1000 km race on the Nürburgring in 1981

Herbert Müller had a fatal accident on the 14th lap

The 27th 1000 km race on the Nürburgring , also 1000 km Nürburgring, Nürburgring Nordschleife , took place on May 24, 1981 and was the seventh round of the sports car world championship of that year.

The race

Before the race

In May 1981 , the ADAC hosted the 1000 km race on the Nürburgring for the 27th time . Since 1953 , the endurance race on the Nordschleife of the Nürburgring has always been part of the sports car world championship, with the exception of the 1954 and 1955 seasons. The first race in 1953 ended with the total victory of the Italian Alberto Ascari and Giuseppe Farina on a plant - Ferrari 375 MM . Over the years, the race has established itself as an integral part of the sports car season and, apart from the Le Mans 24-hour race, had the most entries and starters every year .

The sports car world championship in 1981 comprised 15 racing events, and for the first time the title of driver world champion was awarded with the one-make cup. The race at the Nürburgring was part of the brand and driver standings. As a works team, Porsche had not taken part in any world championship run until the race at the Nürburgring. Also on the Nordschleife there was no plan for a factory run; Nevertheless, one of the works Porsche 936 , chassis number 936-004, took part in the race. This vehicle was first used by Reinhold Joest in 1980 and was given the type designation 908/80. The chassis 044 was a replacement chassis, and since Porsche wanted to limit the 936 to three units, this car received this unfortunate type designation. This racing car actually had little in common with a Porsche 908 . Porsche wanted to see the use of this car as a test run for the 24 Hours of Le Mans without appearing as a racing team itself. At Le Mans, Jacky Ickx and Derek Bell were supposed to drive a works car. Porsche provided Reinhold Joest at the Nürburgring with Jochen Mass as a partner, who was contractually bound to the works team on a long-term basis.

Joest also brought a “real” 908 to the Nordschleife, which was driven by last year's winner Jürgen Barth and Volkert Merl . A third 908 was reported by Siegfried Brunn , who had contested the previous European races of the World Sports Car Championship with the Irish racing driver and later Formula 1 team boss Eddie Jordan . The two weeks before the 6-hour race at Silverstone had finished the duo in third place in the overall standings. At the Nürburgring, the Swiss Herbert Müller was Brunn's partner. Müller, who had actually already ended his career and, as an experienced Nürburgring connoisseur, allowed himself to be persuaded to take part in a race again, explained before the start that the 1000 km race would definitely be his last race as a driver.

A Group 5 vehicle achieved the fastest training time . Manfred Winkelhock rounded on one of Zakspeed reported Ford Capri - Silhouette vehicle the Nordschleife in 7: 18.490, representing an average of 187.475 km / h corresponded. This means Winkelhock was 16 seconds faster than John Fitzpatrick in a Porsche 935 on his pole position lap the year before. How fast Winkelhock's time was can be made clear by a comparison with Formula 1, which has not competed in its world championship races on the Nordschleife since Niki Lauda's serious accident at the 1976 German Grand Prix . James Hunt's best practice time in the McLaren M23 at the last Nürburgring Grand Prix was 7: 06.500, just 11.9 seconds short of the Capri driver's time.

However, Winkelhock, who shared the cockpit of the Ford Capri with Klaus Niedzwiedz , was unable to take part in the race. During the warm-up just before the start, it was noticed that the engine was not developing full power. During an inspection, Zakspeed mechanics found parts of a bearing in the oil filter; a start was therefore impossible.

The course of the race

Right from the start, the Porsche 908/80, now on pole position, took the lead with Jochen Mass at the wheel. Behind them followed with increasing distance the GS-Tuning driven by Hans-Joachim Stuck - BMW M1 and the two Group 5 Lancia Beta Montecarlo by Riccardo Patrese and Hans Heyer . Siegfried Brunn was only able to start the race with his 908 five minutes late after the start, as the mechanics in the pits still had to work on the suspension.

There was an incident on the first lap, which had fatal consequences as the race progressed. Just before the Kesselchen section, Guy Edwards collided with his Lola T600 with Bobby Rahal's Porsche 935 . While Edwards was able to drive on, Rahal had to park the slightly damaged and fully fueled Porsche on the right-hand side of the track.

After Jochen Mass came to the pits on lap eight to refuel and change drivers, Stuck took the lead for one lap, then headed for the pit lane and handed the BMW over to his team-mate, the Brazilian Brabham Formula 1 driver Nelson Piquet . After 14 laps of the race, Reinhold Joest was almost three minutes ahead of Piquet and Bob Wollek's Porsche 935 , who had been in the cockpit since the start when Herbert Müller's fatal accident occurred.

Herbert Müller's fatal accident

Why Herbert Müller got off the track in front of the Kesselchen and crashed into Bobby Rahal's parked Porsche could never be precisely clarified. Some pilots spoke of light rain at this point at the time of the accident. However, Müller was an experienced driver and after the driver change he had already driven past the parked Porsche a few times. Whether the accident was related to the suspension problems before the start remained pure speculation. The 908 from Brunn had a new double-walled tank, but on impact both the tank of the 908 and that of the 935 burst; a few hundred liters of gasoline ignited and turned the scene of the accident into a hell of a flame. Neither the marshals who rushed up nor the crews of four rescue vehicles were able to contain the flames. The wreck burned for 15 minutes. Herbert Müller had no chance of escaping this inferno; According to the rescue doctors, the Swiss died on impact.

The race management did not react for the time being. Only when fewer and fewer racing cars passed the start and finish line after the end of the 15th lap did it become clear to those responsible that a serious incident had occurred. Some of the pilots drove between the rescue vehicles and the burning wreck and continued the race. Others, including many amateur racers, stopped at the scene of the accident. This almost resulted in a follow-up accident. After an emergency stop, Karl-Adolf Kneip lost control of his KMW SP30 and turned left over the track barrier. But he was able to bring the car to a standstill just before the scene of the accident.

As more and more vehicles blocked the track, the race management interrupted the race after the 17th lap. At this point, it was more by chance that Nelson Piquet in the BMW M1 was in the lead, as Reinhold Joest's clearly leading Porsche was in the pits on lap 16 to refuel and change drivers. Third was Bob Wollek, whose Porsche, registered by Preston Henn , had still not changed drivers.

After the true extent of the accident became known and because the track at the scene of the accident was badly damaged by the heat, the race officials refrained from restarting. The race result after 17 laps thus became official. Since only 388 km of the total distance had been covered, only 1/2 points were awarded for the respective world championship rankings.

Norbert Przybilla and Peter Hoffmann

Curiosities can be found in the results lists for the two racing drivers Norbert Przybilla and Peter Hoffmann . Both pilots competed for different teams. On the one hand they drove the Toj SC302 with starting number 4 and on the other hand the BMW 2002 with the number 98; both vehicles retired on the third lap. In addition, both drivers were registered for the race with a McLaren M8F with starting number 5, but did not start.

Results

Final ranking

Item	class	No.	team	driver	chassis	Round
1	Group 5	12th	GS tuning	Hans-Joachim Stuck Nelson Piquet	BMW M1 clean	17th
2	S + 2.0	1	Joest Racing	Jochen Mass Reinhold Joest	Porsche 908/80	17th
3	GTX + 2.0	27	Preston Henn	Bob Wollek Preston Henn Adrian Yates-Smith	Porsche 935K3	17th
4th	Group 5	17th	GS tuning	Hans Heyer Piercarlo Ghinzani	Lancia Beta Montecarlo	17th
5	Group 5	19th	Weralit Racing Team	Edgar Dören Jürgen Lässig	Porsche 935K3	17th
6th	S + 2.0	2	Joest Racing	Volkert Merl Jürgen Barth	Porsche 908/3	16
7th	Group 5	20th	Vegla Racing Team	Dieter Schornstein Harald Grohs Walter Röhrl	Porsche 935J	16
8th	GTP	15th	Grid team Lola	Guy Edwards Emilio de Villota	Lola T600	16
9	Group 5	23	Charles Ivy Racing	John Cooper Dudley Wood	Porsche 935K3	16
10	Group 5	31	Martini Racing	Henri Pescarolo Andrea de Cesaris	Lancia Beta Montecarlo	16
11	Group 5	16	Martini Racing	Riccardo Patrese Eddie Cheever	Lancia Beta Montecarlo	16
12th	Group 5	22nd	Claude Haldi	Claude Haldi Charles Mendez	Porsche 935 / 77A	16
13th	Group 5	14th	Sauber AG	Marc Surer Dieter Quester	BMW M1 clean	15th
14th	GT	38	Kurt Koenig	Kurt König Peter Oberndorfer	BMW M1 P	15th
15th	GT	43	Canon Cameras Racing GTi Engineering	Richard Lloyd Tony Dron	Porsche 924 Carrera GTR	15th
16	S 2.0	47	Dorset Racing Associates	Tony Birchenhough Brian Joscelyne Nick Mason	Lola T297	15th
17th	Group 5	35	Jaegermeister	Walter Nussbaumer Anton Fischhaber Rick Koehler	BMW 320i	15th
18th	GT	44	Formula Racing Club Zurich	Peter Zbinden Edi Kofel	Porsche 924 Carrera GTR	14th
19th	GTU	61	Z & W Enterprises	Fred Stiff Ray Ratcliff Pierre Honegger	Mazda RX-7	14th
21	S 2.0	46	Weigel racing technology	Roland Binder Rolf Götz	Lola T296	14th
22nd	T	108	Bergisch-Gladbach racing community	Richard Bremmekamp Werner Felder Hans Weißgerber	BMW 320i	14th
23	Group 5	58	Pioneer Racing	Wolfgang Offermann Wolf-Dieter Mantzel	Opel Ascona	14th
24	T	86	Heidapel Racing	Helmut Döring Bernhard Dransmann Herbert Kummle	Ford Escort RS2000	14th
25th	T	82	Berkenkamp Ford	Dieter Selzer Andreas Schall Günther Braumüller	Ford Escort	14th
26	ser T 2.0	117	Hacheney	Volker Strycek Bruno Schmitz-Moormann Karl-Heinz Gürthler	Toyota Celica	14th
27	T	95	Veltmann Opel	Werner Prince Wolfgang Walter	Opel Ascona	14th
28	T	85	Heidapel Racing	Bernhard Dransmann Dieter Gartman Wilfried Vogt	Ford Escort RS2000	14th
29	T	123	Karl-Ernst Brune	Karl-Ernst Brune Winfried von Osten Gerhard Hennemann	Alfa Romeo GTV	14th
30th	T	107	Bergisch-Gladbach racing community	Hans Weißgerber Jürgen Möhle Michael Martini	BMW 2002	14th
31	T	89	Brauneiser racing technology	Jochen Felder Willi Wipper leads Volker Imhof	Ford Escort RS	14th
32	T	114	Günther Bochem	Günther Bochem Lothar von Stein Frank Stamen	BMW 2002	14th
33	Group 5	24	Emka Productions	Derek Bell Helmut Henzler	BMW M1	14th
34	GT	40	Kannacher GT Racing	Franz-Richard Friebel Karl-Josef Römer Matthias Lbody	Porsche 930	14th
35	T	90	Heidapel Racing	Herbert Kummle Karl Mauer	Ford Escort	14th
36	T	92	Milk Auto Tuning	Helmut Titz Friedrich Schütte Karl-Heinz Schäfer	Opel Cadet	14th
37	T	87	Brauneiser racing technology	Franz-Josef Bröhling Josef Felder Axel Felder	Ford Escort	14th
38	T	93	Milk Auto Tuning	Karl-Heinz Schäfer Lothar Milch	Opel Ascona	13th
39	Group 5	42	Tuff-Kote Dinol Racing	Jan Lundgårdh Axel Plankenhorn	Porsche 935L1	13th
40	T	105	Pioneer Racing	Jörg Helmig Michael Dagenhardt Wolfgang Offermann Heinrich Haag	Opel Ascona	13th
41	ser T + 2.0	73	Guilds Koelsch	Herbert Herler Günter Filthaut Dieter Huenermann	Opel Monza	13th
42	GT	39	Mayen Automobile Club	Armin Sieferer Bernd Schiller	Porsche 930	13th
43	S 2.0	51	Formula Racing Club Zurich	Max Sigrist Urs Neukomm	Lola T290	13th
44	S + 2.0	9	Auto Kümpel	Karl-Adolf Kneip Peter Hardt	KMW SP30	12th
45	Group 5	60	Jolly Club	Giorgio Schön Siegfried Müller junior Giorgio Pianta	Lancia Beta Montecarlo	11
46	Group 5	34	Richard Cleare Racing	Richard Cleare Dave Kennedy	Porsche 934	11
Not classified
47	GT	41	Jürgen Kannacher	Helmut Gall Wolfgang Hansen Karl-Heinz Hauwarth	Porsche 930	10
48	T	97	Yale forklifts	Michael Middelhaufe Heiner Müller Rainer Zweibäumer	BMW 2002	8th
Failed
49	S + 2.0	3	Siegfried Brunn	Siegfried Brunn Herbert Müller	Porsche 908/3	13th
50	ser T 2.0	119	Valvoline Germany	Wolf-Dieter Feuerlein Heinz Schaaf Hagen Arlt	Audi 80	12th
51	S 2.0	50	David Mercer	David Mercer Mike Chittenden	Vogue SP2	12th
52	S 2.0	54	Rally Community Ulm	Hans Forster Eugen Grupp	Toj SC206	9
53	S 2.0	55	Auto Kümpel	Peter Hardt Heinz Hardt	Landar LRB	9
53	S 2.0	56	Pioneer Racing	Christoph Esser Klaus Müller Christoph Bähr	Opel Cadet	9
54	S + 2.0	6th	Kurt Hild	Kurt Hild Ralf Walter	Toj SC306	8th
55	Group 5	21	Valvoline Germany	Franz Gschwender Wolf-Dieter Feuerlein	Porsche 935/77	8th
56	Group 5	36	Jaegermeister	Mario Ketterer Jörg Denzel Eckhard Schimpf	BMW 320i	8th
57	Group 5	45	Printing industry	Helmut Bross Fritz Glatz Harald Brutschin	Toj SC205	8th
58	GT	37	Wera-Meissberg	Hans-Peter Duge Jürgen Lässig	BMW M1	5
59	T	84	KWS Motorsport	Herbert Asselborn Hartmut Bauer Richard Jones	Ford Escort RS	5
60	S + 2.0	4th	AC 1927 Mayen	Norbert Przybilla Peter Hoffmann	Toj SC302	3
61	S 2.0	48	GTP International	Axel Felder Michael Bitschnau Franz-Josef Bröhling	Chevron B36	3
62	T	88	Braunmeister racing technology	Kurt Hens Peter Biewald	Ford Escort	3
63	T	98	Yale forklifts	Norbert Przybilla Peter Hoffmann	BMW 2002	3
64	T	81	Werner Struck	Werner Struck Kenneth Persson Olaf Manthey	Ford Escort	2
65	T	111	Rheydter Club	Walter Preusser Peter Sieben Friedhelm Coenen	BMW 320i	2
66	Group 5	25th	Bob Akin Motor Racing	Bobby Rahal Bob Akin	Porsche 935K3	1
Not started
67	S + 2.0	7th	Weigel racing technology	Rolf Götz Roland Binder John Blanckley	Chevron B31	1
68	S + 2.0	8th	Weigel racing technology	Siegfried Rieger John Blanckley	McLaren M8	2
69	Group 5	11	Liqui Moly Zakspeed	Manfred Winkelhock Klaus Niedzwiedz	Ford Capri	3
70	Group 5	18th	Jolly Club	Carlo Facetti Martino Finotto	Ferrari 308GTB	4th
71	ser T + 2.0	71	Guilds Koelsch	Helmut Döring Hanno Schumacher Mark Thatcher	Ford Capri	5
Not qualified
72	T	64	Hugo Nöckel	Hugo Nöckel Walter Löffler Friedhelm Vogt	Opel Monza	6th
73	T	65	Yale forklifts	Michael Middelhaufe Heiner Müller Rainer Zweibäumer	BMW 530i	7th
74	T	66	Kannacher GT Racing	Karl-Josef Römer Mathias L Körper	Talbot Sunbeam	8th
75	T	83	Eichberg Racing	Klaus Hackländer Helmut Gries	Ford Escort RS	9
76	T	91	Holger Knudsen	Holger Knudsen John Nielsen	Opel Ascona	10
77	T	94	Lothar milk	Josef Druda Rudolf Druda Arno Wester	Opel Cadet	11
78	T	102	Valvoline Germany	Peter Stern Norbert Lehmann	BMW 2002	12th
79	T	104	Pioneer Racing	Michael Degenhardt Christoph Esser Wolfgang Offermann	Opel Cadet	13th
80	T	106	Bergisch-Gladbach racing community	Jürgen Möhle Richard Bremmekamp Klaus Lindlar	BMW 2002	14th
81	T	109	Ruebenach Automobile Club	Rolf Schmitz Klaus Seifert	Opel Kadett GT / E	15th
82	T	112	Eichberg Racing	Joachim Scheefeldt Helmut Gries Klaus Hackländer	BMW 2002	16
83	T	113	Konrad Lammers & Rolf Schlieper	Konrad Lammers Rolf Schlieper Wolfgang Boenig	VW Golf GTi	17th
84	T	115	Hans Schell	Hans Schell Willi Piroth	BMW 2002	18th
85	T	116	Alfons Schulze-Niehues	Josef Brinkmann Alfons Schulze-Niehues	BMW 2002	19th
86	T	118	Michael Eschmann	Michael Eschmann Ullrich Roitzheim Paul Hulverscheid	VW Golf	20th
87	T	120	Harald ten Eicken	Harald ten Eicken Friedrich Burgmann	BMW 320i	21

¹ change of car before the race ² not started ³ engine failure in warm-up ⁴ not started ⁵ not started ⁶ not qualified ⁷ not qualified ⁸ not qualified ⁹ not qualified ¹⁰ not qualified ¹¹ not qualified ¹² not qualified ¹³ not qualified ¹⁴ not qualified ¹⁵ not qualified ¹⁶ not qualified ¹⁷ not qualified ¹⁸ not qualified ¹⁹ not qualified ²⁰ not qualified ²¹ not qualified

Only in the entry list

Here you will find teams, drivers and vehicles that were originally registered for the race but did not take part for various reasons.

Item	class	No.	team	driver	chassis
88	S + 2.0	5	AC 1927 Mayen	Peter Hoffmann Norbert Przybilla	McLaren M8F
89	Group 5	32	Martini Racing		Lancia Beta Montecarlo
90	Group 5	33	Martini Racing		Lancia Beta Montecarlo
91	GT	49	Angelo Pallavicini	Angelo Pallavicini	Porsche 934
92	S 2.0	52	Formula Racing Club Zurich	Urs Neukomm Max Sigrist	Lola T212
93	S 2.0	56	Hellebore Racing	Christian brewer Hubert Hahne	Lola T290
94	S 2.0	57	Pino Logrippo	Pino Logrippo Wolf-Dieter Mantzel	Lola T390
95	S 2.0	59	Jacques Heuclin	Jacques Heuclin Sylvain Lachaud	Lola T298
96	GTU	62	Becker car dealership	Karl-Heinz Becker Hans Stoffisen Armin Hahne	Mazda RX-7
97	T	63	Pirmasens Automobile Club	Klaus-Emil Röckel Günther Filthaut Rolf Koerner	Opel Commodore
98	T	67	Ducal	Nico Demuth Horst Klauke	Renault R5
99	LM GTX	72	Wolfgang Boller	Wolfgang Boller Wolfgang Wolf	Ford Escort
100	LM GTX	74	Hermann Bongen	Hermann Bongen Heinz Meurer	Audi 100
101	LM GTX	75	Ducal	Nico Demuth Horst Kauke	Renault R5
102	T	96	OBI	Bernd Knipper Wolfgang Balzar	Alfa Romeo GTV
103	T	99	Yale forklifts	Kurt Hens Peter Biewald Heinz Weiler	BMW 2002
104	T	100	Valvoline Germany	Kurt Müller Dieter Kraft Hartmut Herbort	Ford Escort RS
105	T	101	Valvoline Germany	Rudolf Beck Max Janitschek Helmut Kreinberg	BMW 2002
106	T	110	Ruebenach Automobile Club	Peter Ernst Dieter Hegels	BMW 2002
107	T	121	Valvoline Germany	Friedrich Schütte Helmut Titz	Opel Cadet
108	T	121	Langefeld Motor Sport Club	Dieter Raasch Jürgen Galle	VW Scirocco
109	T	124	Wahlscheid Motor Sports Club	Heinrich Sprungmann Gerhard Mennecken Dierk Meyer	VW Golf GTi

Class winner

class	driver	driver	driver	vehicle	Placement in the overall ranking
Sports car over 2 liters	Jochen Mass	Reinhold Joest		Porsche 908/80	Rank 2
Sports car up to 2 liters	Tony Birchenhough	Brian Joscelyne		Lola T297	Rank 16
Group 5	Hans-Joachim Stuck	Nelson Piquet		BMW M1 clean	Overall victory
GT	Kurt Koenig	Peter Oberndorfer		BMW M1	Rank 14
Touring car	Richard Bremmekamp	Werner Felder	Hans Weissgerber	BMW 320i	Rank 22
Series touring car over 2 liters	Herbert Herler	Günther Filthaut	Dieter Huenermann	Opel Monza	Rank 42
Series touring car up to 2 liters	Volker Strycek	Bruno Schmitz-Moormann	Karl-Heinz Gürthler	Toyota Celica	Rank 26
GTX over 2 liters	Bob Wollek	Preston Henn	Adrian Yates-Smith	Porsche 935 K3	Rank 3
GTU	Fred Stiff	Ray Ratcliff	Pierre Honegger	Mazda RX-7	Rank 19
GTP	Guy Edwards	Emilio de Villota		Lola T600	Rank 8

Racing data

• Registered: 109
• Started: 66
• Rated: 46
• Race classes: 10
• Spectator: Unknown
• Race day weather: Warm and dry at the beginning, light drizzle from the tenth lap
• Route length: 22.835 km
• Driving time of the winning team: 2:16: 50.860 hours
• Overall laps of the winning team: 17
• Total distance of the winning team: 388.195 km
• Winner's average: 170.202 km / h
• Pole position: Manfred Winkelhock - Ford Capri (# 11) - 7,18,490 - 187.475 km / h
• Fastest race lap: Jochen Mass - Porsche 908/80 (# 1) - 7.33.530 - 181.258 km / h
• Racing series: 7th round of the sports car world championship in 1981

literature

• Peter Higham: The Guinness Guide to International Motor Racing. A complete Reference from Formula 1 to Touring Car. Guinness Publishing Ltd., London 1995, ISBN 0-85112-642-1 .
• Michael Behrndt, Jörg-Thomas Födisch, Matthias Behrndt: ADAC 1000 km race. HEEL Verlag, Königswinter 2008, ISBN 978-3-89880-903-0 .

Web links

• Race results at wsrp

Individual evidence

1. ↑ see first paragraph
2. ↑ to the last race by Herbert Müller
3. ↑ Training times for the German Grand Prix 1976 ( Memento from May 8, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
4. ↑ see third paragraph
5. ↑ on the death of Herbert Müller
6. ^ The reports from Przybilla and Hoffmann
7. ^ The reports from Przybilla and Hoffmann

Previous race 6 Hours of Silverstone 1981

Sports car world championship

Succession race 1981 24 Hours of Le Mans