THE ULTIMATE SLIPSTREAMER?

1967 REIMS GP

3In 1967 Reims had been deemed unsuitable for F1, the French GP moving to the new Le Mans Bugatti circuit (which proved even more unsuitable).

So, on 25 June, F2 came to Reims's rescue. The drivers relished its special, high-speed nature and all the major teams entered, including Ferrari, which sadly didn't turn up on the day, declaring its car not ready.

Jackie Stewart took pole at 138.8mph in his Tyrrell-run Matra, but as usual for this famous slipstreaming circuit the field formed into groups of cars in the race. Jochen Rindt, Stewart, Jean-pierre Beltoise, Alan Rees, Jackie Oliver and Jim Clark formed the leading bunch at first.

Clark's Lotus and Rees's Roy Winkelmann Racing Brabham retired just after half-distance, and now the quintet of Stewart, Rindt, Graham Hill (Lotus), John Surtees (Lola) and Denny Hulme (Brabham) pulled clearly away as they put on a multi-marque contest.

“They were howling past the pits two and three abreast, dodging in and out of each other's slipstream, and one never knew who would lead next,” reported Autosport's Simon Taylor.

With supreme judgement, Rindt pulled off the rare feat of choosing to lead out of the final corner, the right-handed Thillois, and hold on to the chequered flag. The Austrian beat Hill by 0.2s, with Surtees, Stewart and Hulme right behind. Only 0.7s covered these five F1 stars at the finish

– a foretaste of the 1971 Italian GP, but in this case all of the Reims protagonists were past or future world champions.

Jacky Ickx led the F2 clan home in sixth, almost two minutes adrift in the sister Tyrrell Matra to Stewart's. He narrowly held off Oliver's Lotus. The average speed of 134mph on this power circuit was just 2% from the 1966 French GP pace.