Mike Parkes

Michael Johnson Parkes (24 September 1931 – 28 August 1977) was a British racing driver and engineer, who competed in Formula One at six Grands Prix from Template:F1 to Template:F1.Template:Efn In endurance racing, Parkes won the 12 Hours of Sebring in 1964 with Ferrari.

Born in Richmond, Surrey, Parkes was the son of John Parkes, chairman and managing director of the Alvis Group. Parkes participated in seven Formula One Grands Prix, debuting at the 1959 British Grand Prix in a Formula Two car entered by Fry. Amidst a successful sportscar racing career, he returned to Formula One with Ferrari in Template:F1, achieving one pole position, two podiums, and a total of 14 championship points.

Outside of motor racing, Parkes worked as an automotive engineer; whilst working for the Rootes Group, he was involved in the development of the Hillman Imp. From 1974 onwards, he served as principal development engineer of the Lancia Stratos. In August 1977, Parkes died in a road traffic collision near Turin, aged 45.

Early life

Michael Johnson Parkes was born on 24 September 1931 in Richmond, Surrey, England.<ref name="obit">Template:Cite magazine</ref> Parkes was the eldest son of John Parkes, who was chairman and managing director of the Alvis Group; he was also an aviator.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> Parkes studied at Haileybury College in Hertford Heath, Hertfordshire.<ref name="obit" />

Sports car racing career

Parkes began his racing career in the mid-1950s initially with an MG before moving on to a Frazer Nash.<ref name ="ReferenceA"/> In 1957 he raced a Lotus and came to the attention of Colin Chapman who invited him to act as reserve driver for the works team at Le Mans.<ref name ="ReferenceA"/> He then became involved with the Fry Formula Two project in 1958 and 1959, before returning to sportscars in 1960.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

In 1960 Parkes drove a Lotus Elite for Sir Gawaine Baillie before moving to Tommy Sopwith's Equipe Endeavour in 1961, where he drove in sportscars and Formula Junior. He also drove a Ferrari GT for UK Ferrari franchise, Maranello Concessionaires.<ref name ="ReferenceA"/> At Le Mans he shared a three-litre Ferrari Testa Rossa with Willy Mairesse and finished second.<ref name ="ReferenceA"/>

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.<ref>Phil Hill Wins Nürburgring, Los Angeles Times, 28 May 1962, Page B6.</ref> Parkes finished a mere car length behind Graham Hill in the 28th Royal Automobile Club tourist trophy race in August 1963.<ref>Datelines in Sports, Los Angeles Times, 25 August 1963, Page K5.</ref> Umberto Maglioli and Parkes drove one of the Ferraris which claimed the top five qualifying positions for the 1964 12 Hours of Sebring. The Ferraris were equipped with new power plants. Parkes was timed at 3:10.4.<ref>Ferraris Taking Over Top 5 Sebring Spots, Los Angeles Times, 20 March 1964, Page B7</ref> In the race Parkes established a speed record and completed the most miles ever for a winner.

File:1965-05-23 Ferrari Südkehre.jpg

Parkes at the 1965 1000km Nürburgring in front of Graham Hill, both in Ferraris.

Parkes and Maglioli, finished a considerable distance ahead of the Ferrari of Ludovico Scarfiotti and Nino Vaccarella.<ref name=bachelor/> Parkes teamed with Jean Guichet in a Ferrari to capture the 1,000 kilometre Classic of Monza Italy in April 1965. Tommy Spichiger, 30, of Switzerland, died instantly on the 34th lap of the race when his Ferrari 365 prototype went off the track and burst into flames. Parkes and Guichet led most of the race in their Ferrari prototype, after taking the lead from John Surtees and Ludovico Scarfiotti.<ref>Swiss Driver Dies at Monza, Los Angeles Times, 26 April 1965, Page B3.</ref>

Parkes and Guichet placed 2nd to Surtees and Scarfiotti in a 620-mile race at the Nürburgring in May 1965. The winning pair led the full 44 laps. It was a 4th consecutive victory for Ferrari.<ref>Ferrari Pair Wins Race Marred by Driver Death, Los Angeles Times, 24 May 1965, Page B3</ref> Dan Gurney eclipsed the time of Parkes in the sole factory Ferrari in the final practice for the 1966 12 Hours of Sebring. The blue Ford was clocked at 2:54.6, 2 seconds faster than a lap run by Parkes the previous day. In a Ferrari P3 prototype, Parkes lap was so fast that none of the time-speed conversion charts would accept it. Parkes and Bob Bondurant started 2nd after Gurney and his co-driver, Jerry Grant.<ref>Gurney Roars 107 m.p.h. in Final Tineup, Los Angeles Times, 26 March 1966, A5</ref>

Surtees and Parkes were in a Ferrari prototype in their victory in a 620-mile Monza sports car event in April 1966.<ref>Datelines:Monza, Los Angeles Times, 26 April 1966, Page B3</ref> Chris Amon and Lorenzo Bandini were triumphant in a 100 lap, 1,000 kilometre Monza race in April 1967. They drove a four-litre Ferrari for an average speed of 122.30 m.p.h. Parkes and Scarfiotti finished second with a time of 5:10:59.2. The winning time was 5 hours seven minutes, 43 seconds. The Ferraris were in front after the Chaparrals of Phil Hill and Mike Spence had to make pit stops following the 17th and 18th laps.<ref>Ferraris Run 1-2 at Monza, Los Angeles, 26 April 1967, Page C5.</ref> He finished second at the 1967 24 Hours of Le Mans, paired with Ludovico Scarfiotti, in a Ferrari 330P4.

After the crash at the Spa Belgian GP 1967 Parkes returned to race sport cars events in 1970, with remarkable 4th place at the Daytona 24 hours on a Ferrari 312P entered by NART (paired with Sam Posey), at Sebring 12 hours he finished 6th on the same car (together with Chuck Parsons). He continued the season racing on the Filipinetti Ferrari 512S, reaching 5th place at the Targa Florio and 4th at the Nurburgring 1000 km together with Herbert Muller.

Parkes competed in a 1,000 kilometre sports car race in Argentina in January 1971, he was just ahead of Ignazio Giunti's Ferrari 312PB when the Italian driver crashed on the Beltoise's Matra. He was paired with Joakim Bonnier in a five-litre Ferrari entered and owned by the Swiss Filippinetti stable which maintained operations in Modena.<ref>"Ferrari To Enter New Car in Argentine Race 10 Jan.", New York Times, 3 January 1971, Page S6.</ref> Parkes competed in the 1971 24 Hours of Le Mans in a modified Ferrari 512M paired with Henri Pescarolo. He was involved in the development of this car (named 512F, where "F" stands for Filipinetti, the car's owner), which proved to be very fast, winning a non-championship race at Vallelunga, Rome ahead of the Jo Siffert Porsche 917K.Template:Citation needed Parkes-Pescarolo were running well at Le Mans when a mechanical failure during the night ended their race.Template:Citation needed Parkes came back to Le Mans in 1972 with a Ferrari 365GTB entered by Filipinetti. His teammates were Lafosse and Cochet, the trio finished in seventh place, third in the GT class behind two other Ferraris.Template:Citation needed

Formula One career

File:Parkes at 1966 Dutch Grand Prix (cropped).jpg

Parkes driving for Ferrari at the 1966 Dutch Grand Prix.

Parkes first entered a World Championship Grand Prix at Aintree in 1959 driving a Formula 2 (F2) Fry-Climax 1.5-litre Straight-4. However he did not qualify and returned to sportscars thereafter, apart from a single outing at Mallory Park in 1962 with a Bowmaker Cooper.<ref name="ReferenceA">Template:Cite book</ref> Following his success with Ferrari sportscars, Parkes joined Ferrari officially, in 1963 as development and reserve driver,<ref name ="ReferenceA"/> and over the following seasons became recognised as a leading sports car driver.<ref name ="ReferenceA"/> 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,<ref name ="ReferenceA"/> was immediately successful, finishing in second place in the 1966 French Grand Prix at Reims. Jack Brabham won the race with his teammate, Denny Hulme, third, in their Brabham–Repcos.<ref>"Brabham Wins Formula One Race at Rheims", Los Angeles Times, 4 July 1966, Page B6.</ref> However this was followed by two retirements before another second place at Monza where he also took pole position.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> Parkes won an international Formula One race at Silverstone by one third of a lap over Brabham in April 1967.The 52 lap race was the first Formula One contest for Parkes in his native country. He completed the 152.36 mile competition in 1:19:39.25 with an average speed of 114.65 m.p.h.<ref>"English Race Driver Wins in Ferrari", Los Angeles Times, 30 April 1967, Page I8.</ref> In 1967, Parkes competed in two further Grands Prix for Ferrari finishing fifth at Zandvoort but retiring through accident at Spa,<ref name="ReferenceA"/> after sliding on oil being sprayed from Jackie Stewart's H16 BRM,<ref name="Hughes"/> on the first lap, suffering broken legs that would ultimately end his Grand Prix career. Ferrari Auto Works entered two cars in the 1967 Syracuse Grand Prix. This was a Formula One race that did not count toward the Formula One World Championship. Parkes and Scarfiotti were assigned 1966 model single seaters.<ref>"Ferrari to Enter Two Cars at Syracuse", Los Angeles Times, 17 May 1967, Page C6.</ref> After Parkes' Formula One career ended, he raced into the 1970s in sports cars.

Automotive engineering

When not racing cars, Parkes worked as an automotive engineer.<ref name=bachelor>Sebring 'Crasher' Swept By Ferrari, Los Angeles Times, 22 March 1964, Page B5.</ref> Parkes worked for the Rootes Group from 1950 to 1962, initially as an apprentice. One of his roles at Rootes was as project engineer in the development of the Hillman Imp.

In 1963 Parkes joined Ferrari as development engineer for their road cars, notably the 330 GTC, and also as a GT sports car driver. Following his absence from work after his serious F1 accident, he returned to Ferrari in 1969 to find the company partly under the control of Fiat and at that point decided to work for Scuderia Filipinetti as engineer as well as driver. His departure from Ferrari was partly due to Enzo Ferrari's refusal to allow him to return to F1 after his accident, claiming that he was too valuable as an engineer.<ref name="Hughes">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 1974 Parkes took a job as principal development engineer for the Lancia Stratos.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Death

Parkes was killed in a road collision on 28 August 1977 near Riva presso Chieri, Turin, Italy.<ref name="WATN">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Parkes was returning home from Modena to Turin - driving his Lancia Beta - when he rear-ended a 43-ton lorry in wet conditions; he was killed instantly.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Racing record

Complete Formula One World Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	WDC	Points
1959	David Fry	Fry (F2)	Climax Straight-4	MON	500	NED	FRA	GBR Template:Small	GER	POR	ITA	USA			NC	0
1966	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari 312/66	Ferrari V12	MON	BEL	FRA Template:Small	GBR	NED Template:Small	GER Template:Small	ITA Template:Small	USA	MEX			8th	12
1967	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari 312/66	Ferrari V12	RSA	MON	NED Template:Small	BEL Template:Small	FRA	GBR	GER	CAN	ITA	USA	MEX	16th	2
Template:Small {{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}

Non-Championship Formula One results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
1959	David Fry	Fry (F2)	Climax Straight-4	GLV	AIN	INT	OUL	SIL Template:Small
1962	Cooper Car Company	Cooper T56	Climax V8	CAP	BRX	LOM	LAV	GLV	PAU	AIN	INT	NAP	MAL Template:Small	CLP	RMS	SOL	KAN	MED	DAN	OUL	MEX	RAN	NAT
1967	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari 312	Ferrari V12	ROC	SPC	INT Template:Small	SYR Template:Small	OUL	ESP

Complete British Saloon Car Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.)

Year	Team	Car	Class	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	DC	Pts	Class
1960	Sunbeam-Talbot Ltd	Sunbeam Rapier Series III	1001-1600cc	BRH	SNE	MAL	OUL	SNE	BRH	BRH Ret*	BRH		NC*	0*
1961	Equipe Endeavour	Jaguar Mk II 3.8	Template:Tooltip	SNE Ret	GOO 1	AIN 4	SIL 2	CRY Ret	SIL 1	BRH 1	OUL Ret	SNE 1	2nd	44	1st
1962	Equipe Endeavour	Jaguar Mk II 3.8	Template:Tooltip	SNE 1	GOO Ret	AIN 5	SIL 2	CRY	AIN 2	BRH 1	OUL 3		5th	32	3rd
Template:Small {{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}

• Car over 1000cc – Not eligible for points.

External links

• www.mikeparkes.eu This is the official biography created by Parkes' sister and brother, namely Annabel Campigotto and Johnny Parkes and includes over 150 photos.
• Mike Parkes, biography at imps4ever.info