Spa-Francorchamps 1000 km race in 1970
The fifth 1000 km race of Spa-Francorchamps , also Grand Prix de Spa (1000 kms de Francorchamps), Circuit National de Francorchamps , took place on May 17, 1970 at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps and was the sixth race of the sports cars World Championship this year.
Before the race
In 1966 , the first 1000 km race took place on the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, which was also part of the world championship for the first time that year . In 1970 the endurance race in the Ardennes was the sixth championship run of the year. The season started in early February with the Daytona 24-hour race . The winning streak of John Wyer's racing team , which was only interrupted by Ferrari's success in the 12-hour race in Sebring , began at Daytona International Speedway . The Porsche racing cars used by Wyer were victorious four times. In Daytona, Pedro Rodríguez , Leo Kinnunen and Brian Redman won in a Porsche 917K . Rodríguez and Kinnunen also won the races at Brands Hatch and Monza . The Targa Florio ended with the overall victory for Redman and Jo Siffert in the Porsche 908/03 .
The race
Six Porsche 917K competed in Spa, all of which were registered in the sports car class up to 5 liters. John Wyer came to the race with two 917K and the regular crews Pedro Rodríguez / Leo Kinnunen and Jo Siffert / Brian Redman. Two more 917K came from Austria . Louise Piëch , the sister of Ferry Porsche , registered two cars for Porsche Salzburg , which were driven by Vic Elford , Kurt Ahrens , Richard Attwood and Hans Herrmann . Hans Laine and Gijs van Lennep drove a 917K for the first time in the race. So far, they had competed in the respective races for the Finnish Racing Team AAW in a Porsche 908/02. Helmut Kelleners and Jürgen Neuhaus drove the sixth 917K for the German Gesipa Racing Team .
The six Porsche 917s faced four Ferrari 512S . Scuderia Ferrari reported three vehicles for the drivers Jacky Ickx , John Surtees , Ignazio Giunti , Nino Vaccarella , Arturo Merzario and Peter Schetty . The Ecurie Francorchamps by Jacques Swaters received a newly built chassis which for Derek Bell and de Fierlant Hughes was employed.
Fast lap times were set with the 5-liter prototype during training. Since 1969 the Belgian Grand Prix of Formula 1 has not been held for security reasons in were the Belgian Grand Prix in 1968 lap times as a reference. Chris Amon had driven 3: 28.600 minutes in the Ferrari 312F1 during practice . The fastest lap in the race was John Surtees in the Honda RA301 with a time of 3: 30.500 minutes. On Friday, the first day of training, Jacky Ickx drove 3: 24.400 minutes in the Ferrari 512S and was thus four seconds faster than Chris Amon in the Formula 1 Ferrari. The Wyer-Porsche 917K had problems with the Firestone tires, which no longer remained stable on the rims at high speeds and thus lost air. After the tire problems had been fixed before Saturday practice, Pedro Rodríguez drove under 3 minutes 20 seconds. The pole position time of 3: 19.800 minutes corresponded to an average of 254.054 km / h. In the race, Rodríguez was 3 seconds faster and drove 3: 16.500 minutes with an average of 258.321 km / h. For comparison: At the Belgian Grand Prix in June , Jackie Stewart drove a pole position time of 3: 28.00 minutes in March 701 (average 244.038 km / h). However, the Formula 1 field was led through a chicane built before the race in the Malmedy section.
When the race started at 1 p.m. on Sunday, a thunderstorm broke out over the track. In contrast to the present, in 1970 the start-and-finish straight was after the La Source hairpin. The journey to the Eau Rouge was accordingly short. Nevertheless, the duel between the two top Wyer drivers Siffert and Rodríguez was about to escalate. Starting from the front row, the drivers drove side by side towards and into the curve in their Porsche 917s, until Rodríguez took off the accelerator at the last moment to avoid an accident after the two cars had touched. As early as the third lap, the leading cars began to overtake the slower GT cars . Siffert lost the lead to his teammate Rodríguez; Jacky Ickx in the fastest Ferrari also passed Siffert. In the following hour a three-way battle between the three Formula 1 drivers developed on the now dry track, which was spectacular for the spectators. Attentive marshals kept waving blue flags (indicating to the drivers that a faster vehicle is trying to overtake) ensured that the leading cars did not have any problems when lapping. The only one who was able to follow Siffert, Ickx and Rodríguez to some extent was Vic Elford in the Porsche-Salzburg-917K. The only car in the sports car field that started the race with rain tires was Peter Schetty's Ferrari 512S, which had to go to the pit to change tires after 30 minutes. After 14 laps, Siffert came to the pits as the leader for the first refueling stop, one lap later Rodríguez and Ickx stopped to refuel. Siffert had lost the most time at his stop and fell back to third place behind Rodríguez and Ickx.
A preliminary decision was made in the 22nd lap when Rodríguez came to the pits for an unplanned stop. The right front tire had lost air and had to be changed. In the race to catch up, he drove the mentioned 3: 16.500 minutes for the fastest lap in the race. On lap 29, the leading cars came to the pits for the second refueling stop. At this point Ickx was leading Siffert by a margin of 13 seconds and handed the Ferrari over to John Surtees while refueling. Brian Redman stepped into the cockpit for Siffert. Although Surtees had a lead of 26 seconds over Brian Redman after the stops, he was pushed out of the front by him on lap 35. On the 37th lap, Rodríguez also passed Surtees and came to the pits a little later for the scheduled stop (the tank was also filled at the stop because of the puncture) to hand the Porsche over to Leo Kinnunen. The decision was made on lap 44 when Kinnunen rolled out at Stavelot with a gearbox damage to the Porsche. During his driving time, Surtees lost almost 3 minutes to Redman, which Jacky Ickx could not make up for in the last third of the race against Siffert, who won the race for the Wyer team and Porsche with a lead of 2 minutes and 50 seconds over the Ferrari drivers won.
Results
Final ranking
Item | class | No. | team | driver | vehicle | Round | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | S 5.0 | 24 | JW Automotive Engineering |
Jo Siffert Brian Redman |
Porsche 917K | 71 | ||
2 | S 5.0 | 20th | Spa Ferrari SEFAC |
Jacky Ickx John Surtees |
Ferrari 512S | 71 | ||
3 | S 5.0 | 28 | Porsche Salzburg |
Vic Elford Kurt Ahrens |
Porsche 917K | 70 | ||
4th | S 5.0 | 22nd | Spa Ferrari SEFAC |
Ignazio Giunti Nino Vaccarella |
Ferrari 512S | 68 | ||
5 | S 5.0 | 43 | Racing Team AAW |
Hans Laine Gijs van Lennep |
Porsche 917K | 68 | ||
6th | S 5.0 | 29 | Porsche Salzburg |
Richard Attwood Hans Herrmann |
Porsche 917K | 68 | ||
7th | S 5.0 | 21st | Spa Ferrari SEFAC |
Peter Schetty Arturo Merzario |
Ferrari 512S | 66 | ||
8th | S 5.0 | 23 | Ecurie Francorchamps |
Derek Bell Hughes de Fierlant |
Ferrari 512S | 64 | ||
9 | P 3.0 | 6th | Martini International Racing Team |
Gérard Larrousse Rudi Lins |
Porsche 908/02 | 64 | ||
10 | S 5.0 | 33 | Ecurie Bonnier |
Jo Bonnier Reine Wisell |
Lola T70 Mk.3B GT | 63 | ||
11 | P 3.0 | 5 | Martini International Racing Team |
Hans-Dieter Dechent Helmut Marko |
Porsche 908/02 | 62 | ||
12 | S 2.0 | 31 | John L'Amie |
John L'Amie Brian Nelson
|
Porsche 910 | 59 | ||
13 | P 2.0 | 15th | Hans-Dieter Blatzheim |
Hans-Dieter Blatzheim Ernst Kraus
|
Porsche 907 | 59 | ||
14th | S 2.0 | 32 | Paul Vestey |
Peter Sadler Paul Vestey |
Porsche 910 | 56 | ||
15th | P 2.0 | 14th | Levi's International Racing Team |
Yves Deprez Julien Vernaeve
|
Chevron B16 | 55 | ||
16 | GT + 2.0 | 59 | Bernard Chenevière |
Bernard Chenevière Claude Haldi |
Porsche 911S | 55 | ||
17th | S 5.0 | 30th | Gesipa Racing Team |
Helmut Kellener's Jürgen Neuhaus |
Porsche 917K | 54 | ||
18th | GT + 2.0 | 53 | Auto Kremer |
Erwin Kremer Karl von Wendt |
Porsche 911S | 54 | ||
19th | GT 2.0 | 55 | Jean-Marie Jacquemin |
Jean-Marie Jacquemin Bernard Palayer
|
Alpine A110 | 52 | ||
20th | GT 2.0 | 52 | Jean-Pierre Gaban |
G. van Butsel Robert Moerenhout
|
Porsche 911 | 52 | ||
21st | GT 2.0 | 52 | Georges Duvigneaud |
Georges Duvigneaud Camille Demoulin
|
Porsche 911S | 50 | ||
22nd | P 3.0 | 37 | Tony Goodwin |
Tony Goodwin Peter Taggart
|
Chevron B6 / 8 | 48 | ||
Not classified | ||||||||
23 | GT + 2.0 | 58 | Wicky Racing Team |
André Wicky Sylvain Garant |
Porsche 911S | 41 | ||
Disqualified | ||||||||
24 | S 5.0 | 34 | Devel Moteurs Morand |
Gérard Pillon Louis Morand
|
Lola T70 Mk.3B GT | 2 | ||
Failed | ||||||||
25th | S 5.0 | 25th | JW Automotive Engineering |
Pedro Rodríguez Leo Kinnunen |
Porsche 917K | 44 | ||
26th | S 2.0 | 40 | Worcestershire Racing Association |
James Tangye Paul Ridgway
|
Chevron B8 | 40 | ||
27 | P 2.0 | 10 | Philips car radio racing |
Guy Edwards Roger Enever |
Astra RNR2 | 37 | ||
28 | GT 2.0 | 51 | Jean-Pierre Gaban |
Jean-Pierre Gaban Willy Braillard |
Porsche 911S | 33 | ||
29 | S 5.0 | 35 | Racing Team VDS |
Teddy Pilette Gustave Gosselin |
Lola T70 Mk.3B GT | 31 | ||
30th | S 2.0 | 39 | Intertech Steering Wheels |
Angus Clydesdale John Markey
|
Chevron B8 | 22nd | ||
31 | S 2.0 | 38 | Martin Blackie |
Martin Blackie Peter Humble
|
Chevron B8 | 18th | ||
32 | GT + 2.0 | 54 | Jacques Rey |
Jacques Rey Edgar Berney
|
Porsche 911S | 12 | ||
33 | P 2.0 | 12 | Stanley Robinson |
Stanley Robinson John Blanckley
|
Unipower GT | 10 | ||
34 | S 2.0 | 41 | Worcestershire Racing Association |
John Bamford Peter Creasey
|
Chevron B8 | 10 | ||
35 | P 3.0 | 7th | Keith Grant |
Keith Grant Gerry Marshall
|
Brabham BT8 | 4th | ||
Not started | ||||||||
36 | S 5.0 | 25T | JW Automotive Engineering |
Jo Siffert Pedro Rodríguez Leo Kinnunen
|
Porsche 917K | 1 |
1 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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
37 | P 3.0 | 1 | Matra |
Henri Pescarolo Johnny Servoz-Gavin |
Matra-Simca MS660 |
38 | P 3.0 | 2 | Matra |
Jean-Pierre Beltoise François Cevert |
Matra-Simca MS660 |
39 | P 3.0 | 3 | Autodelta SpA |
Piers Courage Andrea de Adamich |
Alfa Romeo T33 / 3 |
40 | P 3.0 | 4th | Autodelta SpA |
Rolf Stommelen Nanni Galli |
Alfa Romeo T33 / 3 |
41 | P 2.0 | 8th | Chevron Cars |
John Hine Ian Skailes
|
Chevron B16 |
42 | P 2.0 | 11 | William Tuckett |
Peter Sadler William Tuckett
|
Gropa CMC |
43 | S 5.0 | 26th | Zitro Racing Team |
Dominique Martin Pierre Maublanc |
Porsche 917K |
44 | S 5.0 | 27 | David Piper |
David Piper Tony Adamowicz |
Porsche 917K |
45 | S 5.0 | 36 |
Jacques Thenaers William Scheeren
|
Lamborghini Miura | |
46 | S 2.0 | 39 | Edward Negus |
Brian Joscelyne Edward Negus
|
Chevron B8 |
47 | S 5.0 | 42 | Michel Martin |
Clive Baker Willie Green |
Ford GT40 |
48 | GT 2.0 | 59 | Ecurie Biennoise | Gustav Schlup | Porsche 914/6 |
Class winner
Racing data
- Registered: 48
- Started: 35
- Valued: 22
- Race classes: 6
- Spectator: unknown
- Race day weather: thunderstorms at the beginning, then warm and dry
- Route length: 14.100 km
- Driving time of the winning team: 4: 09: 47.800 hours
- Overall laps of the winning team: 71
- Total distance of the winning team: 1001.100 km
- Winner's average: 240.460 km / h
- Pole position: Pedro Rodríguez - Porsche 917K (# 25) - 3: 19.800 = 254.054 km / h
- Fastest race lap: Pedro Rodríguez - Porsche 917K (# 25) - 3: 16.500 = 258.321 km / h
- Racing series: Round 6 of the 1970 Sports Car World 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
Individual evidence
- ↑ Start of the race in 1970, second picture from above
- ↑ Jo Siffert (start number 24 and Pedro Rodríguez (start number 25) side by side through the Eau Rouge, Fig. 1)
- ↑ Fig. 2 ( Memento of the original from May 24, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Siffert before Rodríguez at the exit
Predecessor race Targa Florio 1970 |
Sports car world championship |
Successor race 1000 km race on the Nürburgring 1970 |