Sunday 3rd July 1966

The French Grand Prix -the ’60th Anniversary race’ of Grand Prix racing – at Reims was won by the 1959 and 1960 world champion, Australian driver Jack Brabham driving his Brabham BT19. It was Brabham’s eighth Grand Prix victory, his first since the 1960 Portuguese Grand Prix, six years earlier. It was his first win since establishing his own team, Brabham Racing Organisation and the first win for the Australian developed Repco V8 engine. He also became the first driver to win a World Championship grand prix in a car bearing his own name. Brabham took a nine-second victory over British driver Mike Parkes driving a Ferrari 312. New Zealand driver Denny Hulme backed up team leader Brabham with third place in his Brabham BT20. Brabham now led the championship on 12 points, two ahead of Ferrari driver Lorenzo Bandini and three ahead of BRM’s Jackie Stewart and Ferrari’s John Surtees. The win was the first of four consecutive victories for Brabham as he began his march towards his third World Championship.