X TERETONGA INTERNATIONAL
 Location - Teretonga Park NZ  Laps - 60  Distance - 157.25 km  Date - 28/01/67  Weather - Fine
ENTRY LIST
No. DRIVER ENTRANT MAKE ENGINE
? Jack Brabham Brabham Racing Org. Brabham BT23A Repco V8 2.5
3 Denis Hulme Brabham Racing Org. Brabham BT4 Climax FPF
5 Red Dawson Red Dawson Brabham BT7A Climax FPF
7 Frank Gardner Alec Mildren Racing Brabham BT23B Climax FPF
8 Kevin Bartlett Alec Mildren Racing Brabham BT11A Climax FPF
55 Paul Bolton Rorstan Motor Racing Brabham BT7A Climax FPF
12 Roly Levis Roly Levis Brabham BT18 Ford 1.5
14 Graeme Lawrence Graeme Lawrence Brabham BT18 Ford 1.5
15 Ken Sager J.H. Sager Brabham BT16 Ford 1.5
16 Grahame Harvey Grahame Harvey Brabham BT9 Ford 1.5
20 Laurence Brownlie Laurence Brownlie Brabham BT6 Ford 1.5
24 Bill Stone Roly Levis Brabham BT6 Ford 1.5
27 Kerry Grant Kerry Grant Brabham BT11A Climax FPF
29 Don McDonald Don McDonald Brabham BT10 Ford 1.5
36 John Weston John Weston Brabham BT2 Ford 1.5
41 Jim Palmer Jim Palmer Racing Brabham BT22 Climax FPF
? Jim Boyd Syd Jensen Brabham BT4 Climax FPF
63 Peter Yock Peter Yock Brabham BT6 Ford 1.5
2 Richard Attwood R.H.H. Parnell BRM P261 BRM V8 2.1
1 Piers Courage R.H.H. Parnell BRM P261 BRM V8 2.1
18 Dennis Marwood Ecurie Rothmans Cooper T66 Climax FPF
6 Jim Clark Team Lotus Lotus 33 Climax V8 2.0
11 Ken Smith Ken Smith Lotus 22 Ford 1.5
19 Dene Hollier Dene Hollier Lotus 27 Ford 1.5
23 Ian Arbuthnott Ian Arbuthnott Lotus 20 Ford 1.5

Webmasters Note : The Teretonga International was a Non-Championship event in 1967.

The South Island races were something of an anti-climax after the exciting Tasman formula events at Pukekohe and Levin. At Teretonga on January 28 Jim Clark had a runaway victory in the Lotus Climax V8 to take his third successive New Zealand event by some 25 seconds from Richard Attwood's BRM. Jim Palmer managed to keep his Brabham together for third place on the revised circuit which had been used for the first time in December. Although total length of the rehashed circuit has increased only one. tenth of a mile to 1.6 miles, the new section cuts out the tricky Esses and average speeds for the single seaters has risen by about four m.p.h.

The 60-lap race was dotted with retirements, and chief disappointment was the withdrawal of Denny Hulme, whose 2.5-litre Brabham Repco V8 pulled into the pits on the opening lap after first gear stripped on the starting line. Southlander Laurence Brownlie drove an excellent race in his 1.5 litre Brabham Ford to finish fourth outright some two laps in arrears to Palmer and a little more than four seconds ahead of Roly Levis (Brabham).

The weather was dead miserable for the first training session, and the single seaters made the scene look like a speedboat regatta. Following overheating problems on the Repco Brabham at Wigram, Hulme's car arrived sporting a cooling duct for the metering unit on the fuel injection systems. The mechanics felt that the earlier problems with the car had been associated with fuel mixture rather than ignition misdemeanours. Numerous others had been working hard, and both Dennis Marwood and Jim Palmer were running in after engine rebuilds.

The weather fined up but remained bitterly cold and windy for the afternoon. Much interest was centred on young Piers Courage, who is a comparative newcomer to the bigger engined single seaters and he was soon percolating in the number two BRM at 1m 4s. Clark and Hulme were both around 1m 2.5s and Attwood was just a whisker behind. Of the alterations to the circuit, Jim Clark said that although passing was now easier, an interesting part of the track had been removed so that there was really no improvement.

Jim ClarkIt was the Scotsman who finally set the fastest lap of 1m 1.8s, an average of nearly 94 m.p.h. on the twisty course. Just 0.1 of a second behind was the Hulme Brabham, but everyone figured that Denny would be the man to beat as his car had more squirt in a straight line than the Lotus. Third fastest time of 1m 2.5s was recorded by Frank Gardner (Brabham Climax), who really got switched on during the latter stages of practice, and Richard, Attwood made up the front row of the grid for the preliminary heat with a 1m 3s lap. Other good times were made by Courage in 1m 3.2s, Kevin Bartlett's Brabham Climax lapped in 1m 3.6s, Jim Palmer (Brabham Climax) 1m 5s, and a big gap to Red Dawson's Brabham Climax (1m 8.5s), which never turned up on race day owing to a broken crankshaft, and Dennis Marwood's Cooper Climax (1m 10s).

Teretonga was the place where Laurence Brownlie learnt to drive his Brabham and this was shown to good effect when he turned in a 1m 7.4s lap, easily best 1500cc car and a fine effort. Second fastest 1.5 litre was the Brabham of Levis (1m 8.8s) followed by the similar car of Graeme Lawrence (1m 10.4s) and Dene Hollier's monocoque Lotus 27 (1m 11.6s). Bill Stone's Brabham caused the biggest fright of the day by completing a gigantic spin, but somehow the car stayed right way up. Marwood's Cooper needed head stud rectification and Grahame Harvey's Brabham broke a cam follower.

Race day was again windy but at least dry. Levis made a good start in the first preliminary head, which featured the little 'uns, but Brownlie sat hard on his tail, followed by Lawrence, Hollier and Weston on the opening lap. As the field completed the first lap the two leading Brabhams were side by side, and Brownlie took command on lap 2. Stone moved into fourth position ahead of Hollier, and Weston was displaced by Ken Smith's Lotus 22. After four laps Brownlie ran 6.5 seconds clear of Levis, Lawrence, Stone and Hollier. Harvey's Brabham spun backwards at the Loop and clipped a tyre marker which hit a flag marshal, who was lucky to escape practically unscathed. The leading trio continued to draw away from the rest, but major positions remained constant and Brownlie won by nine seconds from Levis, who finished 2.1 seconds before Lawrence.

Hulme, Clark, Attwood and Gardner thundered away close together at the commencement of the second preliminary. At the Loop for the first time Marwood decided to have an excursion into the lupins, which put him out of the running, and after only one lap Jim Boyd stopped at the pits as a gear selector pin in his Brabham Climax fell out.

The gold nosed Brabham still held off Clark by a whisker, followed by Attwood, and Gardner and Courage, who were dicing for fourth spot in front of Bartlett and Palmer. Little more than a second separated Hulme and Clark, but they. were almost four seconds clear of the BRM after four laps, and this margin had increased to more than 12 seconds at the completion of the eight-lap preliminary. It was now obvious that whoever beat Denny Hulme would win the race, and Clark must have been thankful that the 1966 Teretonga winner Jackie Stewart had flown to Kyalami for tyre testing the week before.

Jim Clark's Lotus made a first-class start in the 96-mile final to lead Attwood's BRM, Bartlett in the Brabham, Courage's BRM and the two Brabhams of Gardner and Palmer. Hulme had been very slow off the line and everyone's thoughts of mechanical troubles were consolidated when the quiet Kiwi toured into the pits at the end of the first lap with first gear stripped. The crew set to work on the Brabham and on lap 30 Denny came out again to do a few more rounds before there was more gearbox failure and he called it a day. Hulme's retirement was a big disappointment to the crowd as in him lay the only hope for a good battle for the lead.

Meantime on the opening lap Courage spun the BRM in the Loop which relegated him to eighth placing behind the two 1.5 Brabhams of Brownlie and Lawrence. After only two laps Clark already held a five second lead over Attwood, Gardner, Bartlett, Palmer and Courage, who had overwhelmed the smaller cars. One lap later the Englishman had taken Palmer and on lap four he was in fourth position.

Interest lay in the battle for seventh position and lead in the 1.5-litre class between Brownlie and Lawrence, who were comfortably in front of Levis, Paul Bolton (Brabham Climax), Marwood and Stone. John Weston slowed after detecting some expensive sounding engine noises and Peter Yock's Brabham made a pit stop. Lapping at around 1m 4.8s, a much slower pace than in the preliminary, Clark was already well ahead of the field, a position he never lost.

On the sixth round Lawrence managed to squeeze past Brownlie. Meantime Aussie Bartlett had nonsensed somewhere and he now set about catching Palmer for fifth spot, achieving this on lap 8.

With ten laps gone, Clark had a ten-second lead over Attwood, who had Gardner breathing down his neck, and then a seven-second pause to Courage, Bartlett, Palmer, Lawrence, Brownlie, Bolton, Levis and Marwood. At the Loop on lap 12, Brownlie took Lawrence, and soon after the latter started to have cooling ailments with his Brabham.

Kevin Bartlett stopped at the pits on lap 14 but it was only a brief call and he only lost one place to Palmer. Next retirement was that of Australian Paul Bolton, whose Brabham Climax was pushing out too much oil. The two Brabhams of Brownlie and Lawrence were dicing once again, followed by a gap to Levis, Marwood, Boyd and Stone.

At the 20 lap, or one-third mark the leading Lotus streaked 15.5 seconds in front of Attwood and Gardner, while Courage was rapidly closing in on the yellow Brabham and now lay only three seconds behind frantic Frank. Clark, lapping at just under 1m 4s, doubled Palmer on lap 21, while Gardner made a challenge to the Attwood BRM. Meantime Bartlett had disappeared forcibly when he lost it and broke the gearbox housing on his Brabham.

On lap 29 came a further big change in proceedings when Frank Gardner stopped at the pits after an excellent drive in the Alec Mildren Team Brabham. An oil line had broken, and the Australian's race was run. By lap 35 only Clark, Attwood and Courage were on the same lap, followed by Palmer, Brownlie, Levis, Hollier and Stone. Jim Boyd had retired after his oil cooler fell apart and Lawrence's Brabham boiled badly and he thought he should toss things in less serious engine damage was incurred.

Piers Courage sat hard on his team mate's tail, driving a good race, although his pit crew would probably have liked him to ease up a little as he was so far in front of Palmer. Positions remained constant and there appeared little interest in the race save for the two BRMs which circulated as if tied together. On lap 52 Roly Levis spun at the Elbow but did not lose his second position in the 1.5 litre class.

One round later Courage trundled into the pits with a very long face. The V8 motor in his BRM had blown up in a big way after the timing gear came adrift through no fault of the driver. This was the first major engine failure by one of the Bourne V8s since they first appeared on Antipodean circuits in January, 1966. It left Palmer safely in third spot and all positions remained the same until the flag.
 
RACE RESULTS
POSITION LAPS TIME
1. Clark 60 1:04'50.3 FL:1'03.3
2. Attwood 60 1:05'15.0
3. Palmer 58 .
4. Brownlie 56 .
5. Levis 56 .
6. Hollier 54 .
    Courage 53 .
7. Stone 53 .
8. Yock 46 .
Lawrence 37 DNF:Overheating
Boyd 36 DNF:Oil Cooler
Gardner 29 DNF:Oil Line
Bartlett 27 DNF:Gearbox
Bolton 17 DNF:Oil Leak
Weston 05 DNF:Overheating
Hulme 03 DNF:Gearbox
Marwood ? DNF:?
Smith ? DNF:?
Harvey ? DNF:?
Arbuthnott ? DNF:?
Written by Donn Anderson for Motorman Magazine. Article submitted by Milan Fistonic

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