French Grand Prix - June 27 1965

We had to prepare the F1 cars for Clermont-Ferrand, and also get the F2 cars ready for the race at Reims the follow­ing week-end.

We again asked for three entries, but the French GP organisers would only give us two. So, as we had promised Denny Hulme some Formula 1 drives this year, and also because Denny had won the Formula 2 race at Clermont last year, we thought it would be a good oppor­tunity to give him a drive.

The four-valve engine was repaired in time for the French GP, and this was put into Dan's car. I didn't know the circuit at all, and in fact hadn't even driven round it before the race. Denny's earlier experience of the circuit was naturally of some assistance when we were preparing the cars, particularly where ratios were concerned. We had done quite a bit of testing with Denny's car before we went to Clermont, and the car was a hundred per cent right, with near enough the right ratios. This was why Denny was able to go straight off and surprise everyone by getting the quickest time in the first day's practice. This is a circuit that takes a bit of learning, though the top drivers don't take very long to sort out a strange course, but Denny's previous know­ledge gave him the jump on them at first.

It is a real driver's circuit. My only criticism is that the pits accommodation is not good. It was quite a problem having to go about a q quarter of a mile down the road to the refuelling place, and when you had filled up you couldn't get back to the pits without doing a full circuit. The area devoted to the paddock was very rough and far too small. After the race I asked the organisers why they couldn't put the pits where the refuelling is carried out and where there is far more room, but apparently it is impossible to put spectators opposite pits at that spot. The length of the pits is insufficient, because when all the cars were out during practice, there was frequently no place to pull in. The result was that cars were being parked two abreast, and officials were continually coming down and shouting, but there was nothing to be done about it.

This was the first time I had acted as team manager at a Grand Prix, and I must say I quite enjoyed it. There's a difference, though, being chained to the pits and worrying about the drivers out on the circuit. I found there was a tendency during practice, for example, when our drivers started going quickly, to think of bringing them in. The snag, as far as I was concerned, was that I knew it from the cockpit angle, and I found myself thinking just what they were up to when they were out of sight.

The big worry during the race was when Dan had trouble and came into the pits to change a plug. Then he went out again and started to motor extremely fast, and just at that time a few spots of rain came as well. Then suddenly Dan failed to appear, and 1 had some tense minutes worrying whether he had broken down or gone off the road. I was very relieved to hear that the engine had blown up, although I wasn't too happy about the blow-up, if you understand what I mean. It meant quite a bill, but at least my mind was set at rest.

 During the second practice Dan was still not satisfied with the way his four-valve engine was running. We never got the injection system working properly. Then after practice we had a fuel leak from the internal part of the injection pump which started a fire when the car was back in the garage, and we couldn't repair this. It burnt all the injection pipes and things, so we thought it was no good messing around, and decided to change the engine. So for the race Denny used the engine 1 had had in my car at Spa; this had already done a lot of racing miles and hadn't been back for overhaul between the two races. Dan used the engine I had blown up in practice at Spa, which had come back after a trip to Climax.

In the race Dan had a plug lead come off and another plug was oiled up and had to be changed. He came into the pits on six cylinders. The engine had been sounding very rough, and to get round in 3 minutes 26 seconds in those circumstances suggests that he must have been earholing it.

I think that Denny drove an extremely good race. He got hemmed in very badly at the start. 1 was told that Bandini got all tweaked up when the flag fell, and got in the way of some of his rivals, but I didn't notice this because I was watching our cars. It just shows how single-minded you become when you're a team manager!

Because of getting hemmed in, Denny came round after the first lap in fourteenth position, but he steadily picked up places until he got up to fourth position which he held until the end. A very nice performance, I thought.

Denny's engine sounded very well every time it passed the pits, and it was a unit I had a lot of confidence in. We find with these engines that once they have done a race they will generally do a second one. If they give trouble, they generally give trouble very early on. I wasn't really surprised to learn after the race that the oil pressure had dropped quite low towards the end. But this pressure drop only started on the last lap, and I think he could have gone on quite a way further. It just meant there was surge in the tanks, and a circuit like Clermont will give that very easily.

An interesting day, but I don't really think 1 want to be a team manager. I'd sooner be out there driving.