Parkes began his racing career in the mid-1950s initially with an
MG before moving on to a
Frazer Nash. 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. 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==