It was the 7th of May, 1967. The sun sparkled off the waters of the Mediterranean, reflecting off the glittering city of Monaco. It was race day and before the first car was pushed from the garage, a thrum of excitement could be felt in the air. It was an epic time in Formula 1 history. Innovation was king and technology was evolving like never before and racers, not just drivers, were at the helm of some of the most magnificent machines the racing world has ever known.
Triumph and Tragedy – The 1967 Monaco Grand Prix
Seventeen cars would take to the track that day, being pushed from garages onto the pavement of the most famous race on the F1 calendar. The track had been somewhat tightened up and cars has been tweaked, bringing them from their normal 3.0 litre to more track friendly 2-2.5 litre cars. Jack Brabham sat on the pole in his Brabham and Lorenzo Bandini sat next to him in the always popular Ferrari. Behind them John Surtees sat neatly tucked in his Honda, with a hungry Dennis Hulme beside him in the second Brabham, eager to gain his first Formula 1 victory and prove himself on the world stage of motor racing.
Bandini took the lead from the get go. His Ferrari roared to the front, while Brabham suffered a blown engine, causing him to spin in front of Bruce McLaren and Jo Siffert, who crashed as a result. Jim Clark also had to leave the course, taking an escape route after slipping precariously on oil from Brabham’s blown engine. Denny Hulme and Jackie Stewart charged passed Bandini and they battled back and forth until Stewart’s crownwheel and pinion broke taking him out of the running and giving the stout New Zealander the opportunity to seize the lead.
Things began to settle down, falling into a rhythm of acceleration and deceleration, of wheels flying over pavement like lightning, of fuel fumes, and crowd response, like only an F1 race can do. The hard charging Hulme was in the lead, his Kiwi grit grinding away at the laps, with Bandini second, and fellow New Zealander McLaren behind him. As the race laps were ticked off and the drivers flashed into the second half, Bandini began to gain on Hulme, his Ferrari pulling ever closer to the Brabham, stalking the leader with admirable drive and precision.
Then on lap 82 it all went horribly wrong. Bandini clipped the chichane and hit a mooring head that had been hidden on the track. The car flipped over and burst into flames, then hit the hay bales that lined the track, causing the car, driver, and everything around them to further erupt in a horrific sea of red flames. Bandini was trapped, the car melting on top of him, the heat unbearable, searing through even the pavement as a helicopter carrying reporters overhead inadvertently fanned the flames. The rescue team, and indeed, the whole operation were pathetic. It took what seemed a lifetime for the rescue crew to reach the burning Bandini, and even longer for them to extricate him from the wreckage. The horror of the scene, with flames climbing ferociously upward, engulfing man and machine mercilessly, would be burned into the memories of all who were there. Bandini would die, three agonizing days later, from his burns.
Hulme went on, now practically unchallenged, to win his first Formula1 race. The New Zealander, who would come to be known as “The Bear” had proved his right to be on the stage that is F1. It was a tremendous triumph for a man who had learned to drive trucks on his father’s lap in a land far from the riches of Monaco. It was a moment whose brilliance was overshadowed by the loss of one of racing’s stars. A triumph and a tragedy.
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