Brabham-Repco 1:34.8 +0.33 16 Dan Gurney Eagle-Climax 1:35.8 +1.34 3 Graham Hill BRM 1:36.0 +1.55 1 Jim Clark Lotus-Climax 1:36.1 +1.66 12 John Surtees Cooper-Maserati 1:36.4 +1.97 11 Jochen Rindt Cooper-Maserati 1:36.6 +2.18 4 Jackie Stewart BRM 1:36.9 +2.49 17 Mike Spence Lotus-BRM 1:37.3 +2.810 21 Bob Anderson Brabham-Climax 1:37.5 +3.011 20 Jo Siffert Cooper-Maserati 1:38.0 +3.512 7 Chris Irwin Brabham-Climax 1:38.1 +3.613 14 Bruce McLaren McLaren-Serenissima 1:38.5 +4.014 25 Bob Bondurant BRM 1:38.9 +4.415 18 Jo Bonnier Brabham-Climax 1:39.3 +4.816 22 John Taylor Brabham-BRM 1:40.0 +5.517 19 Guy Ligier Cooper-Maserati 1:41.4 +6.918 23 Trevor Taylor Shannon-Climax 1:41.6 +7.119 24 Chris Lawrence Cooper-Ferrari 1:43.8 +9.320 2 Peter Arundell Lotus-BRM 1:54.3 +19.8 Source:

Race Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 5 Jack Brabham Brabham-Repco 80 2:13:13.4 1 9 2 6 Denny Hulme Brabham-Repco 80 + 9.6 2 6 3 3 Graham Hill BRM 79 + 1 lap 4 4 4 1 Jim Clark Lotus-Climax 79 + 1 lap 5 3 5 11 Jochen Rindt Cooper-Maserati 79 + 1 lap 7 2 6 14 Bruce McLaren McLaren-Serenissima 78 + 2 laps 13 1 7 7 Chris Irwin Brabham-Climax 78 + 2 laps 12 8 22 John Taylor Brabham-BRM 76 + 4 laps 16 9 25 Bob Bondurant BRM 76 + 4 laps 14 10 19 Guy Ligier Cooper-Maserati 75 + 5 laps 17 11 24 Chris Lawrence Cooper-Ferrari 73 + 7 laps 19 21 Bob Anderson Brabham-Climax 70 + 10 laps 10 20 Jo Siffert Cooper-Maserati 70 + 10 laps 11 12 John Surtees Cooper-Maserati 67 Transmission 6 18 Jo Bonnier Brabham-Climax 42 Clutch 15 2 Peter Arundell Lotus-BRM 32 Gearbox 20 4 Jackie Stewart BRM 17 Engine 8 17 Mike Spence Lotus-BRM 15 Oil leak 9 16 Dan Gurney Eagle-Climax 9 Engine 3 23 Trevor Taylor Shannon-Climax 0 Engine 18

Notes

This was the Formula One World Championship debut race for British drivers Chris Irwin and Chris Lawrence. This was the Formula One World Championship debut for British constructor Shannon. This was the 100th race for a Cooper. In those 100 races, Cooper had won 14 Grands Prix, achieved 49 podium finishes, 10 pole positions, 12 fastest laps, 2 Grand Slams and had won 2 Driver's and 2 Constructor's World Championships.

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings PosDriverPoints 1 Jack Brabham 21 3 2 Jochen Rindt 11 5 3 Denny Hulme 10 2 4 Lorenzo Bandini 10 2 5 John Surtees 9Source:

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 1 Brabham-Repco 21 1 2 Ferrari 21 3 BRM 13 4 Cooper-Maserati 11 1 5 Lotus-Climax 3Source:

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

References