1966-08-07 312 F1 (10) Mike Parkes GER - Nurburgring R
The 1966 German Grand Prix was a mixed Formula One and Formula Two motor race held at the Nürburgring Nordschleife on 7 August 1966. It was held over 15 laps of the 22 kilometre circuit for a race distance 342 kilometres. Mike Parkes has an accident in lap 9 with this Ferrari 312-F1. This would be the last Formula One race on the original Nürburgring Nordschleife before the Hohenrain chicane was added to slow the cars coming into the pits.
Michael Johnson Parkes (1931-1977)was a British racing driver, from England, began his racing career in the mid 1950s in different categories.In May 1962, Mairesse and Parkes came second in the 1000km Nürburgring race in a Ferrari behind the winning car of the same marque driven by Phil Hill and Olivier Gendebien and in the years after had a successful career in Sport cars, mainly with Ferrari from 1963 til 1967: achieving great results with Ferrari at Le Mans, Sebring, Daytona, Monza and the Targa Florio.
When John Surtees unexpectedly left Ferrari in 1966, Parkes was promoted to the Grand Prix team and with an extended chassis to accommodate his height of six feet four inches, was immediately successful, finishing in second place in the 1966 French Grand Prix at Reims. Parkes won an international Formula One race at Silverstone. In 1967, Parkes competed in two further Grands Prix for Ferrari finishing fifth at Zandvoort but retiring through accident at Spa, after sliding on oil being sprayed from Jackie Stewart's H16 BRM, on the first lap, suffering broken legs that would ultimately end his Grand Prix career. After Parkes' Formula One career ended, he raced into the 1970s in sports cars. Parkes was killed in a road accident near Turin, Italy on 28 August 1977.
