With no major Grand Prix race since the German Grand Prix at the beginning of August, the factory teams had plenty of time to prepare themselves for the annual high-speed race at Monza, on the 5.75-kilometre road circuit.
A very full entry was received and Lotus, Brabham, Ferrari and Centro-Sud fielded three-car teams, the Ferrari one actually being a four car team on paper, but three in reality.
From Maranello came three 12-cylinder Ferraris, numbers 0007 and 0008, that were at the Nurburgring, and 0009, a brand new one; and these were accompanied by 0006 which is the last of the V8 Ferraris. Surtees, Bandini and Scarfiotti were entered on the 12-cylinder cars, though the last-named did not appear and Surtees thus had two cars at his disposal. The 12-cylinder engines, had been improved with new cylinder heads having a different inlet-port angle, so that the long intakes, with Lucas fuel-injectors in them, were no longer vertical but inclined slightly outwards. Apart from improved brake calipers, as on the 12-cylinder cars, the V8 which Vaccarella drove was seemingly unchanged.
