Dutch Grand Prix - July 10 1965

For the Dutch GP at Zandvoort the fol­lowing week-end we had only two cars, one for Dan and one for Denny, while I resigned myself to looking on and worrying about them. The 32-valve engine went back to Climax, and we still hadn't got it back for the German GP. They did eventually_ get it repaired before the German race, but it wasn't giving a lot of power and was also blowing quite a lot of oil, which meant stripping it all down again.

We did have three engines in Holland. but we had to change Dan's the night before the race because we suspected that the unit he had used in practice would not complete the full distance. Rather than take a risk we changed to another engine. It was a very familiar story, I'm afraid. and in fact the German GP was the first this season when we didn't have to change at least one engine before a championship race.

Dan went very well indeed in the Dutch GP, but it was obvious just watching from the pits that he was lacking power. This showed up particularly along the main straight. It's been a pretty frustrating year for us, watching the other people go much quicker. It's all the more frustrating since the cars are handling very well. and if only we had a little more power I am confident we would be right up front.

I thought Jackie Stewart drove particu­larly well at Zandvoort. while Jim Clark was at his usual brilliant best. There were some suggestions after the race that things might have got tighter if Stewart had taken over the number one role for BRM earlier in the race, but frankly I don't think that Jackie was capable of going as fast as Jimmy.

The Honda was certainly steaming away at the start. For the little bit of racing they have done I'd say they are going to be competitive in the very near future. After all, Richie Ginther was leading off the line at Silverstone, and leading again at Zand­voort. I've no idea what power they are getting from their Vl2 engine. but they must be getting more horses than anyone else in grand prix racing at the moment.

Denny• gave us a big shock towards the end at Zandvoort. He'd been running very comfortably in fifth place. Then suddenly - he went past the pits sounding pretty sick. The next lap round he rushed into the pits. and I had a quick look around to see what was wrong. The exhaust pipe had broken away from the cylinder head. As soon as I could see that the exhaust pipe was only just broken away. I hit him on the shoulder and sent him away again as quickly as possible because Ginther's Honda was in sight down the straight. Ginther managed to gain quite a bit on Denny in the next few laps because the engine had lost quite a lot of power. Denny was very lucky to make fifth place, and in view of the power we had at our disposal that day I suppose that third and fifth weren't to be sneezed at.