Spa-Francorchamps 1000 km race in 1968

JW-Automotive- Ford GT40 with starting number 34. Paul Hawkins and David Hobbs drove this car to fourth place in the overall standings

The Marcos Mantis XP with a futuristic glass roof and Repco 3-liter V8 engine . The prototype driven by Edward Nelson and Jem Marsh failed after 17 laps due to a defective alternator

The Porsche 908 with starting number 6; in Spa the car was driven by Vic Elford and Jochen Neerpasch and broke down after an accident

The third 1000 km race of Spa-Francorchamps , also Grand Prix de Spa, Circuit National de Francorchamps , took place on May 26, 1968 at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps and was the seventh round of the sports car world championship of that year.

Before the race

The race on the fast track at Spa-Francorchamps was the seventh race of the season in 1968 . The championship began in February with the Daytona 24-hour race , in which five Porsche drivers - Vic Elford , Jochen Neerpasch , Rolf Stommelen , Jo Siffert and Hans Herrmann - shared the victory. The following Sebring 12-hour race also ended with an overall Porsche victory; this time driven out by Jo Siffert and Hans Herrmann in 907 2.2 .

After the two races in the United States , the championship in Europe continued with the 6-hour race at Brands Hatch . Jacky Ickx and Brian Redman won in the Ford GT40 reported by John Wyer . John Wyer's team with the GT40 and drivers David Hobbs and Paul Hawkins also remained successful in the 1000 km race in Monza . At the Targa Florio and the 1000 km race at the Nürburgring , Porsche works cars won the race.

The race

For the race at the Nürburgring , the team management of John Wyer Automotive had reassembled the two driver pairs of the Ford GT40. Paul Hawkins joined Jacky Ickx in the car, while Brian Redman started alongside David Hobbs. Since the pairing Ickx / Redman was the faster of the two Wyer teams in the course of the season, this decision was reversed before the race in Spa. For the duo Hobbs / Hawkins, however, a completely new chassis was built.

Porsche brought four vehicles for six drivers to Spa. After the Porsche 908 with the long rear was not used, three cars remained for the six pilots. Vic Elford / Jochen Neerpasch and Hans Herrmann / Rolf Stommelen drove the two 908 short-tail cars . Gerhard Mitter and Jo Schlesser drove the single Porsche 907 2.2 . Schlesser, who was already at the start for Porsche at Daytona, joined the team as a substitute because the works drivers Jo Siffert and Ludovico Scarfiotti were involved in the Monaco Grand Prix that was held on the same weekend . For Schlesser it was the last race before the French Grand Prix in Rouen-les-Essarts , where he had a fatal accident on a Honda RA302 on the second lap . After Chris Irwin's serious accident at the 1000 km race on the Nürburgring, Alan Mann Racing only had a Ford F3L P68 ready for use . With Hubert Hahne , Frank Gardner received a new team-mate.

Alpine also lost a car during the race on the Nordschleife . Henri Grandsire had a serious accident with an Alpine A220 . Grandsire, whose hands were still partially bandaged, and Mauro Bianchi drove an A211 in Spa . Matra used the race in preparation for the Le Mans 24-hour race . The MS630 received a new 3-liter V12 engine , which is why the chassis of the car had to be lengthened. The drivers were Henri Pescarolo and Robert Mieusset . The Marcos Mantis XP was a new design . Developed in ultra lightweight construction car had a 3 liter Repco - V8 engine and a special peculiarity of a side-hinged glass roof.

As in the previous year , when it rained heavily on the day of the race, the race also took place on a wet road in 1968. Jacky Ickx had the best start in the Ford GT40, who was the first to drive through the Eau Rouge ahead of Frank Gardner, who was fastest in training, in the Ford F3L P68 . After the first lap, Ickx was already 40 seconds ahead of the pursuers. Behind him were the Porsche drivers Elford and Mitter, as well as Gardner in a Ford. The P68 was driven in the rain for the first time, and moisture penetrated the engine compartment, which led to misfiring on the Cosworth V8 engine. The misfires quickly threw Gardner back to tenth place in the overall standings when the car coasted down without electricity on the La Source section and could no longer be started. With the same problem, Henri Pescarolo came to the pits with the Matra after only one lap, where the mechanics tried in vain to get the completely soaked ignition system back on the road. Vic Elford was lucky, who was able to roll downhill to the boxes for repairs with a broken throttle rod. After the fourth lap, Ickx's lead over Gerhard Mitter's Porsche 907 had increased to 1½ minutes. After the twelfth lap he had lapped the entire field at least once, with the exception of the Porsche drivers Mitter and Herrmann. In the rest of the race, Ickx and Redman managed the gap between the two following works Porsches and won with a clear lead of over one lap.

Results

Final ranking

Item	class	No.	team	driver	vehicle	Round
1	S 5.0	33	JW Automotive Engineering	Jacky Ickx Brian Redman	Ford GT40	71
2	P 3.0	4th	Porsche System Engineering	Gerhard Mitter Jo Schlesser	Porsche 907 2.2	70
3	P 3.0	5	Porsche System Engineering	Hans Herrmann Rolf Stommelen	Porsche 908	69
4th	S 5.0	34	JW Automotive Engineering	Paul Hawkins David Hobbs	Ford GT40	67
5	P 2.0	12	Gerhard Koch	Gerhard Koch Rudi Lins	Porsche 910	67
6th	P 2.0	11	Hart Ski Racing Team	Dieter Spoerry Rico Steinemann	Porsche 910	66
7th	S 2.0	30th	William Bradley	Chris Lambert William Bradley	Porsche 906	62
8th	S 5.0	38	David prophet	David Prophet Richard Bond	Ford GT40	62
9	S 5.0	37	Peter Sadler	Peter Sadler Willie Green	Ford GT40	62
10	S 5.0	31	Jackie Epstein	Jackie Epstein Eric Liddell	Lola T70 Mk.3 GT	62
11	GT 2.0	63	IGFA	Dieter Glemser Helmut Kelleners	Porsche 911T	60
12	P 2.0	17th	Racing Team VDS	Teddy Pilette Rob Slotemaker	Alfa Romeo T33 / 2	59
13	P 3.0	1	Societé Automobiles Alpine	Mauro Bianchi Henri Grandsire	Alpine A211	57
14th	GT 2.0	61	John Bamford	Peter Brown Roger Enever	MGB	57
15th	GT 2.0	62	Willy Zanders	Willy Zanders Hannelore Werner	Porsche 911S	57
16	P 2.0	16	Racing Team VDS	Gustave Gosselin Serge Trosch	Alfa Romeo T33 / 2	57
17th	S 2.0	16	Julian Hasler	Peter Jackson Clive Baker Rhoddy Harvey-Bailey	Lotus 47	57
18th	P 2.0	25th	Bridges Walker	John Bridges John Lepp	Chevron B8	57
19th	S 2.0	54	Peter Taggart	Peter Taggart Tony Goodwin	Chevron B8	55
20th	S 2.0	22nd	Chris Lawrence	Chris Lawrence John Wingfield	Deep Sanderson 302	52
21st	S 2.0	51	IGFA	Karl von Wendt Willi Kauhsen	Porsche 906	49
22nd	P 2.0	26th	Richard Miles	Mike Pignéguy Willie Tuckett	Austin-Healey Sprite	49
Failed
23	S 5.0	32	Ecurie Francorchamps	Willy Mairesse Jean Blaton	Ford GT40	45
24	P 3.0	6th	Porsche System Engineering	Vic Elford Jochen Neerpasch	Porsche 908	36
25th	S 5.0	35	Strathaven Ltd.	Mike Salmon David Piper	Ford GT40	22nd
26th	P 2.0	10	Racing Preparations	Tony Beeson John Markey	Chevron B8	18th
27	P 3.0	8th	Marcos Cars Ltd.	Edward Nelson Jem Marsh	Marcos Mantis XP	17th
28	P 2.0	52	Chris Barber	John Hine Mike Crabtree	Lotus 47	13
29	S 5.0	36	Terry Drury	Terry Drury Terry Sanger	Ford GT40	12
30th	P 2.0	21st	Richard Groves	John Moore Rhoddy Harvey-Bailey	Ginetta G12	9
31	S 5.0	39	George Humble	George Humble Bob Smith	Ford GT40	6th
32	S 2.0	47	Roy Johnson	Roy Johnson Howden Ganley	Chevron B8	4th
33	S 2.0	49	Jeremy Delmar-Morgan	Jeremy Delmar-Morgan Mike Walton	Porsche 906	3
34	S 2.0	50	Mefco Racing	Chris Ashmore Jeff Edmonds	Porsche 906	3
35	P 3.0	3	Equipe Matra Sports	Henri Pescarolo Robert Mieusset	Matra Sports 630M	1
36	P 3.0	9	Alan Mann Racing	Frank Gardner Hubert Hahne	Ford F3L P68	1
37	S 5.0	41	Andy Cox	John Raeburn Tim Schenken	Ford GT40	1
Not started
38	P 2.0	19th	Hammond and Oakwood	Keith Grant Grahame White	Elva Mk.7S	1
39	GT 2.0	60	Jean-Pierre Gaban	Jean-Pierre Gaban Roger Vanderschrieck	Porsche 911S	2
40	P 3.0	T	Porsche System Engineering	Vic Elford	Porsche 908L	3

¹ engine damage during training ² injury to Gaban ³ training car

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 a variety of reasons.

Item	class	No.	team	driver	chassis
41	P 3.0	7th	John Woolfe Racing	John Woolfe Derek Bennett	Chevron B12
42	S 2.0	14th	Ben Pon	Ben Pon Gijs van Lennep	Porsche 910
43	P 3.0	15th	Autodelta	Lucien Bianchi Udo Schütz	Alfa Romeo T33 / 2 2.5
44	P 2.0	18th	Fowdington and Ramsay	Julian Sutton Andrew Hedges	Lotus 47
45	P 2.0	20th	Mark Konig	Mark Konig	Nomad Mk.1
46	P 2.0	23	Peter Clarke	Peter Clarke Laurie Goodwin	Emeron
47	P 1.6	24	David Porter	Anthony Harvey David Porter	Harvey
48	P 2.0	27		Gottlieb Stottan Lambert Hofer	Marcos Mini GT
49	P 2.0	28	Concorde	Tim Lalonde	Piper GT
50	S 5.0	30th	Mike De Udy	Mike De Udy Hugh Dibley	Lola T70 Mk.3 GT
51	S 5.0	40	Alain de Cadenet	Mario Cabral Alain de Cadenet	Ford GT40
52	S 5.0	42	Victor Walker	Peter Clarke Brian Alexander	Ferrari 250LM
53	S 5.0	43	Geoffrey Edmonds	Roger Mold Chris Ashmore	Ferrari 250LM
54	S 2.0	44	Chevron Cars	Digby Martland Brian Classic	Chevron B8
55	S 2.0	45	Tom Clapham	Geoff Breakell Derek Bell	Chevron B8
56	S 2.0	46	Trevor Twaites	Trevor Twaites George Duncan	Chevron B8
57	S 2.0	48	Mike De Udy	Robin Widdows Brian Hart	Porsche 906

Class winner

class	driver	driver	vehicle	Placement in the overall ranking
P 3.0	Gerhard Mitter	Jo Schlesser	Porsche 907 2.2	Rank 2
P 2.0	Gerhard Koch	Rudi Lins	Porsche 910	Rank 5
S 5.0	Jacky Ickx	Brian Redman	Ford GT40	Overall victory
S 2.0	Chris Lambert	William Bradley	Porsche 906	Rank 7
GT 2.0	Dieter Glemser	Helmut Kelleners	Porsche 911T	Rank 11

Racing data

• Registered: 57
• Started: 37
• Valued: 22
• Race classes: 5
• Spectator: unknown
• Race day weather: rain
• Route length: 14.100 km
• Driving time of the winning team: 5:05: 19.300 hours
• Overall laps of the winning team: 71
• Total distance of the winning team: 1001.100 km
• Winner's average: 196.730 km / h
• Pole position: Frank Gardner - Ford F3L P68 (# 9) - 3: 36.300 = 234.764 km / h
• Fastest race lap: Jo Schlesser - Porsche 907 2.2 (# 4) - 4: 00.300 = 211.236 km / h
• Racing series: Round 7 of the 1968 World Sports Car Championship

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 .

Web links

• Race report at Motorsport Magazine
• Race results at WSPR Racing

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The Marcos Mantis XP
2. ↑ The glass roof of the XP
3. ↑ The XP with the covers open

Previous race 1000 km race on the Nürburgring in 1968

Sports car world championship

Successor to the 6-hour race at Watkins Glen 1968