People have short memories. People wax lyrical about the 1960s, about Wolfgang von Trips and Jim Clark and so on. Undoubtedly, they were great drivers – just as today’s drivers are great drivers – but was the racing really better then than it is today?
I was there, and I can tell you that it was not. And, while we’re on the subject, it was a lot more dangerous, too. My first grand prix, the 1966 Mexican Grand Prix, was won by the team I was working for, Cooper-Maserati. Our winning driver, John Surtees, won from pole position.
And was it great racing? Was it greater racing than racing today? Well, at the end of the 65-lap race, which took two hours and six minutes to complete, there was only one other car on the same lap as John Surtees. Was the 1966 Mexican Grand Prix an exception? No, it wasn’t. Most of the grand prix that constituted the 1966 Formula 1 season were like that.
I was there, and I can tell you that it was not. And, while we’re on the subject, it was a lot more dangerous, too. My first grand prix, the 1966 Mexican Grand Prix, was won by the team I was working for, Cooper-Maserati. Our winning driver, John Surtees, won from pole position.
And was it great racing? Was it greater racing than racing today? Well, at the end of the 65-lap race, which took two hours and six minutes to complete, there was only one other car on the same lap as John Surtees. Was the 1966 Mexican Grand Prix an exception? No, it wasn’t. Most of the grand prix that constituted the 1966 Formula 1 season were like that.