V SANDOWN INTERNATIONAL
 Location - Sandown Park Aust  Laps - 52  Distance - 161.20 km  Date - 27/02/66  Weather - Fine
ENTRY LIST
No. DRIVER ENTRANT MAKE ENGINE
6 Frank Gardner Alec Mildren Racing Brabham BT11A Climax FPF
5 Jack Brabham Brabham Racing Org. Brabham BT19 Repco V8 2.5
11 Andy Buchanan Wilson Motors Brabham BT7A Climax FPF
7 Spencer Martin Scuderia Veloce Brabham BT11A Climax FPF
37 Greg Cusack Castrol Team Brabham BT10 Ford 1.5
16 John Harvey R.C. Phillips Brabham BT14 Ford 1.5
20 Kevin Bartlett Alec Mildren Racing Brabham BT2 Ford 1.5
29 Paul Bolton Town & Country Garage Brabham BT6 Ford 1.5
2 Graham Hill Owen Racing Org. BRM 261 BRM V8 1.9
3 Jackie Stewart Owen Racing Org. BRM 261 BRM V8 1.9
4 Richard Attwood Owen Racing Org. BRM 261 BRM V8 1.9
10 Don O'Sullivan F.D. O'Sullivan Cooper T53 Climax FPF
9 John McDonald Bill Patterson Motors Cooper T70/79 Climax FPF
12 Don Fraser Don Fraser Cooper T53 BRM 2.5
15 Bob Jane Bob Jane Autoland Elfin Mono 100 Ford 1.5
18 Mel McEwin Mel McEwin Elfin Mono 100 Ford 1.5
24 Ian Cook Ian Cook Elfin Mono 100 Ford 1.5
38 M. McNamara M. McNamara Elfin Mono 100 Ford 1.5
1 Jim Clark Team Lotus Lotus 39 Climax FPF
8 Jim Palmer George Palmer Lotus 32B Climax FPF
14 Leo Geoghegan Total Team Lotus 32 Ford 1.5
36 Les Howard Howard & Sons Racing Lotus 27 Ford 1.5
Jack Brabham leads into ShellWEE Jackie Stewart during his drive to victory in the Exide International at Sandown on February 27 showed us come of the form which will undoubtedly take him to a future World Championship. Although untroubled by the opposition after Brabham's retirement on lap 6 with failing oil pressure, his performance in the anti-climaxial race was superb. He kept the pressure up for the 52 laps and recorded the first ever 100m.p.h. race average, which means every lap at better than 1:09!! The thunderous reception accorded Stewart at the finish, and on his victory lap, was indicative of the high spirits of the 45600-strong crowd, attracted by the promise of a fine meeting.

And indeed it was, clue almost entirely to the new promoters of Sandown, the Light Car Club of Australia, whose organisational ability was made obvious in every facet of the operation.

PRACTICE HIGHLIGHTS

Unofficial practice on Friday was the sorting day but Stewart produced a 1:07.7 in his first look at the circuit. He was clocking standing laps in the low 12's. Brabham was having problems mating the new engine to the rest of the works, and Hill and Clark were refreshing their memories of Sandown.

Saturday saw them all in earnest and the first session had Stewart at 7.9, Hill on 8.2, Clark with an 8.7 and J.B. yet to front. Later in the day, Stewart recorded 8.0 dead, Clark was down to 8.2 and Brab and Hill were equal at 8.4. This gave them their positions for the 6-lap screamer which was to determine the grid for the big race.

BRABHAM SETS NEW RECORD IN QUALIFIER

Grid positions for the main event were to be determined on the fastest laps recorded in two Gap qualifying heats, one each for the under and over 1500 cars.

In the heat for the big guns, Stewart and Clark left the grid in a blot of tyre smoke to lead Graham Hill and Jack Brabham into Shell. 'They literally flew up Mobil to the Esses at Dandenong Road with the order the same. Behind them came Palmer and Martin in close order ahead of Gardner and MacDonald, with O'Sullivan and Fraser tailing off. Hill made his most determined challenge as they swept out from under Dunlop Bridge and he drew alongside Clark. He went past the Stand with his nose in front but the canny Scot was not going to trail an Englishman home, so he held his line and was in front of Hill as they took Shell.Jackie Stewart

By now the lap record was being nudged as first Stewart got into the act with a 1:07.7. In fourth place was our man Jack. He seemed content to stay behind until the second last lap which he opened up the Repco V8 and turned in a new outright time of 1:07.6 to pass Hill. The places remained the same to the flag, with Brabham very happy to have clinched the pole spot for the main event.

TASMAN CUP DETERMINED

The Light Car Club continued its policy of social activity when it engaged no less a personage' than Australia's Governor-General, Lord Casey', himself a keen motoring enthusiast, to signal the commencement of the race. This was the first tine in Australia that a Vice-Regal personage has executed such a duty, and motoring writers and purists in the stands had their hearts in their mouths as they watched the G.G. receive his last-minute instructions on what to do. They recalled the incident "somewhere over there", where such a dignitary. on being instructed how to drop the flag. said: "Is this the way Whereupon he dropped said flag and was rewarded by great scenes of chaos as the more alert drivers blasted away, while others became tangled in an assortment of mechanics, officials, et al.! Such, however, was not to be at Sandown.

Jim Clark foxing Graham HillBrabham, on pole alongside Stewart and Clark, sat some three or tour feet behind the line. and at flagfall took the advantage of a flying start to lead Stewart and Clark into Shell, with Hill and Palmer tucked in close behind. For five laps it was a real ding-dong, open-go. International type race, with Stewart drawing alongside at Peters but Brabham being first out and, foot on the floor, headed for the top of Lukey's Hill. Left well behind were the rest of the field, including Don Fraser, who had stuffed his ex-Yeoman Credit Cooper into the Armco fence at Shell. Under the big yellow Lukey sign they screamed and Stewart went through full chat to snatch the lead into the Esses.

BRABHAM OUT EARLY

Graham Hill grabbed third from Clark as they came around for the second time and this was the order for three more laps until anxious eyes scanned the road from Dandenong Road to the Viaduct, looking for the green and gold Repco Brabham. The leaders flashed past the Grandstand and filed into Shell but Jack was out! 'The oil pressure had failed and he was stopped-and a tragedy it was, as the long wait on the starting grid had cooled his engine, resulting in no less than 160 lbs. oil pressure at peak revs. This was just too much and split the oil pump casing.

Interest now centred on whether Jim Clark would be able to repass Hill, and this battle continued for the next 26 laps. Falling steadily away behind Clark was the N.Z., Champ Jim Palmer, holding his fifth position comfortably from Spencer Martin, who in turn was untroubled to hold off Gardner.

RETIREMENTS BEGIN

Martin's run ended in lap 18, when he joined the succession of retiring l.5-litre cars, his gearbox having expired. Shortly after, in lap 21, Don O'Sullivan retired his ailing Cooper, having circulated gamely (or stubbornly) on three cylinders almost from the outset.

Meanwhile, Stewart started to build up a fantastic lead to finally clinch, not only the Sandown Cup, but also the Tasman series.

Clark was successful in his efforts to overtake Hill on lap 32 with one of the neatest bits of foxmanship everThe 1500cc cars had many mechanical maladies attempted at Shell corner. He almost elbowed the other car out of the way as he squeezed into the sweeping left-hander ahead of the BRM. From then on it was just a super-fast procession as the three leaders lapped and re-lapped the slower cars. Last man to be lapped was Palmer, who completed an excellent race in fifth position, some 10 seconds ahead of Gardner, in the Brabham-Climax, the Maserati still not coming up to expectations in practice. Unluckiest driver was undoubtedly John MacDonald, who crossed the line barely 10 yards ahead of Stewart as the chequered flag was unfurled. MacDonald spotted the flag, thought the race was over, and stopped at the pits as Stewart blasted past him. Even his pit crew didn't tell him, as they thought he had been lapped before the line. But they told him afterwards)

1.5s GREAT - WHILE THEY LASTED

Running concurrently with the Internationals were the cream of Australia's 1.5L Formula cars and drivers. Kevin Bartlett and Leo Geoghegan had identical practice times at 1:12.8 and only fractionally slower were Les Howard and Greg Cusack and John Harvey.

For the first 16 laps we saw the best race between these smaller cars ever run. Bartlett led Geoghegan, Howard and Cusack past the start line for the first lap but Howard moved past Geoghegan into Shell and a double blanket would cover the lot of them. Running three and sometimes almost four abreast, they gave a magnificent display of precision high-speed driving skill. Greg Cusack now took over third spot from Leo G. but Leo decided that this was too much and he re-passed two laps later at Shell. It would have been impossible to note the number of position changes in the four cars but it was a boomer of a race. Lap 8 saw Bartlett back on top by half a wheel and he held this place until lap 17, when he suddenly slowed and went into the pits for a brief stay. A small nut in his gear linkage was coming loose and actually caused him to pit another three times before the finish.

Brabham leading Stewart early onLeo Geoghegan was a victim of the high speeds and he, too, went slowly down Loser's Lane into the pit area. He had found himself with sloppy steering as he dropped into the Esses at 8 grand in 5th...Not a pleasant discovery!

Cusack had the lead now and he kept the blue Lotus of Les Howard in his rear view mirror for nine laps before pitting. From now on, it was hard to keep track of them as they would stop at the pits, then rejoin the race, only to stop again. Les Howard gradually built up a three-lap lead but he was to lose one of these after pitting in deference to the black flag. His exhaust system was coming adrift. Howard shot in, ripped off the offending bits and rejoined the race. Out again, he was still leading and circulated quietly for the remaining six laps of the event to be first Australian home. Cusack was second and Bartlett was running again to take out third.

They were the only cars to finish out of the six starters in the class, Harvey having lasted only six laps. He was 500 revs down after a wonderful first-lap burst which carried him past all the others in a flash. Geoghegan lasted 16 laps and Mel McEwen 24.
 
RACE RESULTS
POSITION LAPS TIME
1. Stewart 52 0:59'37.1 FL:1'08.1
2. Clark 52 1:00'00.9
3. Hill 52 1:00'27.2
4. Palmer 51 .
5. Gardner 50 .
6. Howard 47 .
    McDonald 47 Stopped on Circuit
7. Cusack 45 .
8. Bartlett 40 .
McEwin 25 DNF:Engine
O'Sullican 22 DNF:?
Martin 17 DNF:Gearbox
Geoghegan 16 DNF:Suspension
Harvey 07 DNF:Fuel Metering Unit
Brabham 05 DNF:Oil Pressure
Fraser 02 DNF:Accident
Written by Adrian Ryan for RCN. Article submitted by Milan Fistonic

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