Spa-Francorchamps 24-hour race 1979

Old and new route layout

Racing version of the Triumph Dolomite

The 31st Spa-Francorchamps 24-hour race , also known as 24 Heures de Francorchamps , took place on the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps from July 21 to 22, 1979 and was the 13th round of the sports car world championship of that year.

The race

In the 1970s, the number of international racing events at the Spa racetrack continued to decline, as the lack of safety for drivers and spectators was increasingly criticized. After the Belgian Grand Prix in 1970 , Formula 1 withdrew. The races of the sports car world champions - and the European touring car championship remained . After the criticism within these racing series had increased, the organizer decided in autumn 1978 to rebuild the track for the first time. The route was shortened to about half. The new section of the route branched off after the Kemmel straight, led downhill and ended at the Stavelot curve in the existing road. This conversion increased safety and still partially preserved the original character of the street course. The route length after the renovation was 6.947 kilometers.

There was bad weather on the race weekend. In addition to the rain showers that kept coming, there was fog in the night. The result was a mass collision that resulted in a 90-minute safety car phase . A Triumph Dolomite collided with a Ford Capri . As a result, other vehicles that could not avoid the wrecks had accidents. Former Formula 1 driver Jean-Pierre Beltoise , who was in the lead, had the most spectacular accident in his BMW 530i . The BMW came to rest on the roof of another vehicle after it rolled over. Shortly after Beltoise was able to free herself from the broken car, it went up in flames. Beltoise was just as uninjured as the other drivers involved.

For a long time, two BMW 530i were in the lead, before Jean-Claude Andruet / Eddy Joosen's car and then Bruno Giacomelli's / Umberto Grano / Dirk Vermeersch's car had to go to the pits for lengthy repairs. As a result, Jean-Michel Martin / Philippe Martin won a Ford Capri III 3.0 S reported by Gordon Spice .

Results

Final ranking

Item	class	No.	team	driver	vehicle	Round
1	T + 2.5	2	Gordon Spice Racing	Jean-Michel Martin Philippe Martin	Ford Capri III 3.0S	444
2	T + 2.5	33	Juma	Jean-Claude Andruet Eddy Joosen	BMW 530i	442
3	T + 2.5	23	Abex Pagid Caramba Racing	Dietmar Hackner Johann Weisheidinger Axel Sunday	Opel Monza 3.0E	435
4th	T + 2.5	3	Gordon Spice Racing	Chris Craft Jeff Allam	Ford Capri III 3.0S	432
5	T + 2.5	1	Gordon Spice Racing	Gordon Spice Alain Semoulin	Ford Capri III 3.0S	431
6th	T 1.6	76	Abex Pagid Racing	Peter Seikel Hans-Joachim Nowak Willi Bergmeister	Audi 80 GTE	424
7th	T 2.5	52	Berkenkamp Ford	Dieter Selzer Alain Beauchef Karl Mauer	Ford Escort II RS 2000	424
8th	T 2.5	51	P. Dark	Aloyse Kridel Nico Demuth Daniël Rombaut	Ford Escort II RS 2000	414
9	T + 2.5	8th	Serge Power Racing	Albert Vanierschot Guy Pirenne Dany Swyssen	Ford Capri III 3.0S	413
10	T + 2.5	37	Écurie Bernoise Suisse	Hans-Jürg Dürig Peter Ulmann Louis Bärtsch	BMW 530i	411
11	T + 2.5	34	Joosen Racing Juma	Bruno Giacomelli Umberto Grano Dirk Vermeersch	BMW 530i	411
12	T 1.6	75	Abex Pagid Caramba	Jean-Claude Boucher Lucien Guitteny	Audi 80 GTE	407
13	T + 2.5	36	Classics Automobile Francorchamps	Spartaco Dini André Gavage Georges Cremer	BMW 530i	407
14th	T 2.5	59	Morges Race fans	Jean-Marie Guignard Mario Luini Sandro Plastina	Opel Kadett GT / E	403
15th	T 2.5	54	Ford Motor Cy	Remy Marquet Carlo Keller Maurice Gaspard	Ford Escort II RS 2000	381
16	T 1.6	72	Belgian VW Club	Bernard Carlier Philippe Ménage Jean Degey	VW Scirocco GTI	380
17th	T + 2.5	17th	Jacques Cleutjens	Jacques Cleutjens Frans Lubin Man Bergsteijn	Ford Capri III 3.0S	376
18th	T + 2.5	20th	ADP Computer Service	Loek Vermeulen Henny Hemmes	Chevrolet Camaro Z28	375
19th	T 1.6	73	Team Dubois	Franz Dubois Jean-Francois Vaney	Audi 80 GTE	366
20th	T 1.6	81	Sigma Racing Team	Charles van Stalle Eric Mandron Henri Sonveau	VW Golf GTI	365
Not classified
21st	T + 2.5	22nd	ADP Computer Service	Jean-Paul Libert Christine Becker's Pascal Witmeur	Chevrolet Camaro Z28
22nd	T + 2.5	29	Team Willeme	Claude Bourgoignie Reine Wisell	BMW 3.0 CSi
23	T 1.6	80	Duindistle	Claude Holvoet Philippe De Leener Jean Wansart	Toyota Trueno
Failed
24	T + 2.5	4th	Gordon Spice Racing	Dany Baele Marc Duez Daniël Herregods	Ford Capri III 3.0S
25th	T + 2.5	5	Equipe Esso	Vince Woodman Jonathan Buncombe Win Percy	Ford Capri III 3.0S
26th	T + 2.5	6th	Mann's garage	Holman Blackburn Jean-Jacques Feider Hermès Delbar	Ford Capri III 3.0S
27	T + 2.5	7th	Serge Power Racing	Romain Feitler Romain Wolff Francis Polak	Ford Capri III 3.0S
28	T + 2.5	9	Serge Power Racing	Edward Schinkel Claude de Wael Quirin Bovy	Ford Capri III 3.0S
29	T + 2.5	11	Belgian BP Racing	Xavier Lapeyre Alain Cudini	Ford Capri III 3.0S
30th	T + 2.5	14th	Valvoline Racing	Alain Corbisier Michel De Deyne Marc Piessens	Ford Capri III 3.0S
31	T + 2.5	15th	Valvoline Racing	Tom Walkinshaw Jacques Goujon	Ford Capri III 3.0S
32	T + 2.5	16	Valvoline Racing	Claude Lamine René Tricot Thierry Carpentier	Ford Capri III 3.0S
33	T + 2.5	21st	ADP Computer Service	Huub Vermeulen Fred Frankenhout	Chevrolet Camaro Z28
34	T + 2.5	24	Luigi Racing	Teddy Pilette Carlo Facetti	Chevrolet Camaro Z28
35	T + 2.5	25th	Kinley Graham Gitanes	Stuart Graham Brian Muir Jacques Laffite	Ford Capri III 3.0S
36	T + 2.5	26th	Kinley Graham Gitanes	Hervé Regout André Lierneux Jacques Laffite	Ford Capri III 3.0S
37	T + 2.5	27	Kinley Luigi Gitanes	Jean Xhenceval Alain Peltier Raymond van Hove	BMW 530i
38	T + 2.5	28	Kinley Luigi Gitanes	Patrick Nève Hans-Joachim Stuck Didier Theys	BMW 530i
39	T + 2.5	30th	Team Willeme	Pierre Dieudonné Thierry Boutsen	BMW 530i
40	T + 2.5	35	Classics Automobile Francorchamps	Michel Paulus Jo de Gheldere Pierre de Thoisy	BMW 3.0 CSi
41	T + 2.5	38	Jean-Marc Smadja Racing	Claude Ballot-Léna Gérard Bleynie Jean-Louis Schlesser	BMW 530i
42	T + 2.5	39	Team Benoit	Jean-Pierre Beltoise Philippe Gurdjian Jean-Pierre Gabreau	BMW 530i
43	T + 2.5	41	Hans Maasland	Rob Slotemaker Hans Maasland	BMW 530i
44	T 2.5	50	BP Racing	Anne-Charlotte Verney Jean-Pierre Delaunay Cyril Grandet	Ford Escort II RS 2000
45	T 2.5	53	Ford Motor Cy	Frank de Caluwe Manu de Caluwe	Ford Escort II RS 2000
46	T 2.5	55	Ford Motor Cy	Rudolf Doetsch Hartmut Bauer Rudy Horst	Ford Escort II RS 2000
47	T 2.5	56	Elvia	René Metge Jean-Pierre Jaussaud	Triumph Dolomite Sprint
48	T 2.5	57	Team Triplex with Esso and Motor	Tony Lanfranchi Rex Greenslade Chuck Nicholson Gerry Marshall	Triumph Dolomite Sprint
49	T 1.6	74	Abex Pagid Caramba Racing Team	Oscar Kessler Jean-Louis Hecq Jean-Claude Toby	Audi 80 GTE
50	T 1.6	79	Yoshio Otsubo	E. Otsuka Keiji Takeshita Kiyoshi Miyashita Junko Ejiri	Toyota T40
Not started
51	T + 2.5	32	Écurie Chardon des Dunes-Dragons	Michel Delcourt Jean-Paul Rieu Guy Trigaux	BMW 3.0 CSi	1
52	T 2.5	61	Roland Imbert	Roland Imbert JC Martinez	Alfa Romeo GTV	2
53	T 2.5	62	Jolly Club	Michel Lauria Nello Brunetti Vittorio Ciardi	Alfa Romeo GTV	3
54	T 1.6	71	Belgian VW Club	Jean Jamin Jean Degey Pierre Vaillant	VW Golf GTI	4th
Not qualified
55	T 2.5	18th	American Motors Team Highball	Amos Johnson Les Delano Jeremy Nightingale	AMC spirit	5
56	T 2.5	31	Team Willeme	Philippe Bervoets Jean-Charles Goris	BMW 530i	6th
57	T 2.5	58	Ecurie fribourgeoise	Franco Wipf Philippe Jeanneret Paul Schmid	Opel Kadett GT / E	7th
58	T 2.5	60	Remco team	Erwin van den Broeck Kurt van Maldeghem Helmut Schnock	BMW 323i	8th
59	T 1.6	70	Belgian VW Club	Dominique Schwarts Jean-Paul Prossnitz Michel Chapel	VW Golf GTI	9
60	T + 2.5	10	Serge Power Racing	Dany Swyssen Jacques Berger Marc Donner	Ford Capri III 3.0S	10
61	T + 2.5	12	Allam Motors	Richard Jones Jock Robertson Stuart Patterson	Ford Capri III 3.0S	11
62	T 1.6	77	Richard Mattozza	Michel Leclère Richard Mattozza Rene Hernandez	Alfa Romeo Alfasud	12
63	T 1.6	78	Yoshio Otsubo	Nobuhide Tachi Kiyoshi Miyashita Junichi Isobe	Toyota T40	13

¹ not started ² not started ³ not started ⁴ not started ⁵ not qualified ⁶ not qualified ⁷ not qualified ⁸ not qualified ⁹ not qualified ¹⁰ not qualified ¹¹ not qualified ¹² not qualified ¹³ not qualified

Only in the entry list

No further reports are known for this race.

Class winner

class	driver	driver	driver	vehicle	Placement in the overall ranking
T + 2.5	Jean-Michel Martin	Philippe Martin		Ford Capri III 3.0S	Overall victory
T 2.5	Dieter Selzer	Alain Beauchef	Karl Mauer	Ford Escort II RS 2000	Rank 7
T 1.6	Peter Seikel	Hans-Joachim Nowak	Willi Bergmeister	Audi 80 GTE	Rank 6

Racing data

• Registered: 63
• Started: 50
• Rated: 20
• Race classes: 3
• Spectators: 100,000
• Race day weather: rain showers and fog
• Route length: 6.947 km
• Driving time of the winning team: 24: 06: 14.206 hours
• Total laps of the winning team: 444
• Total distance of the winning team: 3084.468 km
• Winner's average: 128.499 km / h
• Pole position: Patrick Nève - BMW 530i (# 28) - 2: 48.990 = 147.992 km / h
• Fastest race lap: Gordon Spice - Ford Capri III 3.0S (# 1) - 2: 48.800 = 148.159 km / h
• Racing series: Round 13 of the 1979 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 and race results

Previous race 6 Hours of Watkins Glen 1979

Sports car world championship

Successor to the 6 Hours of Brands Hatch 1979