Since the advent of the new Grand Prix Formula where the only interest seems to be for unsupercharged 3-litre engines, everyone had been waiting for the 1966 Monaco Grand Prix as it was felt that this race would really launch the new Grand Prix racing. Firms who were building new cars or new engines had the Monaco race as their target date and though Brabham, Cooper-Maserati and Ferrari got under way ahead of this schedule, BRM and McLaren made the dead-line with their new cars so that Monaco was full of technical interest as well as interesting motor racing. The only new projects that failed to reach the target date were the new Lotus with BRM H16-cylinder engine, and the Gurney-Weslake American “Eagle“.
McLaren entered himself and Amon with new McLaren cars but only managed to complete one car for himself, but this was a very creditable effort for a new team. Brabham had his 3-litre Repco-Brabham, Ferrari produced two 3-litre V12-cylinder cars, Cooper had two works Cooper-Maserati V12 cars and were supported by Bonnier and Ligier with similar cars, and BRM produced one new H16-cylinder car.
For the rest the entry was made up of modified 1965 cars, acting as stop-gaps until further new Grand Prix cars are finished. In view of the twisty nature of the Monaco circuit and its low average speed, the modified 1965 cars were well to the fore and some of them were really well suited to the circuit, in particular the two works Tasman Championship BRMs with 2-litre V8 engines, the works Lotus chassis R11 from last year, with a 2-litre V8 Coventry-Climax engine, and the Dino 246 Ferrari V6.
