In his maiden Formula One race, at the 1968 Oulton Park Gold Cup, Derek Bell ran as high as 6th place in his Ferrari 312 (0007) before gearbox problems and a blown piston forced his retirement.
I remember the 1968 Oulton Park Gold Cup Race very well because it was my first Formula 1 drive, and Oulton Park was a circuit I knew very well from previous years in F3. We went there, and I qualified on the third row, next to Oliver in the Lotus 49. Graham Hill had put the other Lotus 49 on pole, a bit quicker than Jackie Stewart’s Matra. Then Chris Amon in one of the other two Ferraris had the 3rd spot on the front row (0011). Brabham was next from Ickx (0009), followed by Rodriguez, Oliver and myself.
Derek Bell
I had a good start from the beginning, as I suddenly had Jochen Rindt in front of me and Pedro Rodriguez behind me. No, it was the other way around—it was Pedro in front because he never looked in his mirrors! I remember thinking it wasn’t a bad job to be quicker than Rindt. I knew there was no point trying to go round Pedro because he wouldn’t know I was there! I was having quite a good race, in 6th or 7th, but it was just a rehearsal for me to have some experience of driving Formula 1. The agreement in the team was to take it easy and not do anything to damage the car. Then I had the gearbox pack up—it didn’t quite seize up. I had the same problem Phil Hill used to have of jamming the gears. I went from third to fourth and it would jam between the two and get locked.
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