Brno Grand Prix, 3 September 1967
"A weekend later, the Flag would return
behind the Iron Curtain to contest the Formula Three
Brno Grand Prix in Czechoslovakia. Both Beckwith
and Van Lennep lapped the Masaryk circuit below the
existing lap record to line up on the front row alongside
the de Sanctis of Manfred Mohr. The lead trio battled
hard for the opening laps, but as the race progressed,
Van Lennep was forced to retire his DAF with a split fuel
tank. Battle raged between Beckwith and Mohr until
two laps from the end when the exhaust fell off the
Briton's car, his German rival leading him home by 12
seconds, following more than an hour's racing."
A Chequered Life: Graham Warner and The Chequered Flag, Page 106
Book by Richard Heseltine
http://www.the-fastl...a2/F367_E64.htm
Mike Beckwith, Gijs Van Lennep
RGDS RLT
Brno International
Not since 1949 has Czechoslovakia held a truly
International Formula 1 Grand Prix. On the
other hand, she retains her famous Brno road
circuit, albeit somewhat attenuated since pre-
war days when it measured 18 miles round.
Even so, the lap length today is 8.64 miles,
making it a hilly, rugged and truly worthy road
circuit, heavily taxing the endurance of the
Formula 3 cars which nowadays race there. This
year's Brno GP on September 3 was over 12 laps,
a distance of 103.68 miles, and was won by the
German driver Manfred Mohr in a works de
Sanctis from Mike Beckwith in a Chequered Flag
Brabham-DAF and the Swiss Bernhard Baur in
a Brabham BT18. Beckwith diced hard with
Mohr for the lead, but later slowed when his
exhaust pipe broke away and finished 12 secs back.
Dutchman Gijs Van Lennep in a second Chequered
Flag Brabham-DAF retired with a ruptured
fuel tank. Czech champion Vladimir Hubacek,
who earlier won the Socialist Countries F3 Cup
race, was fourth with a Lotus 41, the Austrian
Kurt Keller (Merlyn) was fifth and Frieder
Radlein from East Germany in an East German
Wartburg-Melkus sixth. There was some dispute
as to whether Keller actually finished ahead of
Hubacek, but the official results showed the
Lotus man ahead. Eighteen cars finished, 18
retired.
The other major event at the Brno 2-day
meeting on September 2-3 was the 6 hours race
for sports cars. This was spoiled by an edict
from the Austrian Autoclub preventing the
sizable contingent of Austrian drivers from
competing. The Swiss pair, Rico Steinemann
(editor of the magazine Powerslide) and Dieter
Spoerry won the race in their Porsche Carrera
from their compatriots Schwarz and Dorner in a
Porsche 911. Two Czech Tatra 603 T2s were
third and fourth, and two Renault 8 Gordinis
fifth and sixth.
The meeting was greatly enlivened by the
presence of Mike Spence with an H16 Formula 1
BRM, who thoroughly delighted the enormous
crowd of circa 200,000 spectators. He put in two
4-lap demonstrations over the weekend,
turning a fastest lap in 4m 43.4s, a speed of
110.79 mph.
Motor Racing, October 1967, Page 476
RGDS RLT
Edited by Rupertlt1, 18 July 2022 - 06:45.