My Greatest Racecar

Historic motor racing events and festivals allow former Grand Prix drivers, like myself, to be reunited with racing cars synonymous with our career. The 2006 Goodwood Festival of Speed was no exception to this. When I first raced in Formula One with Ken Tyrrell, it was with a Matra. At the 1968 South African GP, I raced an MS9, the interim car, then for the rest of the season the MS10. I was reunited at the festival with this car. Believe it or not, I hadn’t sat in the car since 1969, after I had won the South African Grand Prix, and believe it or not, the car hadn’t turned a wheel since then. It hadn’t been tested, or ran in any short runs on an airfield, so it was quite a good experience to drive it once again. Incidentally, my seat was still in the car! It was an important car for me as I had won the1968 Dutch, German, and U.S. Grand Prix in it. My greatest win with MS10 was the German at the old Nürburgring. Very wet and foggy conditions prevailed for the entire race; Ken really didn’t want to send me out in such conditions. Fortunately, I won by a margin of some four minutes.

Another pretty exceptional car for me was the BRM 261. I had my first Grand Prix victory in it at the 1965 Italian Grand Prix. Tony Rudd, the BRM team manager, was not too pleased to see Graham Hill and me racing each other. I think he thought we would take each other off. I explained to him how Graham had made a little mistake at the Parabolica, close to the end of the race, so I went on to win. We were not really racing. I just took advantage of the situation that had presented itself to me. It was good for me to take my first win too as I had been 2nd in previous races that year—not to Graham I may add—but to my compatriot Jimmy Clark. I also won the 1966 Monaco Grand Prix in the car, a race which was to become very special to me over the years.