Practice time consisted of two separate sessions on the Thursday before
race day, and one on Friday, but a lot of teams had already been having
private sessions on the Silverstone track so they should have been more
than ready. The existing lap record was over a year old, standing to
Brabham with the first of his Repco ,V8-engined cars at 1 min. 29.8 sec.
set up in May 1966 so when practice began it was felt that any works
driver should be able to improve on this and it was confidently expected
that some might get as low as 1 min. 25.0 sec. The B.R.M. team
were out promptly for the morning practice, the three 16-cylinder cars
making a fine sound as they circulated
The B.R.M. team were out promptly for the morning practice, the three
16-cylinder cars making a fine sound as they circulated, but Stewart was
not convinced about the handling of the new car, and it was speculation
as to whose old-type 16-cylinder car he would snatch away. Rindt was
having to spectate as Cooper mechanics were still working flat out to
complete the new car and it was hoped it would arrive in time for the
afternoon practice. Brabham and Hulme were in fine form, as they usually
are, and were setting the pace, the only driver to look like getting near
them being Clark with the Lotus 49. However, the Lotus was misfiring
badly and Chapman and Duckworth were completely baffled, for the engine
had been perfect on the test bed. They were so preoccupied with this
problem that there was no time to adjust either chassis to the circuit
conditions and, all told, the Team Lotus efforts were a bit abortive,
except that in spite of all the troubles Clark got round in 1min. 27.8
sec. which compared favourably with Brabham's time of 1 min. 26.6 sec.,
the Australian's improvement of over three seconds over his 1966 time
being very impressive. McLaren was not too happy with the Eagle-Weslake
as the differential unit was not right; the unit was stripped down behind
the pits to be modified. Like the Cosworth engine the Honda engine
sounded terrible, never really running cleanly on all its cylinders, so
taken all round it was surprising that the ten fastest were all below the
old lap record, and Brabham spoilt his showing by breaking down at the
end of practice when the fuel pump gave out.
This first practice had been from 11.30 am. to 1 p.m. and the second
session was from 4.50 p.m. to 5.50 p.m., the odd time being caused by the
tight time schedule of the organisation in order to fit in numerous
supporting events. For the afternoon practice Stewart changed cars with
Spence, about which Spence was not too impressed for he had not done many
laps before a front suspension mounting collapsed as he was braking for
Copse Corner and he steered the sagging car on to the grass and ended his
practice there. McLaren spent most of the time waiting for the
modifications to his differential unit to be completed and for everything
to be reassembled, and just managed one lap as practice ended. Gurney was
going well, but not as well as he hoped, and was not too satisfied with
the Eagle's brakes. The Cooper team had given up hope of completing the
new car before the Friday practice, so sent the first of the 1967 cars,
the lighter chassis with Hewland gearbox, in order that Rindt could make
some laps, but it only had an old V12 engine installed. Team Lotus were
making a slight improvement to Clark's car, but the engine still popped
and banged and never ran properly on all eight cylinders; even so Clark
made fastest time in 1 min. 26.5 sec., just beating Brabham's morning
time. The Honda was still sounding awful most of the time, though
occasionally it would go by the pits sounding marvellous, firing smoothly
on all twelve cylinders, hut this would not last for long. Amon with the
lone Ferrari was being very consistent and looking nice, but was simply
not fast enough, though the car gave the impression of great strength and
staying power. One hour was really too short for any serious improvements
to be made so that the overall picture was much the same, with a fast
pace generally speaking, but not as fast as expected.
The weather had been splendid for the Thursday practice, but Friday
morning was dull and overcast with a suggestion of rain. Overnight
Duckworth had solved the problem of the eratic mixture on the Cosworth
engines. There was a minute bleed hole in the by-pass system of the fuel
injection that was passing too much fuel and by blocking it off all the
misfiring was cured. The blocking was done by the simple expedient of
tapering an ordinary pin down to the diameter of this tiny hole and
tapping it in until the hole was blocked off. With the possibility of
rain in the offing all the serious contenders for the front of the grid
were out immediately practice began at 11 a.m. Rindt was driving the new
Cooper with 36-valve Maserati engine and seemed very pleased with it,
Stewart was back in the slim B.R.M., the front suspension repaired, and
everyone seemed set for a last bid to get in the first four, to form the
front row of the grid. Clark went out and did one of those impressive
demonstrations of virtuosity combined with Chapman race-craft, that keeps
these two ahead of most of their competitors. The Cosworth V8 was now
really firing on all eight cylinders and Clark did his first lap at 1
min. 26.6 Sec., virtually where he had left off the previous afternoon,
and followed it with 1 min. 26.4 sec., then 1 min. 25.7 sec. and then got
slightly baulked by a slower car and did 1 min. 26.1 sec. so he stopped
at the pits, to find a smiling Chapman who said "That's got the engine
going properly, now we'll try and make the car handle properly." At this
early stage there was no one else anywhere near this time, 1 min. 27.0
sec. being the general order of the day. Clark's car was taken round to
the back of the pits and all sorts of adjustments were made to the
suspension geometry and this allowed some time for sorting out the second
car for the team's "new boy" Graham Hill. While all this was happening
Stewart came in with the front wheels of the new B.R.M. leaning inwards
at a very odd angle and the car was put away, the front suspension
structure having collapsed. Racing numbers were changed around and
Stewart took the 16-cylinder car that Irwin had been driving, while Irwin
took the V8-engined car from Courage, who became a spectator.
BRAND NEW - The latest Cooper-Maserati V12 was ready for final
practice and Rindt is seen about to step into it.
The impending rain did not materialise so everyone who could go fast was
doing so, Brabham, Hulme, Gurney and Amon being the outstanding ones,
though Hill was beginning to get the second Lotus 49 to his liking. After
the adjustments to 49/2 Clark went out again, not to flog round and round
in the hope of getting a good lap time at some lucky point, but with a
pre-planned number of laps, which the whole of Team Lotus have become
used to. Before the suspension adjustments he had got down to 1 min. 25.7
sec. and he started off at 1min. 27.0 sec. to get the feel of the car and
track, and his next lap was 1 min. 25.6 sec., then he had to pass some
slower cars and did 1 min. 26.4 sec., but followed with 1 min. 25.5 sec.
and 1 min. 25.3 sec. and then came in well satisfied. Chapman was equally
satisfied with his number one driver and felt that they were beginning to
make progress with the Lotus 49. The two Brabham drivers and Gurney were
very close to one another and battling for second fastest time, while now
and then the Honda was showing signs of going properly, but it was never
really competitive in spite of the ability of Surtees. The lone Ferrari
was still sounding strong and reliable and Amon was improving though he
was doing a great number of laps. Clark's fastest lap of 1 min. 25.3 sec.
was an average speed of 123.53 m.p.h. (198.8 k.p.h.) and the pattern was
that anyone who could not lap at least at 120 m.p.h. was not in the
running, Rindt just getting the new Cooper-Maserati V12 into this select
company with 1 min. 27.4 sec. (120.56 m.p.h.).
Towards the end of practice Hill was beginning to get his Lotus 49 going
like Clark's and he got his time down to 1 min. 26.0 sec. on two
consecutive laps, a long way off Clark's performance by Grand Prix
standards, but nevertheless second fastest overall. He was not too happy
with the feel of the car, it being a bit " twitchy," so he settled for 1
min 26.0 sec. and returned to the pits, but as he was in the pits
approach-road a rear radius arm mounting gave way, which had the effect
of making the car turn sharp right. It struck the bank and demolished the
front of the car, the right front wheel and suspension being ripped off,
as was the radiator, while the chassis was badly torn where the front
wheel unit had pulled off. This accident splintered a wooden advertising
sign and made a mess on the track so practice was postponed for ten
minutes while the bits were swept up. Clark was out at the time and as he
came in he ran over some of the wreckage and a piece of hardboard with
nails in it stuck in his front offside tyre and punctured it ! This was
the end of Team Lotus activity for the day; they went away to think and
work. However, in the remaining half-hour no one beat their times so
Clark and Hill were first and second on the grid, with the two hard-
working Brabham team drivers alongside them. All Team Lotus wanted was
another car, but another one did not exist, although 49/3 and 49/4 were
under construction back at Norwich, so the wrecked car was taken back to
base and the most fantastic job of construction began.