The Hockenheim Formula Two race was certainly the most tragic event in British motor racing history and any report of the meeting must be coloured by Jim Clark‘s death. The National newspapers who gave it so much space hardly found time to mention the winner and called it a minor race. In fact it was the first round of the 1968 European Formula Two Championship for non-graded drivers and attracted a top-class field.
The entry was more or less the same as the previous week’s race although Stewart, Ickx and Rindt were otherwise engaged. One new car appeared, this being the first Formula Two Chevron from Derek Bennett Engineering Ltd. The car was basically very similar to their F3 car which was introduced last autumn and was powered by the usual FVA engine and driven by Gethin.
The circuit is situated close to the Rhine just outside the small town of Hockenheim from which the wine Hock takes its name. The circuit has little to recommend it, being a flat blind for all but four or five corners grouped in a stadium designed to hold 100,000 spectators. Most of the circuit cuts through thick German forests with the towering pines bordering both sides of the road.
