Yesterday I ventured in to one of my favorite Used-book stores and found a real gem- the Dec 1966 issue of Road and Track magazine, which contained the reports of both the Italian and United States GPs.
What I found particularly enlightening was that the weights of the various cars were listed,and the scope was ENORMOUS. The championship-winning Brabhams weighed in @ 1219lbs, with the Eagle being next-lightest @ 1309. It only got worse from there. The Cooper-Maserati weighed in at 1353, the Ferrari was 1364 and the usually svelte Lotus (being saddled with the brick-like BRM H16) came in at an eye-opening 1540! The BRM with the same engine weighed a "mere" 1529, while the Honda, possibly the most powerful of the cars, weighed a truck-like 1635! Amazing-giving away 400 lbs to the Brabham cars. No wonder Brabham won the championship.
The other thing that sprang to mind was the amount of talent in the average F1 field of the time. The grid included: Jim Clark, Dan Gurney, Graham Hill, Jackie Stewart, Jack Brabham, Denis Hulme, Bruce McLaren, John Surtees, Jochen Rindt, Lorenzo Bandini, Jo Siffert, Pedro Rodriguez and Innes Ireland.
Makes today's fields look pretty feeble.
What I found particularly enlightening was that the weights of the various cars were listed,and the scope was ENORMOUS. The championship-winning Brabhams weighed in @ 1219lbs, with the Eagle being next-lightest @ 1309. It only got worse from there. The Cooper-Maserati weighed in at 1353, the Ferrari was 1364 and the usually svelte Lotus (being saddled with the brick-like BRM H16) came in at an eye-opening 1540! The BRM with the same engine weighed a "mere" 1529, while the Honda, possibly the most powerful of the cars, weighed a truck-like 1635! Amazing-giving away 400 lbs to the Brabham cars. No wonder Brabham won the championship.
The other thing that sprang to mind was the amount of talent in the average F1 field of the time. The grid included: Jim Clark, Dan Gurney, Graham Hill, Jackie Stewart, Jack Brabham, Denis Hulme, Bruce McLaren, John Surtees, Jochen Rindt, Lorenzo Bandini, Jo Siffert, Pedro Rodriguez and Innes Ireland.
Makes today's fields look pretty feeble.
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