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 to . 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 , 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. Parkes was the eldest son of John Parkes, who was chairman and managing director of the Alvis Group; he was also an aviator. Parkes finished a mere car length behind Graham Hill in the 28th Royal Automobile Club tourist trophy race in August 1963. 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. In the race Parkes established a speed record and completed the most miles ever for a winner.

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.

Parkes and Guichet placed second 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 fourth consecutive victory for Ferrari. 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, two 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 second after Gurney and his co-driver, Jerry Grant.

Surtees and Parkes were in a Ferrari prototype in their victory in a 620-mile Monza sports car event in April 1966. 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. 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 fourth place at the Daytona 24 hours on a Ferrari 312P entered by NART (paired with Sam Posey), at Sebring 12 hours he finished sixth on the same car (together with Chuck Parsons). He continued the season racing on the Filipinetti Ferrari 512S, reaching fifth 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. 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. Parkes-Pescarolo were running well at Le Mans when a mechanical failure during the night ended their race. 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.

Formula One career

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. Following his success with Ferrari sportscars, Parkes joined Ferrari officially, in 1963 as development and reserve driver, However this was followed by two retirements before another second place at Monza where he also took pole position. In May 1967, shortly after Lorenzo Bandini had died, Ferrari entered two 1966 model single seaters in the 1967 Syracuse Grand Prix, a Formula One race that did not count towards the Formula One World Championship and attracted only 8 entrants, mostly outdated machinery. Honoring Bandini, Parkes and Scarfiotti both won the race in a dead heat.

Parkes competed in two further Grands Prix for Ferrari finishing fifth at Zandvoort but retiring through accident at Spa, 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.

In 1974, Parkes took a job as principal development engineer for the Lancia Stratos.

Death Parkes was killed in a road collision on 28 August 1977 near Riva presso Chieri, Turin, Italy. 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.

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 GER POR ITA USA NC 0 1966 Scuderia Ferrari Ferrari 312/66 Ferrari V12 MON BEL FRA GBR NED GER ITA USA MEX 8th 12 1967 Scuderia Ferrari Ferrari 312/66 Ferrari V12 RSA MON NED BEL FRA GBR GER CAN ITA USA MEX 16th 2 Car over 1000cc – Not eligible for points.