1966 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season

The 1966 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season was the 18th F.I.M. Road Racing World Championship Grand Prix season. The season consisted of twelve Grand Prix races in six classes: 500cc, 350cc, 250cc, 125cc, 50cc and Sidecars 500cc. It began on 8 May, with Spanish Grand Prix and ended with Japanese Grand Prix on 17 October.

Season summary

Honda stepped up their racing program with a new four-cylinder 500cc bike, as well as bikes in the four smaller classes. Despite Honda's increased efforts, Suzuki would claim the 50cc title with Hans-Georg Anscheidt winning the championship from Honda's Luigi Taveri at the last race of the season in Japan. Yamaha would battle Honda all season for the 125 crown, each factory taking five wins, with Honda's Taveri taking the title from Yamaha's Bill Ivy.

Mike Hailwood, having left the MV Agusta team to ride for Honda, stormed to the 250 crown, winning the first eight races of the season, as Phil Read struggled with Yamaha's new v-four race bike. Hailwood would make it a double when he also claimed the 350 class ahead of MV Agusta's Giacomo Agostini. Honda's plan was for Jim Redman to lead their 500 class campaign before he retired. All started well with Redman winning the first two races of the year however, Honda's hopes were dashed when he crashed in the rain in Belgium and broke his wrist. This gave Agostini the championship lead, which he held despite Hailwood taking three of the last six races. Honda took some consolation by winning all five constructor's titles for a clean sweep.

1966 Grand Prix season calendar

Round	Date	Grand Prix	Circuit	50cc winner	125cc winner	250cc winner	350cc winner	500cc winner	Sidecars 500cc winner	Report
1	8 May	Spanish Grand Prix	Montjuïc circuit	Luigi Taveri	Bill Ivy	Mike Hailwood				Report
2	22 May	West German Grand Prix	Hockenheimring	Hans-Georg Anscheidt	Luigi Taveri	Mike Hailwood	Mike Hailwood	Jim Redman	Scheidegger / Robinson	Report
3	29 May	French Grand Prix	Charade Circuit			Mike Hailwood	Mike Hailwood		Scheidegger / Robinson	Report
4	25 June	Dutch TT	TT Circuit Assen	Luigi Taveri	Bill Ivy	Mike Hailwood	Mike Hailwood	Jim Redman	Scheidegger / Robinson	Report
5	3 July	Belgian Grand Prix	Spa-Francorchamps			Mike Hailwood		Giacomo Agostini	Scheidegger / Robinson	Report
6	17 July	East German Grand Prix	Sachsenring		Luigi Taveri	Mike Hailwood	Giacomo Agostini	Frantisek Stastny		Report
7	24 July	Czechoslovakian Grand Prix	Masaryk Circuit		Luigi Taveri	Mike Hailwood	Mike Hailwood	Mike Hailwood		Report
8	7 August	Finnish Grand Prix	Imatra Circuit		Phil Read	Mike Hailwood	Mike Hailwood	Giacomo Agostini		Report
9	20 August	Ulster Grand Prix	Dundrod Circuit		Luigi Taveri	Ginger Molloy	Mike Hailwood	Mike Hailwood		Report
10	2 September	Isle of Man TT	Snaefell Mountain	Ralph Bryans	Bill Ivy	Mike Hailwood	Giacomo Agostini	Mike Hailwood	Scheidegger / Robinson	Report
11	11 September	Nations Grand Prix	Monza	Hans-Georg Anscheidt	Luigi Taveri	Mike Hailwood	Giacomo Agostini	Giacomo Agostini		Report
12	17 October	Japanese Grand Prix	Fuji Speedway	Yoshimi Katayama	Bill Ivy	Hiroshi Hasegawa	Phil Read			Report

Standings

Scoring system

Points were awarded to the top six finishers in each race. Only the best of four were counted on 50cc championships, best of five in 350cc and 500cc championships, best of six in 125cc and 250cc championships, while in the Sidecars, only the best of three races were counted.

Position	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th
Points	8	6	4	3	2	1

500cc final standings

Pos	Rider	Machine	GER	HOL	BEL	DDR	CZE	FIN	ULS	MAN	NAC	Pts
1	Giacomo Agostini	MV Agusta	2	2	1	Ret	2	1	2	2	1	36 (54)
2	Mike Hailwood	Honda	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	1	2	1	1	Ret	30
3	Jack Findlay	Matchless	11	6	Ret	2	4	3	4	8	3	20 (21)
4	Frantisek Stastny	Jawa-CZ		3	Ret	1	Ret	Ret	3	6	Ret	17
5	Jim Redman	Honda	1	1	Ret							16
6	Gyula Marsovszky	Matchless	3	7	4	5	3	7	8		8	13
7	Jack Ahearn	Norton	8	9	3	3	5	4		Ret		13
8	Stuart Graham	Matchless	4	5	2	Ret	Ret	Ret				11
9	Peter Williams	Matchless / AJS			9				6	7	2	7
10	Chris Conn	Norton	Ret	Ret	Ret			Ret	5	3	Ret	6
11	Ron Chandler	Matchless		Ret	6	4				5	Ret	6
12	John Cooper	Norton	Ret	4	Ret		7		Ret		Ret	3
13	Fred Stevens	Paton / Matchless / Metisse	Ret	8	14	Ret	Ret	8	12	12	4	3
14	John Blanchard	Seeley / Matchless							Ret	4		3
15	Lewis Young	Matchless	5	Ret	8	Ret	9	6			Ret	3
16	Malcolm Stanton	Norton		14	Ret	Ret		5		10	Ret	2
17	Walter Scheimann	Norton	10	Ret	Ret		14				5	2
18	John Mawby	Norton			5	Ret					13	2
19	Edy Lenz	Matchless	6		Ret	Ret	Ret			Ret	6	2
20	John Dodds	Norton	Ret		13	6	10		Ret	Ret	Ret	1
21	Eric Hinton	Norton				Ret	6	Ret				1
22	Dan Shorey	Norton	7	12	11	8	13		Ret	19	Ret	0
23	Bo Granath	Matchless			7	Ret	12	9				0
24	Derek Lee	Matchless					Ret	Ret	17	Ret	7	0
25	Joe Dunphy	Norton		Ret		7	Ret		Ret	Ret		0
26	Selwyn Griffiths	Matchless							7	Ret		0
27	Billie Nelson	Norton	9	Ret		9	8	12		Ret		0
28	Billy McCosh	Matchless							10	9		0
29	Gustav Havel	Jawa-CZ	Ret	11		14	11	Ret	9		Ret	0
30	Philippe Canoui	Matchless			Ret	Ret					9	0
31	Agne Carlsson	Matchless				10	Ret	10				0
32	Kel Carruthers	Norton	Ret	10	Ret	Ret		Ret	13	11	Ret	0
33	Len Atlee	Norton	Ret		10	Ret			15	21		0
34	Billy Andersson	Matchless						11		16		0
35	György Kurucz	Norton				11	Ret					0
36	Giuseppe Dardanello	Norton									11	0
=	Robin Fitton	Norton							11			0
38	Maurice Hawthorne	Norton			12					18	10	0
39	David Lloyd	Norton			Ret	12				20		0
40	Vasco Loro	Norton									12	0
41	Pentti Lehtelä	Norton				Ret	15	13				0
42	Jack Saunders	Matchless				13			20	Ret		0
43	Karl Hoppe	Matchless	Ret	13							Ret	0
44	George Fogarty	Matchless								13		0
45	Roly Capner	Matchless								14		0
=	Barry Scully	Norton							14			0
47	Godfrey Nash	Norton		15								0
=	Charlie Sanby	Norton								15		0
49	Rudi Thalhammer	Seeley / Norton / Matchless	Ret	16			Ret				Ret	0
=	Ernst Weiss	Matchless				Ret	Ret		16	Ret		0
51	Peter Sheppard	Norton					16					0
52	Roger Beaumont	Norton	Ret	Ret	Ret		17			Ret		0
53	Neville Landrebe	Matchless								17		0
54	Dennis Gallagher	Matchless							18	Ret		0
55	Tom Gill	Matchless							19	Ret		0
56	Ray Breingan	Norton							21	Ret		0
57	Stuart Morin	Norton				Ret		Ret		22		0
58	Terence Taylor	Norton							22			0
59	Brian Taggart	Norton							23			0
=	Carl Ward	Norton								23		0
61	Byron Black	Matchless							24	28		0
62	Dave Williams	Norton								24		0
63	Steve Jolly	Norton								25		0
64	Peter Darvill	Matchless								26		0
65	Dave Duncan	Matchless								27		0
66	Les Kempster	Norton								29		0
67	Jim Ashton	Matchless								30		0
68	Laurence Povey	Norton								31		0
69	Harry Reynolds	Matchless								32		0
-	Ian Burne	Norton	Ret		Ret	Ret				Ret		0
-	Griff Jenkins	Norton / Dunstall					Ret		Ret	Ret		0
-	John Denty	Norton							Ret	Ret		0
-	Owen Howard	Matchless							Ret	Ret		0
-	Derek Minter	Seeley / Matchless	Ret	Ret								0
-	Johnny Wales	Norton		Ret	Ret							0
-	Stan Adams	Norton								Ret		0
-	Hartmut Allner	BMW	Ret									0
-	Kent Andersson	Husqvarna						Ret				0
-	Alain Barbaroux	Norton			Ret							0
-	Roy Bisbey	Norton								Ret		0
-	David Brown	Norton		Ret								0
-	Rex Butcher	Norton								Ret		0
-	Hans-Otto Butenuth	BMW	Ret									0
-	Kel Carlsson	Norton								Ret		0
-	Conway Chivers	Norton								Ret		0
-	Guy Cooremans	Norton				Ret						0
-	Davy Crawford	Norton							Ret			0
-	Dave Croxford	Matchless							Ret			0
-	Brian Dennis	Velocette								Ret		0
-	Gianfranco Domeniconi	Norton									Ret	0
-	Vincent Duckett	Matchless								Ret		0
-	Mike Duff	Matchless								Ret		0
-	Fritjof Eccarius	Matchless	Ret									0
-	Steve Ellis	Matchless								Ret		0
-	Ray Flack	Norton								Ret		0
-	Toshio Fujii	Norton			Ret							0
-	Robert Graham	AJS							Ret			0
-	Billie Guthrie	Norton							Ret			0
-	Albert Haddock	Triumph								Ret		0
-	Trevor Holdsworth	Norton								Ret		0
-	Alan Hunter	Norton								Ret		0
-	David Johnson	Norton							Ret			0
-	David Jones	BSA								Ret		0
-	Jimmy Jones	Norton							Ret			0
-	Ken Kay	Matchless								Ret		0
-	Reay Mackay	Vincent HRD								Ret		0
-	Tony McGurk	Matchless								Ret		0
-	Michael McStay	Norton								Ret		0
-	Helmut Morgenstern	Norton	Ret									0
-	Albert Moule	Norton								Ret		0
-	Frank Mumford	Norton								Ret		0
-	Tauno Nurmi	Norton					Ret					0
-	Bert Oosterhuis	Norton		Ret								0
-	Giovanni Perrone	Bianchi									Ret	0
-	Alan Prange	Matchless								Ret		0
-	Norman Price	Norton								Ret		0
-	Tom Read	Norton								Ret		0
-	Robert Reid	Norton							Ret			0
-	Jouko Ryhänen	Matchless						Ret				0
-	Tony Rutter	Norton								Ret		0
-	Alf Shaw	Norton								Ret		0
-	John Simmonds	Norton								Ret		0
-	Lars Skjelfoss	Matchless				Ret						0
-	Bill Smith	Matchless								Ret		0
-	Hans Sommerhalder	Matchless								Ret		0
-	Adrian Spooner	Norton								Ret		0
-	Malcolm Uphill	Norton								Ret		0
-	Brian Walmsley	Norton								Ret		0
-	Ron Wilson	Norton							Ret			0
-	Tony Wood	Norton							Ret			0
-	Derek Woodman	Matchless			Ret							0
-	Benedetto Zambotti	Norton									Ret	0
Pos	Rider	Bike	GER	HOL	BEL	DDR	CZE	FIN	ULS	MAN	NAC	Pts

Colour	Result
Gold	Winner
Silver	Second place
Bronze	Third place
Green	Points finish
Blue	Non-points finish
Blue	Non-classified finish (NC)
Purple	Retired (Ret)
Red	Did not qualify (DNQ)
Red	Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ)
Black	Disqualified (DSQ)
White	Did not start (DNS)
	Withdrew (WD)
	Race cancelled (C)
Blank	Did not practice (DNP)
	Did not arrive (DNA)
	Excluded (EX)

Bold – Pole
Italics – Fastest Lap

350cc Standings

Place	Rider	Country	Machine	Points	Wins
1	Mike Hailwood	United Kingdom	Honda	48	6
2	Giacomo Agostini	Italy	MV Agusta	42	3
3	Renzo Pasolini	Italy	Aermacchi	17	0
4	Frantisek Stastny	Czechoslovakia	Jawa	13	0
5	Gustav Havel	Czechoslovakia	Jawa	12	0
6	Alberto Pagani	Italy	Aermacchi	11	0
7	Heinz Rosner	East Germany	MZ	10	0
8	Phil Read	United Kingdom	Yamaha	8	1
9	Jack Ahearn	Australia	Norton	8	0
10	Bruce Beale	Rhodesia	Honda	7	0
11	Tarquinio Provini	Italy	Benelli	6	0
=	Peter Williams	United Kingdom	AJS	6	0
=	Bill Ivy	United Kingdom	Yamaha	6	0
14	Silvio Grassetti	Italy	Bianchi	6	0
15	Jim Redman	Rhodesia	Honda	4	0
=	Tommy Robb	United Kingdom	Bultaco	4	0
=	Chris Conn	United Kingdom	Norton	4	0
18	Gilberto Milani	Italy	Aermacchi	3	0
=	Stuart Graham	United Kingdom	AJS	3	0
=	Kel Carruthers	Australia	Norton	3	0
=	Byron Black	United Kingdom	Honda	3	0
22	Frantisek Bocek	Czechoslovakia	Jawa	3	0
23	Dave Simmonds	United Kingdom	Honda-Norton	2	0
=	Kenzo Muromachi	Japan	Honda	2	0
25	John Blanchard	United Kingdom	AJS	1	0
=	Joe Dunphy	United Kingdom	Norton	1	0
=	Kent Andersson	Sweden	Husqvarna	1	0

250cc Standings

Place	Rider	Country	Machine	Points	Wins
1	Mike Hailwood	United Kingdom	Honda	56	10
2	Phil Read	United Kingdom	Yamaha	34	0
3	Jim Redman	Rhodesia	Honda	20	0
4	Derek Woodman	United Kingdom	MZ	18	0
5	Stuart Graham	United Kingdom	Honda	15	0
6	Heinz Rosner	East Germany	MZ	15	0
7	Jack Findlay	Australia	Bultaco	14	0
8	Frantisek Stastny	Czechoslovakia	Jawa	11	0
9	Mike Duff	Canada	Yamaha	9	0
10	Ginger Molloy	New Zealand	Bultaco	8	1
=	Hiroshi Hasegawa	Japan	Yamaha	8	1
12	Gyula Marsovsky	Switzerland	Bultaco	8	0
13	Bill Ivy	United Kingdom	Yamaha	5	0
14	Renzo Pasolini	Italy	Aermacchi	4	0
=	Kevin Cass	Australia	Bultaco	4	0
=	Peter Inchley	United Kingdom	Villiers	4	0
=	Alberto Pagani	Italy	Aermacchi	4	0
=	Akiyasu Motohashi	Japan	Yamaha	4	0
19	Bruce Beale	Rhodesia	Honda	4	0
20	Kent Andersson	Sweden	Husqvarna	4	0
21	Selwyn Griffiths	United Kingdom	Royal Enfield	3	0
22	Tommy Robb	United Kingdom	Bultaco	3	0
23	Chris Anderson	United Kingdom	Yamaha	2	0
=	Jim Curry	United Kingdom	Honda	2	0
25	Günter Beer	West Germany	Honda	1	0
=	Daniel Lhéraud	France	Yamaha	1	0
=	Len Atlee	Australia	Cotton	1	0
=	Bill Smith	United Kingdom	Bultaco	1	0
=	Giuseppe Visenzi	Italy	Aermacchi	1	0

125cc Standings

Place	Rider	Country	Machine	Points	Wins
1	Luigi Taveri	Switzerland	Honda	46	5
2	Bill Ivy	United Kingdom	Yamaha	40	4
3	Ralph Bryans	United Kingdom	Honda	32	0
4	Phil Read	United Kingdom	Yamaha	29	1
5	Hugh Anderson	New Zealand	Suzuki	15	0
6	Yoshimi Katayama	Japan	Suzuki	14	0
7	Frank Perris	United Kingdom	Suzuki	10	0
8	Akiyasu Motohashi	Japan	Yamaha	5	0
9	Mike Duff	Canada	Yamaha	4	0
=	Mitsuo Itoh	Japan	Suzuki	4	0
11	Tommy Robb	United Kingdom	Yamaha	3	0
12	Francesco Villa	Italy	Montesa	2	0
=	Hans-Georg Anscheidt	West Germany	Suzuki	2	0
=	Peter Williams	United Kingdom	EMC	2	0
15	José Medrano	Spain	Bultaco	1	0
=	Herbert Mann	West Germany	MZ	1	0
=	Mike Hailwood	United Kingdom	Honda	1	0
=	Friedhelm Kohlar	East Germany	MZ	1	0
=	Hartmut Bischoff	East Germany	MZ	1	0
=	Walter Scheimann	West Germany	Honda	1	0
=	Yasuharu Yuzawa	Japan	Yamaha	1	0

50cc Standings

Place	Rider	Country	Machine	Points	Wins
1	Hans-Georg Anscheidt	West Germany	Suzuki	28	2
2	Ralph Bryans	United Kingdom	Honda	26	1
3	Luigi Taveri	Switzerland	Honda	26	2
4	Hugh Anderson	New Zealand	Suzuki	16	0
5	Yoshimi Katayama	Japan	Suzuki	10	1
6	Barry Smith	Australia	Derbi	3	0
=	Ernst Degner	West Germany	Suzuki	3	0
=	Mitsuo Itoh	Japan	Suzuki	3	0
9	Angel Nieto	Spain	Derbi	2	0
=	Oswald Dittrich	West Germany	Kreidler	2	0
=	Brian Gleed	United Kingdom	Honda	2	0
=	Tommy Robb	United Kingdom	Bridgestone	2	0
13	Cees van Dongen	Netherlands	Kreidler	1	0
=	Isao Morishita	Japan	Bridgestone	1	0
=	Dave Simmonds	United Kingdom	Honda	1	0
=	André Roth	Switzerland	Derbi	1	0
=	Jack Findlay	Australia	Bridgestone	1	0

References

Büla, Maurice & Schertenleib, Jean-Claude (2001). Continental Circus 1949-2000. Chronosports S.A. ISBN 2-940125-32-5
"The Official MotoGP website". Retrieved 2010-07-06.