1968 French Grand Prix
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1968 French Grand Prix
The 1968 French Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the Rouen-Les-Essarts Circuit on 7 July 1968. It was race 6 of 12 in both the 1968 World Championship of Drivers and the 1968 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. The 60-lap race was won by Ferrari driver Jacky Ickx after he started from third position. John Surtees finished second for the Honda team and Matra driver Jackie Stewart came in third. The French driver Jo Schlesser had a fatal accident on the second lap of the race, when he lost control in the then-new Honda RA302 chassis which overturned and caught fire partially due to its magnesium content. He was chosen as driver when regular Honda F1 driver John Surtees refused to drive the new car, opting for the older RA301 chassis, on the grounds that the new car was unsafe. This race was a turning point in Formula One as the death of Schlesser prompted many safety precautions in later races. This was also the last F1 race to take place at Rouen-Le ...
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French Grand Prix
The French Grand Prix (french: Grand Prix de France), formerly known as the Grand Prix de l'ACF (Automobile Club de France), is an auto race held as part of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile's annual Formula One World Championship. It is one of the oldest motor races in the world as well as the first "Grand Prix". It ceased shortly after its centenary in with 86 races having been held, due to unfavourable financial circumstances and venues. The race returned to the Formula One calendar in with Circuit Paul Ricard hosting the race. Unusually even for a race of such longevity, the location of the Grand Prix has moved frequently with 16 different venues having been used over its life, a number only eclipsed by the 23 venues used for the Australian Grand Prix since its 1928 start. It is also one of four races (along with the Belgian, Italian and Spanish Grands Prix) to have been held as part of the three distinct Grand Prix championships (the World Manufacturers' ...
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1968 World Championship Of Drivers
The 1968 Formula One season was the 22nd season of the FIA's Formula One motor racing. It featured the 19th FIA World Championship, which commenced on 1 January, and ended on 3 November after twelve races, and numerous non-championship races. Graham Hill won the second of his World Championship titles, with Lotus. Teams and drivers The following teams and drivers competed in the 1968 FIA World Championship. Calendar Calendar changes The Spanish Grand Prix returned after a fourteen-year absence, hosted at Jarama near Madrid on 12 May. The French Grand Prix returned to Rouen-Les-Essarts after a four-year absence replacing the Bugatti version of the Circuit de la Sarthe for 1968. The British Grand Prix was moved from Silverstone to Brands Hatch, in keeping with the event-sharing arrangement between the two circuits. The Canadian Grand Prix was moved from Mosport Park near Toronto to a new venue called Circuit Mont-Tremblant in Quebec, the two tracks were alternating to ha ...
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Jackie Oliver
Keith Jack "Jackie" Oliver (born 14 August 1942 in Chadwell Heath, Essex) is a British former Formula One driver and team-owner from England. He became known as the founder of the Arrows team as well as a racing driver, although during his driving career he won both the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and the Can-Am championship. Driving career Oliver began a long career in motorsport in 1961, driving a Mini in British club saloon racing. In 1962 and 1963 he raced for Ecurie Freeze in a Marcos GT. In 1964 He raced in a Lotus Elan driving for D.R. Fabrications team and entered GT racing, scoring some excellent results, and then having a difficult time in Formula Three, where his natural speed was blighted by mechanical failures. Nevertheless, for 1967 he was drafted into the Team Lotus Formula Two team, which also saw him making his Grand Prix debut in the F2 class at the German Grand Prix, where he came fifth overall and won the F2 class. In 1968, he was called up by Colin Ch ...
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Team Lotus
Team Lotus was the motorsport sister company of English sports car manufacturer Lotus Cars. The team ran cars in many motorsport categories including Formula One, Formula Two, Formula Ford, Formula Junior, IndyCar, and sports car racing. More than ten years after its last race, Team Lotus remained one of the most successful racing teams of all time, winning seven Formula One Constructors' titles, six Drivers' Championships, and the Indianapolis 500 in the United States between 1962 and 1978. Under the direction of founder and chief designer Colin Chapman, Lotus was responsible for many innovative and experimental developments in critical motorsport, in both technical and commercial arenas. The Lotus name returned to Formula One in 2010 as Tony Fernandes's Lotus Racing team. In 2011, Team Lotus's iconic black-and-gold livery returned to F1 as the livery of the Lotus Renault GP team, sponsored by Lotus Cars, and in 2012 the team was re-branded completely as Lotus F1 Team. 195 ...
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Graham Hill
Norman Graham Hill (15 February 1929 – 29 November 1975) was a British racing driver and team owner, who was the Formula One World Champion twice, winning in and as well as being runner up on three occasions (1963, 1964 and 1965). Despite not passing his driving test until 1953 when he was already 24 years of age, and only entering the world of motorsports a year later, Hill would go on to become one of the greatest drivers of his generation. Hill is most celebrated for being the only driver ever to win the Triple Crown of Motorsport, an achievement which he defined as winning the Indianapolis 500, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and the Formula One World Drivers' Championship. While several of his peers have also espoused this definition, including fellow F1 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve, the achievement is today most commonly defined as including the Monaco Grand Prix rather than the Formula One World Championship. By this newer definition, Hill is still the only driver to ...
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Jean-Pierre Beltoise
Jean-Pierre Maurice Georges Beltoise (26 April 1937 – 5 January 2015) was a French Grand Prix motorcycle road racer and Formula One driver who raced for the Matra and BRM teams. He competed in 88 Grands Prix achieving a single victory, at the 1972 Monaco Grand Prix, and a total of eight podium finishes. Early career Beltoise won 11 French national motorcycle road racing titles in three years. He competed in international Grand Prix motorcycle racing from the 1962 to 1964 seasons in the 50, 125, 250 and 500 cc classes. His best finish was a sixth place in the 1964 50 cc World Championship. In 1964 he was racing a 1.1-litre René Bonnet sports car. His career almost ended with a huge crash in the Reims 12-hour sports car endurance race, in which he suffered a broken arm, so severely damaged that its movement was permanently restricted. However he returned in 1965 and won the Reims Formula 3 race, after which he graduated to Formula 2 for the following season. Formula O ...
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Bruce McLaren
Bruce Leslie McLaren (30 August 1937 – 2 June 1970) was a New Zealand racing car designer, driver, engineer, and inventor. His name lives on in the McLaren team which has been one of the most successful in Formula One championship history, winning a total of 8 World Constructors' Championships and 12 World Drivers' Championships. McLaren cars dominated CanAm sports car racing with 56 wins, a considerable number of them with him behind the wheel, between 1967 and 1972 (and five constructors' championships), and have won three Indianapolis 500 races, as well as the 24 Hours of Le Mans and 12 Hours of Sebring. Early life Born in Auckland, New Zealand, Bruce McLaren attended Meadowbank Primary School. As a nine-year-old, he was diagnosed with Perthes disease in his hip that left his left leg shorter than the right. His parents, Les and Ruth McLaren, owned a service station and workshop in Remuera Rd, Remuera, Auckland; Les McLaren had been a motorcycle racing enthusiast, but ...
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Chris Amon
Christopher Arthur Amon (20 July 1943 – 3 August 2016) was a New Zealand motor racing driver. He was active in Formula One racing in the 1960s and 1970s, and is widely regarded as one of the best F1 drivers never to win a championship Grand Prix. His reputation for bad luck was such that fellow driver Mario Andretti once joked that "if he became an undertaker, people would stop dying". Former Ferrari Technical Director Mauro Forghieri stated that Amon was "by far the best test driver I have ever worked with. He had all the qualities to be a World Champion but bad luck just wouldn't let him be". Apart from driving, Chris Amon also ran his own Formula One team for a short period in 1974. Away from Formula One, Amon had some success in sports car racing, teaming with co-driver Bruce McLaren to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans race in . Early life Amon was born in Bulls, New Zealand, and attended Whanganui Collegiate School. He was the only child of wealthy sheep-owners Ngaio ...
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McLaren
McLaren Racing Limited is a British motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor, the second oldest active team, and the second most successful Formula One team after Ferrari, having won races, 12 Drivers' Championships and 8 Constructors' Championships. McLaren also has a history of competing in American open wheel racing, as both an entrant and a chassis constructor, and has won the Canadian-American Challenge Cup (Can-Am) sports car racing championship. The team is a subsidiary of the McLaren Group, which owns a majority of the team. Founded in 1963 by New Zealander Bruce McLaren, the team won its first Grand Prix at the 1968 Belgian Grand Prix, but their greatest initial success was in Can-Am, which they dominated from 1967 to 1971. Further American triumph followed, with Indianapolis 500 wins in McLaren cars for Mark Donohue in 1972 and Johnny Rutherford in 1974 and 1976. Af ...
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Denny Hulme
Denis Clive Hulme (18 June 1936 – 4 October 1992), commonly known as Denny Hulme, was a New Zealand racing driver who won the Formula One World Drivers' Championship for the Brabham team. Between his debut at Monaco in 1965 and his final race in the 1974 US Grand Prix, he started 112 Grand Prix, resulting eight victories and 33 trips to the podium. He also finished third in the overall standing in 1968 and 1972. Hulme showed versatility by dominating the Canadian-American Challenge Cup (Can-Am) for Group 7 sports cars. As a member of the McLaren team that won five straight titles between 1967 and 1971, he won the individual Drivers' Championship twice and runner-up on four other occasions. Following his Formula One tenure with Brabham, Hulme raced for McLaren in multiple formats—Formula One, Can-Am, and at the Indianapolis 500. Hulme retired from Formula One at the end of the 1974 season but continued to race Australian Touring Cars. Hulme was nicknamed 'The Be ...
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Honda RA301
The Honda RA301 was a Formula One racing car produced by Honda Racing for the 1968 Formula One season. It was introduced during the 1968 Spanish Grand Prix, the second round of the season. Like its predecessor (RA300), the car was co-developed by Lola Cars, and called "Lola T180" by Lola Cars. The car was an update of the previous season's RA300, using the same RA273E engine. As Honda was also focused on developing the air-cooled RA302, the RA301's development suffered and Surtees only managed a best of second place in the France. Poor reliability saw him managing to finish just two other races. The car was planned to be replaced by the RA302 at the 1968 French Grand Prix, but Surtees refused to drive the new car because of safety concerns. After the death of Jo Schlesser at that race, Surtees again refused to drive the RA302 at the 1968 Italian Grand Prix, and the RA301 was used until the end of the season. With Honda's withdrawal from Formula One at the end of the season ...
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Honda RA302
The Honda RA302 was a Formula One racing car produced by Honda Racing, and introduced by Honda Racing France during the 1968 Formula One season. The car was built based on an order by Soichiro Honda to develop an air-cooled Formula One engine. The magnesium-skinned car was entered in the Formula One race alongside the water-cooled, aluminium-bodied RA301 which had been developed by the existing Honda team and British Lola Cars. It would only appear in one race, the 1968 French Grand Prix at Rouen-Les-Essarts, driven by Jo Schlesser. Schlesser was chosen to drive the RA302 because normal Honda driver John Surtees (who was the world champion and would finish second in that race) refused to drive it as he deemed it to be unsafe and labelled it as a "potential deathtrap". This was proven on lap two of the Grand Prix; Schlesser crashed at the ''Virage des Six Frères'' section of the circuit and the car came to rest sideways against a bank. The magnesium-bodied Honda and 58 laps wort ...
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